All language subtitles for Elizabeth 101 - From the Prison to the Palace

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(Starkey) 'In January 1559 Elizabeth I
was crowned Queen of England.

'She was the last
of the great Tudor dynasty,

'a bright star who dazzled
both the nation and the world.'

The achievement of most stars
fades quickly

but Elizabeth's has lasted for nearly
four centuries and it's easy to see why.

She reigned for 45 tumultuous years.

Her ships defeated the Spanish Armada
and sailed round the globe.

In her time Shakespeare wrote plays
and Spenser wrote poems.

English noblemen
and foreign princes wooed her

but she, the Virgin Queen,

made love to that loyalest
of audiences, the English people.

'Elizabeth was one of the daughters
of King Henry VIII.

'But the right of women to succeed
to the throne was still in doubt

'and her path there would be perilous.

'Her father would kill her mother
and she would be disinherited.

'Her sister would imprison her in the
Tower and threaten her with execution.

'Men would love her for her
royal status, not for herself.

'She would be sexually abused
by her own stepfather.

'Most monarchs are handed
their crowns on a plate.

'Elizabeth got hers
by cunning and courage.

'Elizabeth's sex
was a disappointment to Henry.

'Astrologers had assured him

'that the baby to be born
in September 1533 would be a boy.

'He already had one daughter,
the 17-year-old Mary.

'What he wanted was a son and heir.

'Although Elizabeth was a girl,
the magnificent christening

'planned for the longed-for
prince went ahead.

'Every detail had been seen to, down to
the brazier to warm the water in the font.

'She was even proclaimed "Princess",
the title of the heir to the throne.'

Elizabeth, ego te baptiso
in nomine patris

et filii et spiritus sancti, amen.

(Starkey) 'According to
the French ambassador

'the whole occasion was so perfect
that nothing was lacking.'

Actually things were far from perfect
at Elizabeth's baptism

because Elizabeth was the child
of a second marriage

and Henry's second marriage,
like many second marriages today,

aroused very strong feelings.

For instance, the imperial ambassador
refused point-blank

to attend the baptism.

He even refused to recognise
Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother,

as Henry's wife.

Instead he sneeringly
referred to her as "the whore".

And as for little Elizabeth
she was "the bastard".

Even one of the officiating clergy,

when asked if the baby was
baptised in hot water or cold,

replied, "Hot, but not hot enough."

'Henry divorced his first wife,
Catherine of Aragon,

'because she had not given him a son
but now her replacement, Anne Boleyn,

'was having her own
gynaecological problems.

'After two miscarriages,
she had a baby boy but it was stillborn.'

Anne had failed in her principal duty
as royal breeding machine.

Meanwhile, Henry had fallen in love
with another woman - Jane Seymour.

For Anne the end came
with terrifying swiftness.

She was accused of multiple adultery

with four of the gentlemen
of the King's Chamber

and of incest with her own brother.

All of the accused were found guilty
and Anne herself was executed

here on Tower Green on 19th May 1536.

Henry showed a single gesture of mercy

towards the woman
that he'd once loved so much

and her head was removed
at a single stroke with a sword

rather than being
hacked off with the axe.

'Elizabeth was only three

'when her mother was executed
as a traitor and a whore.

'For many children this would
have been a lifelong trauma

'but Elizabeth seems to have
airbrushed her mother from her memory.

'It was to be Henry who filled her world.

'Anne Boleyn's fall marked a major
step down in the world for Elizabeth.'

Her parents' marriage
was declared null and void.

She was now illegitimate
and unable to inherit the throne.

So, instead of the Right High
and Mighty Princess

the Lady Elizabeth,
inheritrix of the Crown of England,

she became the Lady Elizabeth,
the King's second bastard daughter.

'Elizabeth's sudden loss of status

'threw the little court where she had been
brought up in into confusion.

'Even her governess, Lady Bryan,
didn't know what to do

'and wrote to the King's minister
Thomas Cromwell for guidance.'

How should the little girl be treated?

By the way, could she please
have some more clothes?

She'd outgrown everything she had.

But above all, where should she eat?

Was she old enough to eat here
in the great hall, served on the dais,

or should she continue
to eat in her chamber

where it will be easier to keep her
away from the rich foods

that were so bad
for her teeth and her digestion?

'Whatever her status
no one could forget

'that Elizabeth
was Anne Boleyn's daughter

'and it was in order to marry Anne
that Henry had broken away from Rome

'and made himself
head of the church in England.

