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A review by wildwolverine
Queen of This Realm by Jean Plaidy
5.0
Elizabeth I of England is such a mighty figure. She is brilliant, witty, vain, flirtatious, manipulative, astute, determined, and even romantic. Jean Plaidy captures all of these facets of the great monarch in such convincing detail. Elizabeth Tudor leaps off the page in all her glory and complexity. I couldn't put the book down.
We follow Elizabeth from the beginning, but thankfully, Plaidy skips over most of her younger years with all of her father's wives. Elizabeth would've been too young to be an interesting narrator, but she is clearly an observant girl from the beginning. She is always presented as vivacious and precocious, and this sometimes gets her into trouble, particularly with Thomas Seymour and even with her sister Mary's Catholic ministers. However, she learns her lessons well and manages to keep both her reputation and head intact by the time she ascends the throne in 1558.
Jean Plaidy covers a lot of ground in this novel, some events in more detail than others, and many historical legends appear. She dangles marriage over the heads of the various European powers. In some ways, she is very similar to her mother, Anne Boleyn, in that she excels at leading the chase without ever being caught. There's mention of the atrocities in Ireland, her correspondence w/ Catherine de Medici, the privateering of Spanish ships, exploration in the Americas and the founding of Virginia, the great battle against the Spanish Armada, the failed campaign in the Netherlands, the Rising of Essex, and throughout all of this, she cultivates and maintains the love of her subjects. Personally, I long for the day when a novel about Elizabeth includes a scene where she meets the famed Pirate Queen, Grace O'Malley, but that omission didn't dampen my enjoyment of this telling of the queen's life. It was pure joy to read about such an accomplished monarch. She truly was a genius at statecraft and absolutely fearless. I constantly marveled at her.
Various famous faces cross the stage: William Cecil, Sir Walsingham, Robert Dudley, Robert Deveraux, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, William Shakespeare (briefly), Mary Queen of Scots, Lettice Knollys, and many others. There weren't as many famous women crossing her path. Bess of Hardwick is barely mentioned when we know they were great friends, while those who get page time do so because they are rivals to Robert Dudley's affections. Most of the book is about Elizabeth's relationship with Robert, as Plaidy really likes to center her heroines around romantic male figures. However, I think this was actually well-balanced because Elizabeth consistently demonstrated how she navigated both her desire for Robert and her desire for the crown. Plaidy illustrated the tough choices she had to make and the petty ways Elizabeth tried to give herself some normal pleasure.
Plaidy also downplays Elizabeth's faults, especially her physical ones. We know that Elizabeth was indeed marked by smallpox, but Plaidy assures us throughout the novel that Elizabeth's skin was flawless. In addition, Plaidy says only a couple of teeth were pulled when we know that she actually had pretty bad teeth and could be unintelligible at times; although her loss of hair and use of wigs is often mentioned. Elizabeth seems to be fully self-aware and recognizes her faults, what she calls her "frivolous nature", but it is nevertheless hard to read about how she is almost completely taken in by the Earl of Essex, almost to the detriment of the whole country. In the end, reason and wisdom win out, and Essex is justly punished.
To be royal is to be lonely, and this is often a central pillar of Plaidy's novels. Elizabeth is perhaps one of the loneliest monarchs, but this is done to preserve her power. It is astounding, but it is also sad. One can't help but pity how Elizabeth copes in the life she chose and the pain she inflicts on both others and herself as she made the necessary choices to keep the throne over everything else. Elizabeth is complex, and this story is told "in her own" words, but it is absolutely a worthwhile read.
We follow Elizabeth from the beginning, but thankfully, Plaidy skips over most of her younger years with all of her father's wives. Elizabeth would've been too young to be an interesting narrator, but she is clearly an observant girl from the beginning. She is always presented as vivacious and precocious, and this sometimes gets her into trouble, particularly with Thomas Seymour and even with her sister Mary's Catholic ministers. However, she learns her lessons well and manages to keep both her reputation and head intact by the time she ascends the throne in 1558.
Jean Plaidy covers a lot of ground in this novel, some events in more detail than others, and many historical legends appear. She dangles marriage over the heads of the various European powers. In some ways, she is very similar to her mother, Anne Boleyn, in that she excels at leading the chase without ever being caught. There's mention of the atrocities in Ireland, her correspondence w/ Catherine de Medici, the privateering of Spanish ships, exploration in the Americas and the founding of Virginia, the great battle against the Spanish Armada, the failed campaign in the Netherlands, the Rising of Essex, and throughout all of this, she cultivates and maintains the love of her subjects. Personally, I long for the day when a novel about Elizabeth includes a scene where she meets the famed Pirate Queen, Grace O'Malley, but that omission didn't dampen my enjoyment of this telling of the queen's life. It was pure joy to read about such an accomplished monarch. She truly was a genius at statecraft and absolutely fearless. I constantly marveled at her.
Various famous faces cross the stage: William Cecil, Sir Walsingham, Robert Dudley, Robert Deveraux, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, William Shakespeare (briefly), Mary Queen of Scots, Lettice Knollys, and many others. There weren't as many famous women crossing her path. Bess of Hardwick is barely mentioned when we know they were great friends, while those who get page time do so because they are rivals to Robert Dudley's affections. Most of the book is about Elizabeth's relationship with Robert, as Plaidy really likes to center her heroines around romantic male figures. However, I think this was actually well-balanced because Elizabeth consistently demonstrated how she navigated both her desire for Robert and her desire for the crown. Plaidy illustrated the tough choices she had to make and the petty ways Elizabeth tried to give herself some normal pleasure.
Plaidy also downplays Elizabeth's faults, especially her physical ones. We know that Elizabeth was indeed marked by smallpox, but Plaidy assures us throughout the novel that Elizabeth's skin was flawless. In addition, Plaidy says only a couple of teeth were pulled when we know that she actually had pretty bad teeth and could be unintelligible at times; although her loss of hair and use of wigs is often mentioned. Elizabeth seems to be fully self-aware and recognizes her faults, what she calls her "frivolous nature", but it is nevertheless hard to read about how she is almost completely taken in by the Earl of Essex, almost to the detriment of the whole country. In the end, reason and wisdom win out, and Essex is justly punished.
To be royal is to be lonely, and this is often a central pillar of Plaidy's novels. Elizabeth is perhaps one of the loneliest monarchs, but this is done to preserve her power. It is astounding, but it is also sad. One can't help but pity how Elizabeth copes in the life she chose and the pain she inflicts on both others and herself as she made the necessary choices to keep the throne over everything else. Elizabeth is complex, and this story is told "in her own" words, but it is absolutely a worthwhile read.