Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years

The authoritative new portrait, focusing on the unknown later years and based – incredibly – on new documents. History has pictured Elizabeth I as Gloriana, an icon of strength. But it was only when she reached fifty and her advisers no longer sought to force her into marriage that she began to wield power in her own right. For twenty-five years – the period that writers have chiefly focused on until now – she had struggled to assert her authority. Now, she was determined not only to reign but to rule. In this ground-breaking biography, John Guy introduces us to a refreshingly unfamiliar Elizabeth- at once powerful and vulnerable, wilful and afraid. She confronts the challenges of a conspiracy to place Mary Queen of Scots on her throne, a ruinous war against the Catholic powers of France and Spain, and riots in London. She reluctantly allows Sir Walter Ralegh to set up a colony in Virginia, is unpopular even with those who fight for her and wonders which of her military and naval commanders she can trust. After years mining long-overlooked archives, and making fresh use of Elizabeth’s many letters, some newly discovered, John Guy sweeps away myths and reveals her innermost thoughts. At last we hear her in her own voice – and see the woman behind the polished veneer, racked by insecurity, often too anxious to sleep alone. Guy’s gripping narrative captures with dramatic immediacy the challenge of being both a woman and a queen. This is the real Elizabeth, for the first time.