'It was a revolution and one
of its victims was the monasteries.

'They were amongst the greatest
English landowners.

'Their assets were seized
and their buildings dismantled.

'One of them was Glastonbury Abbey,
then the largest church in England.'

When I look out from my church,
across from these ruins

I'm filled with a sense of sadness

a sense of loss
a sense of disbelief to a degree

that such destruction
could have taken place

in a country that was supposedly
very religious and Catholic.

This abbey here
was a place of pilgrimage.

The abbey contained
a statue of Our Lady,

which is what Catholics call St Mary.

And people would have
come from far and wide

to pay their respects,
to say their prayers,

to make their offerings and ask for help.

Within nine years from the Reformation,
dissolution of the monasteries

this went from being one of our
grandest Catholic churches

to pretty well
what we see around us today,

hardly one stone on top of another.

'The damage to the Catholic Church
wasn't just physical, it was spiritual too.

'Out of these ruins would grow
a new Protestant faith.

'Henry's religious revolution
would divide his country and his family.'

'Henry had now embarked
on his third marriage to Jane Seymour.

'In just over a year she gave him
the son that he craved.

'Edward, legitimate and a boy,
was now undoubted heir.'

Edwarde, quid petis ab ecclesia dei...

'Elizabeth, as his half-sister
was no more than a minor royal.

'She had once been princess herself.

'Now she was an attendant
at her baby brother's christening.

'She also lost her governess to Edward

'as Lady Bryan was transferred
to look after the young prince.

'Her replacement was Kat Ashley,

'a well-educated and devout woman
who became very close to Elizabeth.

'Her father, on the other hand
scarcely saw her,

'for royal children like Elizabeth

'were brought up in the country
away from the royal court.

'There, Henry communicated
with her by messenger.

'In December 1539
he sent Sir Thomas Risley

'to convey his Christmas greetings.'

(Reader) "She gave humble thanks,
inquiring again of His Majesty's welfare

"with as great a gravity
as if she'd been 40 years old."

And we also thank you.

(Starkey) 'Children in the 16th century

'had to join the starched and corseted
adult world as quickly as possible.

'They were expected to look
and behave like their parents.

'Even slight misdemeanours
were severely punished.

'One royal tutor advised:
"Never have the rod off a boy's back

"'and the daughter especially
should be handled without cherishing."

'But Elizabeth was lucky.

'Her tutors belonged to the new school

'which thought that kindness
was a better teacher than the cane.

'But then the young princess
was a model pupil

'and she studied languages
from the age of four.

'She became fluent in French
Italian, Latin and Greek.'

(Child) "C'est une chevet avec
des couleurs d'un million de fleurs...

"..ho in mente ci� che io vidi...

"..quod mihi persuasum est
auctoritate maiorum

"..cur ita sit, nihil tu me doces..."

'But it was how she learned
languages that mattered as well.'

She was taught by the method
of double translation.

This means that the little girl

had to translate a passage
from Latin into English

and then back again into Latin
getting it absolutely right, word for word.

For most children this would
have been an absolute torment

but Elizabeth seems
to have revelled in it.

She must have had the mind
of a computer programmer

or an expert solver
of crossword puzzles,

because she continued
to do translations

for the whole of the rest of her life.

She did them for fun and for relaxation

but she also did them
as a kind of mental discipline

to keep her emotions under control,

just as nowadays some people
might practise yoga or meditation.

'Elizabeth was the kind of daughter
of whom any father would be proud

'and this painting shows
Henry's confidence in her.

'It commemorates his decision in 1544

'to reinstate both his daughters
in the succession.

'No woman had ever sat on
the English throne before.

'Now, if Edward died without an heir

'first Mary and then Elizabeth
would become queen.

'Henry then sailed for France
to fight a war

'leaving his wife, Katherine Parr,
as regent in charge of the kingdom.

'Elizabeth now witnessed at first hand

'that an intelligent, well-educated woman
could rule effectively.

'At about this time Elizabeth
acquired a new tutor, Roger Ascham.

'He worked with the brightest minds
at Cambridge

'but he found Elizabeth
more than their equal.'

(Reader) "The lady Elizabeth
shines like a star.

"The constitution of her mind
is exempt from female weakness.

"No apprehension
can be quicker than hers."

'She demonstrated her abilities

'in an extraordinary
New Year's gift for her father.'

