The Life of Elizabeth I

From the book cover

Perhaps the most influential sovereign England has ever known, Queen Elizabeth I reigned prosperously for more than forty years, from 1558 until her death in 1603. During her rule, however, she remained an extremely private person, keeping her own counsel and sharing secrets with no one - not even her closest, most trusted advisors.

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I selected this novel as part of my biographies and memories reading list because of my fascination with the monarchy.

This book is way too long. Alison Weir does a wonderful job capturing Queen Elizabeth I's personality, the mood of her court and the high and low points of her reign, but I really feel like it could have been done in under 300 pages. At 488 pages, not including the epilogue, this is a hefty brick of a novel.

It's obvious that Ms. Weir is a meticulous researcher and a born storyteller. This novel reads like a historical fiction. She did a great job of drawing out suspenseful moments and interjecting humour. It's even more amazing because she's writing about someone who's been dead for more than 400 years as though she was right there witnessing everything. I especially enjoyed the chapters that describe the everyday realities of life in the 1500s.

At times I found it hard to keep up with the name changes. Once a character received a new office or title, Ms. Weir started referring to the character by a new name. An example of this is William Cecil, Elizabeth's most loyal councillor. He goes from being referred to as Cecil to Burghley about midway through the novel, when he gets promoted by the Queen. Then three quarters of the way through, his son arrives at the court and so we start reading about 'Cecil' again, but now Weir is referring to Thomas Cecil, William Cecil/Lord Burghley's son.

Elizabeth was a great queen but I don't like Elizabeth the women. She was vain, superficial, manipulative, mean, selfish and sometimes just plain unrealistic in her expectations of her subjects. The amount of people that she placed in the tower for daring to marry without her consent is shameful. And then there's the way she treated the wives of her 'favourites', refusing to acknowledge their existence, humiliating them at court and purposely keeping their husbands away from home. For the record, I think it's cool that she refused to marry and stuck to her convictions.


Eventually I would like to read Ms. Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

3.5/5

Trailer from The Golden Age starring Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I.