Based on groundbreaking research, this book has challenged most of the narratives and analyses regarding Elizabeth’s politics. It is also well written and engaging, enabling teachers to choose suitable extracts to give to pupils. The book discusses Elizabeth’s sex and gender and how this affected her role as ‘king and queen’ of England. The arguments are compelling, offering a fresh perspective on Elizabeth’s politics and on how she broke through the misogynistic preconceptions of her time. It also demonstrates Elizabeth’s own political agency in the making of her rulership, including how she navigated the questions of marriage and succession with her parliament and privy councillors.

This book focuses on Elizabeth’s relationships with women, which is important as it helps readers to understand who influenced Elizabeth during particular stages of her life. While most biographies tend to focus on the men in the queen’s life, this book offers a fascinating new approach that reveals the women behind the queen. It also tackles the myth of the ‘Virgin Queen’ and, as such, is a good companion to Levin’s book on Elizabeth’s politics.

This short book discusses Elizabeth as a powerful monarch and reveals the struggles behind her public image. Insecurity shaped the queen’s reign. Castor reveals the complexities involved in Elizabeth’s royal authority, and how the threats that affected her reign also influenced her rulership. Combined with Levin’s and Borman’s works, this book sheds light on the queen as a woman. Being an unmarried queen during sixteenth-century England was no easy task, and understanding the fears and insecurities Elizabeth might have felt can help us to understand her unique rulership.

Elizabeth I's public image was carefully designed, and this clip explains its main features.