It's a work of prose but it shows the
12-year-old girl to have been, in her way,

just as much of a child prodigy
as the young Mozart.

It's bound in red cloth of gold,
heavily embroidered,

with Henry's initials top and bottom.

And - you can see it more clearly
on the back - in the middle, a cipher.

That's the interlaced initials for Henry

and Katherine - spelt with a K -
Katherine Parr.

The cover's the work
of a professional embroiderer

but inside it's all Elizabeth's own work.

And what work.

Page after page of perfect, beautiful,
rhythmic italic handwriting.

It shows just how far
she'd come on in a year.

Her New Year's present
of the year before to her stepmother

is filled with mistakes, corrections
second thoughts, but here, nothing!

First the Latin
then the French, then the Italian.

Not a mistake
not a mistranslation, not a blot.

Just perfection.

But it's the introductory letter that really
takes us into Elizabeth's own mind.

She addresses her father.

A very striking phrase.

"Matchless and most kind father."

She even has her own views on
the importance of the state of kingship,

the state of kingship
which philosophers say

is equivalent
to that of a god upon earth.

In love with her father, perhaps.

Even more in love
with the idea of the monarchy.

'Elizabeth had never been more
secure in her royal status.

'She basked in Henry's attention.

'In 1546 she had
this portrait painted for him

'and it shows her as she wished
to be seen by her father.

'So she's studious, one finger
marking a page in a book.

'She's pious. The book open on the
lectern beside her is certainly the Bible.

'She is the virtuous
Renaissance princess.

'But this tranquillity could not last.

'Henry, her father, was dying.

'At 13, Elizabeth was about to lose
the giant of a father whom she revered.

'The next decade would be
the most threatening period of her life.'

Christmas 1546
was a gloomy one at court.

For a long time
the King had suffered from

an old jousting injury to his leg
which had turned into a chronic ulcer.

Pus would build up
causing the leg to swell.

'The pain was intense.

'On 30th December
Henry completed his will

'and then the descent was swift.'

As Henry lay dying in his bedchamber,

outside in the gallery, Edward Seymour,
Prince Edward's uncle

was pacing up and down
with his advisers.

They were plotting the takeover
of power in the new reign.

Towards two o'clock
in the morning Henry died

clutching the hands of Archbishop
Cranmer, Elizabeth's godfather.

To make sure that there was
a smooth transfer of power,

Henry's death was kept secret
for three full days.

Finally all was ready

and Seymour brought together Edward,
now Edward VI

and his favourite sister, Elizabeth

and told them that their father was dead.

One account describes
how the two children

threw themselves into each other's arms
weeping uncontrollably.

'Little King Edward VI
had stepped into his father's shoes

'but they were several sizes
too big for him.

'He was just nine years old

'and to begin with he was the pawn
of his powerful royal councillors.

'And so was Elizabeth.
Her father's will had left her rich

'and her place in the line of the
succession made her a tempting target.

'One man in particular,
Thomas Seymour, had his eyes on her.

'The Seymour brothers,
as uncles to the young King,

'were the most powerful family
in the land.

'Thomas was bitterly jealous,
of his elder brother, Edward

'because Edward had made himself
Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector.

'Edward built
Berry Pomeroy Castle in Devon.

'It's still owned by his descendant,
John Seymour.'

Thomas, I think, was a wonderfully
flamboyant and colourful character.

Like his brother he was very ambitious

and he took most of the opportunities
that were presented to him.

He was headstrong, he probably
didn't think a great deal

about what was going to happen
as a result of his actions.

But he was undoubtedly
out to favour himself

and make the most of his opportunities
in his life, which he did.

(Starkey) 'Thomas plotted
his advancement to power

'from his base at Sudeley Castle
in Gloucestershire.'

His first idea was to marry
one of Henry VIII's daughters.

Either Mary or Elizabeth
would have done

but the council vetoed that idea.

So Seymour went for the next best thing

and proposed to Henry's widow -
Katherine Parr.

Katherine had been passionately in love
with him before she married Henry,

so she accepted him like a shot.

Elizabeth was living with Katherine,

so this meant that Seymour
wasn't only her stepfather,

he was also her guardian.

It was a position of trust
which he abused shockingly.

'At first Katherine Parr's involvement

'made Seymour's games
seem innocent enough.

'Elizabeth found Seymour
an intriguing playmate.

