Elizabeth the Great

Countless books have been written about Elizabeth I of England, but rarely has Elizabeth the woman been presented with the vividness, authority, and perception which inform this fascinating and important work. Miss Jenkins brings the great queen, her court, and the whole exciting age to which she gave her name brilliantly to life. There was something almost bewitched in Elizabeth, as though she came from a changeling world, cold, passionate and peculiar. She was only two when the head of her mother, Anne Boleyn, was cut off and at eight she said, "I will never marry." Prince Edward's letter to his dear sister Elizabeth, after they had been ruthlessly separated, shows that both children early knew their dangers; he wrote: "I hope to visit you soon, if nothing happens to us in the meantime." The young Elizabeth was never entirely safe, her position rarely secure. The advisers of her Catholic sister, Mary Tudor, urged that she be put to death, saying, "The Princess Elizabeth is greatly to be feared, she has a spirit full of incantations." But Elizabeth outlived Bloody Mary and came to the throne—even though at her coronation no bishop could be found to put the crown on her head. Queen