'He was 40 and she was just 14.

'But Seymour saw
a relationship with Elizabeth

'as a means of drawing
closer to the throne.

'His game grew darker.

'Katherine Parr
was deceived by these antics

'but Kat Ashley was worried.'

"He romped with her in the garden

"and cut her gown
into a hundred pieces."

'Seymour now got hold
of the key to Elizabeth's bedroom.

'He would come into her room
partly dressed, early in the morning.

'Sometimes he would tickle her
and slap her buttocks.'

Good morning, my lady.

Elizabeth was confused by Seymour's
behaviour and by her reaction to it.

Seymour was a handsome,
sexually charged man

and she was flattered by his attentions
but she was also scared by them.

So she would behave
as though it was all a game

and play hide-and-seek
behind the bed's curtains.

'On other occasions she would react

'as though her maidenly modesty
had been outraged.'

She'd get up early
and make sure that she was dressed

so as to avoid Seymour's attentions.

On the other hand, Kat Ashley,
Elizabeth's governess,

knew exactly what was going on.

But when she reproved Seymour
for risking Elizabeth's reputation,

he brazened it out.

He'd no intention of stopping
his behaviour, he said

because he meant no harm by it.

'But when Katherine Parr
became pregnant

'Seymour's flirtation
with Elizabeth grew more serious.

'At first Katherine could not
believe what was happening.

'Finally she was left in no doubt.'

(Parr) My lord?

Your Grace.

'Following a painful interview,
during which Elizabeth hardly spoke,

'her stepmother sent her away.

'It was the last time
Elizabeth saw Katherine.

'When she moved to Sudeley
to have the baby,

'Elizabeth wrote to her wishing her luck.

'But Katherine died
shortly after the birth of her child

'and she was buried here at Sudeley.'

In her final delirium
all her fears and jealousies

about Seymour's behaviour
had revived, with very good reason,

because Seymour soon renewed
his suit to marry Elizabeth

and this time he had
the powerful backing of Kat Ashley.

Elizabeth herself was enthusiastic

but she'd the good sense to say
that she wouldn't consider the marriage

without the backing of the council.

Seymour for his part,
hot-headed and impetuous as usual,

was too impatient to wait.

Thomas was becoming more and more
keen to attain some personal power

and to further his career.

One way of doing this was
to get Edward, the young king,

completely on his side.

I think he decided he was going
to actually abduct the King

and as he lived in the neighbouring
apartment it was very easy for him

to have conversations
and meetings with the young King.

How it happened
I don't think is really clear

but we do know that he was found
in the King's apartment

with a sword in his hand.

One of the many spaniels
the young King had started to bark

and, I suppose, in desperation
Thomas ran it through with his sword

and there was a great kerfuffle and noise

and people burst in
and Thomas was arrested.

(Starkey) 'Seymour
was charged with treason.

'His relationship with Elizabeth
made her a suspect too.

'A team of interrogators
descended on Hatfield

'to discover whether
she'd been plotting with him.

'Her closest confidante, Kat Ashley,
was arrested and taken to the Tower.

'Under threat of torture

'she described the scandalous
events of the previous summer.

'Her evidence was now used
word for word against Elizabeth.'

"Another time at Hanworth
he romped with her in the garden."

"Romped."

"..and cut her gown,

"being black cloth,
into a hundred pieces.

"And when I came
and chid Lady Elizabeth,

"she assured me
she could not strive withal

"for the Queen held her while
the Lord Admiral cut the dress.

"The Queen, suspecting the often access
of the Admiral to the Lady Elizabeth...

"came suddenly upon them
where they were all alone,

"he having her in his arms."

'Despite the evidence, Elizabeth
refused to admit any wrongdoing.

'Then a rumour began
that she was pregnant by Seymour.

'She complained bitterly to Somerset.'

"Master Tyrwhitt
has told me of rumours abroad

"that I am in the Tower
and with child by my Lord Admiral.

"These are shameful slanders.

"I shall most heartily desire
that I may come to the court

"that I may show myself as I am."

'Tyrwhitt told Somerset
he was sure she was guilty

'but he could prove nothing.

'Elizabeth had survived the crisis.

'But Seymour's guilt was clear.

'In March 1549 Somerset signed
his brother's death warrant

'and Seymour was beheaded
on Tower Hill.'

Elizabeth's brush with Thomas Seymour
marked a turning point in her young life.

It was a brutal initiation into the world
of adult politics and adult sexuality.

She'd learned the hard way
that a sexual relationship,

even a close friendship,
might mean danger, perhaps death.

She knew now
that when a man approached her

he'd got his eyes on the throne
as much as on her.

'From this point onwards
she trusted almost nobody.

'She kept her own counsel
and she concealed her true faults.

'It was her defence
against a hostile world.

'Elizabeth was left alone
in the peaceful solitude of Hatfield.

'Here she continued her studies.

'She also indulged a passion
for riding and hunting.

'The clean air and exercise
were a welcome antidote

'to the headaches and sickness that
had plagued her during the investigation

'and would recur throughout her life
during moments of stress.'

At about this time Elizabeth's,
French tutor, John Bellmain

gave her as a present his translation
of St Basil's epistle to St Gregory

on the virtues of the single life.

The saint's argument was that
marriage distracted the soul

from the worship of God.

Bearing in mind her experiences
with Thomas Seymour,

Elizabeth was well aware of the practical,
political advantages of celibacy too.

It was the same with
the saint's arguments

about temperance and sobriety of dress.

Elizabeth created a sensation at court

by turning up with her hair straight,
face unmade-up

and virtually no jewellery.

She was rehabilitating herself
after the disaster of the Seymour affair

by playing the Quaker maid.

'There was more to it than just image.

'Elizabeth was caught up
in the new Protestant mood in England.

'The crosses and candles
of the Catholic faith

'were being stripped from altars
everywhere.

'The new faith had
the enthusiastic backing

'of Elizabeth's brother
the young King Edward'.

'But by 1553 the 15-year-old King
was dying of tuberculosis.

'He was desperate to stop
the religious reforms being undone

'by his Catholic sister Mary,

'who would succeed under
the terms of their father's will.

'So he excluded her from the succession
because she was a bastard.

'But if Mary was a bastard
so too was Elizabeth.

'Instead, Edward chose
a Protestant cousin to succeed him

'the 15-year-old Lady Jane Grey.

'Anxiously, Elizabeth waited
with her armed followers at Hatfield

'to see what would happen next.

'In July 1553 Edward died.

'Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen

'and Elizabeth and Mary
were denounced as bastards.

'But Mary was Henry's elder daughter

'and in the eyes of the people
she was rightful queen.

'She was supported
by many of England's leading families.

'Sir Henry Bedingfeld,
a substantial Norfolk landowner

'was one of the first
to rally to Mary's banner.

'His descendant
still lives at Oxburgh Hall.'

Sir Henry, at Oxburgh,
gathered together 160 men

armed, as they say, cap-a-pie,

,
that is to say
with a certain amount of armour

leather jerkins, swords, certainly

and, I'm sure, a few horses.

'His role was to take this small group
of people to, first of all, Kenning Hall

'where other units such as his
were joining up to make an army

'and from there to Framlingham
where the army swelled.'

And they marched from there
to London with Queen Mary.

Princess Elizabeth joined them en route.

As custom dictated, at the gates of the
city of London they left the army behind

and Elizabeth and Mary
rode into the city of London

to wild rejoicing
and cheers from the crowd.

(Starkey) 'In the face
of this overwhelming support for Mary

'the opposition collapsed.

'Lady Jane Grey was later
beheaded at the Tower.

'On July 19th 1553
Mary was proclaimed Queen.

'Her vision was to lead England back
to the true Catholic faith.

'Elizabeth's Protestantism
marked her out as a potential enemy.'

For the first two months of Mary's reign

Elizabeth contrived to avoid
going to Mass.

Finally Mary issued an ultimatum.

Elizabeth was to attend Mass
on the 8th September,

the day of the Nativity
of the Blessed Virgin.

Cornered at last, Elizabeth sought
an interview with Mary at Richmond.

She threw herself
on her knees before the Queen

tears streaming down her face.

She explained that she'd never
been taught the old faith

and could she have priests
to instruct her?

Oh, yes, and she would go to Mass.

But on the morning
she developed a diplomatic chill

and rather spoiled
the solemnity of the occasion

by complaining, loudly,
of a bad stomach.

Neither Mary nor anyone else
was deceived.

Mary and Elizabeth had different
attitudes to their religions.

Mary, of the old religion,

would have had a slightly mechanistic
expression of her religion.

Not that she wasn't devout
and spiritual, I'm sure she was,

but her religion involved doing things,

pilgrimages, saying the rosary,
making signs of the cross.

'For Elizabeth, those things
didn't feature in her faith.

People of the new religion would have
been much more Bible-based

and would have interpreted the Bible
in the light of their own reason,

rather than relying on
an authority from Rome

telling them what the Bible meant.

(Starkey) 'Mary now tried to guarantee
the Catholic future of England

'by marrying King Philip of Spain.

'But Mary's passionate love for
a foreign prince was deeply unpopular

'and Philip's envoys
were pelted with snowballs.

'Mary brushed aside the protests.

'Elizabeth became a figurehead
for Mary's opponents.

'Early in 1554 she received a letter

'from a gentleman
called Sir Thomas Wyatt.

'He told her that he intended to rebel
to prevent the Spanish marriage.

'Elizabeth didn't reply in writing.

'Instead she told Wyatt's messenger
with careful ambiguity

'that she would do
as God would direct her.

'Within days Wyatt had raised
an army of 7,000 men

'in the southeast
and marched on London.

'As Wyatt's army
drew closer to the capital

'there was panic in Mary's court.

'Mary ordered Elizabeth
to come to Whitehall

'where she could be kept under control.

'But Elizabeth claimed that she was ill.

'Mary's doctors confirmed the, illness
but said, nevertheless

'that she was well enough to travel.

'It took her 11 days
to cover the 23 miles to London.

'By the time she arrived
Wyatt's rebellion had collapsed.

'He had overestimated
support for his cause.

'Wyatt was beheaded
and quartered on Tower Hill.

'At first Elizabeth was detained
and interrogated at Whitehall,

'then it was decided
to send her to the Tower.

'The night before the journey
Elizabeth wrote to Mary.

'She was writing for her life.'

"I most humbly beseech Your Majesty

"that I be not condemned
without answer and due proof

"which it seems that I now am.

"For without cause proved
I am commanded to go to the Tower,

"a place more wanted for a false traitor
than a true subject."

'This is the letter that Elizabeth writes

'at this most desperate
moment of her life.'

She begins with a fine, firm, clear hand

but gradually, as the pressure
of circumstances gets to her -

remember, she thought that she'd only
days before she was executed -

the handwriting becomes looser
and more irregular.

She makes mistakes
and then she corrects them.

But finally she's run out of things
to say and time to say them in

and still she's only a quarter
of the way down the second page.

Then, as a primitive security device

to stop anybody
forging her handwriting

and making incriminating
additions to the letter

she draws long diagonal strokes
that almost fill up the page.

'They leave just space
at the bottom for a postscript.'

"'I humbly crave but
only one word with yourself."

'It summarises the entire letter.

'And then at the right she signs off.

"'Your Highness's most faithful
subject from the beginning

"'and shall be to my end."'

Elizabeth's letter was a long one.

Deliberately so, because
by the time she had finished

the tide was too high

for a boat to be able to make
the journey safely to the Tower.

She'd bought herself
a few precious hours

but to no avail.

Mary didn't even deign to reply.

'Early the next morning Elizabeth
was rowed up the river to the Tower.

'The rain was falling in a steady drizzle.

'Elizabeth knew that most of those
who made this voyage

'would never make another.'

When Elizabeth landed
the river was very high

and the steps were very slippery.

She found it difficult to keep her feet.

She found it even more difficult
to control her terror.

"I never thought
to come here a prisoner.

"I beseech you all,
my friends and fellows,

"bear witness that I come here no traitor

"but as true a subject to the Queen's
majesty as any now alive."

At the top of the steps
stood the soldiers.

They were there to guard her.

Instead they fell on their knees crying,
"God save Your Grace!"

This is the room in the bell tower

where Elizabeth is supposed
to have been imprisoned.

The eight weeks
of her captivity in the Tower

were the darkest days of her entire life.

As so often happened at moments
of psychological crisis she fell ill.

She thought constantly of death.

After all, she was only
a few yards from the spot

where her mother had been executed.

She prayed to be delivered
from the same fate.

'Two months dragged by.

'Still there was no word from Mary.

'Elizabeth could only expect the worst.

'On the morning of 19th May 1554

'Sir Henry Bedingfield,
Mary's staunch supporter,

'arrived at the Tower with 100 men.

'Elizabeth believed
that she was about to die

'and from Mary's point of view
she deserved to.

'Mary knew that she had been
involved in the Wyatt plot

'but Elizabeth had cleverly
covered her tracks.

'Without positive proof

'Mary couldn't risk executing
the heir to the throne.

'Bedingfield took Elizabeth
to Woodstock Palace near Oxford.'

The relationship that
Elizabeth had with Sir Henry

was, from Sir Henry's point of
view, a very professional one.

From her point of view,
I should think thoroughly frustrating

because he was there
with a bunch of keys

and he kept her locked in.
The garden gates were locked.

If she wanted to go for a walk someone
had to accompany her, an armed guard.

She couldn't receive anything
in case there were messages involved

and she, in fact, called him, "my jailer".

(Starkey) 'Elizabeth was locked up
for almost a year

'before Mary summoned her.

'The Queen believed
that she was pregnant

'and she wanted Elizabeth
to play a part in the christening.

'But it was a phantom pregnancy
and as his wife sickened

'Philip's attitude to Elizabeth changed.

'He thought that he could use her
to keep control of England

'by marrying her to a friend.'

In the autumn of 1555 Elizabeth
got Mary's permission to leave court

and to come here to the peace and
security of her country estate at Hatfield.

She wanted to escape the court

with its poisonous atmosphere
of intrigue and surveillance.

But she also wished
to put a metaphorical distance

between herself and Mary's government
because that summer

the burning of Protestants
had really got underway.

'More than 300 people met
this horrible death during Mary's reign.

'A few were lucky.

'Kind executioners would tie
bags of gunpowder to their legs

'to finish them off quickly.

'Most roasted alive.

'Every death created a martyr
for the Protestant cause.

'Making England Catholic
wasn't going to be easy.

'Sensing that her time was near

'Elizabeth fiercely resisted Philip's plans

'to marry her off to a Catholic prince,
the Duke of Savoy.

'She would be no one's puppet.

'Mary was dying but still she resisted
naming Elizabeth as her successor.

'Ten days before her death
she finally relented

'under pressure from her council.'

It was 17th November 1558.

Towards noon
messengers arrived at Hatfield

to inform Elizabeth
that her sister Mary was dead

and that she was now Queen.

The story goes that they found
her walking in the park

underneath a great oak tree.

As they fell on their knees before her
she too knelt

uttering the words of the 118th psalm,

"A Domino factum est
et mirabile in oculis nostris."

"This is the Lord's doing
and it is marvellous in our eyes."

'The Spanish ambassador, De Feria,

'told Elizabeth she owed her throne
not to the lord but to King Philip.

'Elizabeth would have none of it.'

(Reader) "She is a very vain
and clever woman.

"She puts great store by all the people
who put her in her present position

"and she will not acknowledge
that Your Majesty had any part in it.

"She is determined
to be governed by no one."

On Wednesday 23rd November,

Elizabeth rode through these great gates
of the Charterhouse in London

to take possession of her capital.

Her journey from Hatfield had
turned into a triumphal progress.

She was accompanied with a great train

of a thousand lords
ladies and gentlemen!

and vast, cheering crowds
greeted her arrival.

'Elizabeth consulted
the astrologer Dr John Dee

'before choosing Sunday 15th January
1559 for her coronation.

'The Queen walked along
lengths of blue cloth

'from Westminster Hall
to the entrance to Westminster Abbey.

'The crowds behind her fell on the cloth
cutting off pieces as souvenirs.'

Today Elizabeth would play the part
that she had understudied so long -

and in what a setting.

Her christening at Greenwich
had been high theatre

but her coronation in Westminster Abbey

would be a performance
on the grandest scale.

First Elizabeth was acclaimed
by the people and swore the oath.

Next her outer robes were removed

and she knelt, solemnly,
for the anointing.

Bishop Oglethorpe anointed her
in the seven traditional places -

shoulder blades
breasts, palms of the hand

and finally on the crown of the head.

Then she was enthroned.

'Successively three different
crowns were put on her head

'and, on her fourth finger, a ring

'as a symbol of the mystical marriage
between Elizabeth and her kingdom.'

Tradition, mystery and symbolism

had made her Queen of England
as fully and completely

as any of her predecessors
had been king.

Elizabeth at last wore the crown.

Now came the difficult bit.

She had to show that she could
grasp the reality of power

and govern a divided country.

To do that she had to disprove
two widespread assumptions -

that no monarch could ever match
the achievement of her father

and that no woman could ever
make an effective ruler.

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