All language subtitles for The Queens That Changed the World s01e01 Elizabeth I.eng

Across the centuries,
and around the world...

..women have ruled kingdoms
and built empires.

She could not be hidden,
she could not be suppressed.

Now, we'll discover the real story
of six iconic queens.

She tore the city down.

Despite the fire, despite
the whole city being massacred,

we still have these walls.

In this series, we'll follow
in the footsteps...

Here it is, the Chapel Royal,
a pretty magical place.

..of history's most important
female monarchs...

She believed that every single man
who fought on the battlefield

in her name,
was worthy of honour and respect.

..to find out how they overcome
the prejudices of their times...

She is their mother,

she is their commander,
she is their goddess.

..and the challenges
facing their reigns.

This was a dangerous place to be,

she wouldn't have shown any fear,
but I'm sure she felt it.

..to change their world, and ours.

She is sassy, she is fearless.

She is the badass queen.

9th August 1588.

Queen Elizabeth I is about to make

the most important speech
of her life.

This was undoubtedly

the greatest danger that
Elizabeth had ever faced.

And so she must have been
full of fear.

Over 120 ships from Spain,

the most powerful nation
in the world,

are on their way
to invade Elizabeth's realm

and remove her from the throne.

Spain is this great superpower.

It looks like England is

going to be crushed
under Spain's boot.

To save herself, and her country,
Elizabeth must stop this armada.

This is such a defining moment
in female sovereignty.

But just over 50 years earlier,

the idea that Elizabeth would be
a warrior queen was unimaginable.

May 1536.

Elizabeth's mother,
Anne Boleyn,

is being held prisoner
at the Tower of London.

To say Elizabeth suffered

a difficult childhood
would be something

of an understatement.

She only just managed
to escape with her life.

Anne stands accused of committing
adultery with five men,

including incest
with her own brother.

But her real crime was failing
to give her husband,

King Henry VIII, a male heir.

Just over two and a half
years earlier,

Anne had given birth their daughter,
Princess Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's birth was
a crushing disappointment

for Henry VIII.

He desperately needed a male heir.

This was not an age where
England accepted queens.

But unlike her father,

her mother, Anne,
doted on her daughter.

Anne Boleyn nurtured her young baby
infant Elizabeth,

placing her on a cushion
next to her

rather than remotely in a nursery.

Reportedly,

Anne actually wanted
to breast-feed her own daughter.

Typically, a royal child
would've been sent

to a wet nurse.

So that gives us some insight

as to the kind of mother
that Anne Boleyn was.

Now, Anne is found
guilty of adultery,

incest and high treason.

On the King's orders,
Elizabeth's mother is beheaded.

Elizabeth is not yet
three years old.

20 miles north of London,

and far from the political intrigue
of the royal court,

is the Palace of Hatfield.

Where at three months old,
Princess Elizabeth was brought here,

and this was home,

this was where she had
her childhood.

It was very likely
that Elizabeth was here

when she found out that her mother
had been beheaded.

She was less than three
when Anne Boleyn was executed,

but she knew immediately that
something profound had happened.

She famously asked her governor,

"Why are people calling me
just Lady Elizabeth,

"not Princess Elizabeth?
What's changed?"

According to her father,
Elizabeth is now illegitimate.

She's called a bastard.
So she's no longer a princess,

which is a huge thing.

Being declared a bastard at three
years old is absolutely incredible.

It's a label that would haunt
Elizabeth throughout her childhood.

She would've been left feeling quite
insecure about her own safety

and security.

If her father could have her mother
beheaded, what might happen to her?

Elizabeth was painfully aware that
people didn't expect any good of her

because of who her mother was.

She was known as the "Little Whore"

because her mother, Anne Boleyn,
was the "Great Whore".

And so,

she set out from
her early teens, really,

to project this image of purity.

She was always seen with
a religious book in her hand.

She dressed very soberly in order

to project this idea that
she was morally beyond reproach,

unlike her mother.

Elizabeth quickly develops
a survival strategy,

which she describes in a letter.

"It is my nature not to say in words
as much as I think in my mind".

She was humble, she was obedient.

She's not.

She pretended to be
what they wanted her to be.

It's a tactic she would use
again and again, even as Queen.

She is as slippery to us
as historians as she was

to the people that surrounded her.

And that may have just
saved her life.

November 1558.

Elizabeth is sitting under
an oak tree at Hatfield Palace

when she discovers
her half-sister,

Mary I, has died.

It's news that will change
the 25-year-old princess' life,

and the world, forever.

Elizabeth is last in the line of her
siblings in her father's succession.

It's going to go Edward,
then Mary, then her.

Now, Elizabeth is queen.

She was supposedly either
eating an apple or reading

a book when she was told
she was Queen of England.

It was said that she said
it was the Lord's doing,

and it was marvellous in our eyes.

It's a huge moment.

It's a defining moment.

It's that transition moment that she
thought may never have happened.

The new queen is keen
to assert her authority.

Just three days after ascending
to the throne, she calls

the first meeting
of her closest advisers,

the Privy Council,
in this room at Hatfield Palace.

You can really gain a sense
of the intimacy.

It's just amazing that
we get to walk into a space

with such history,
and it's such a small room,

but it's such a powerful moment
in Elizabeth's life.

In this first council,

she charges her counsellors
to commit to her,

to commit to her reign.

She had to command the room

and she had to assert
her authority.

Elizabeth knows she has inherited
a kingdom in trouble.

When Elizabeth comes to the throne,

she inherits the economy
that her father destroyed.

Her brother has instituted

a prayer book that was unpopular,

that led to an uprising.

His government also allowed

the enclosure of common land
that people had once been able

to graze their sheep or cows upon.

This has now been enclosed.

This leads to another rebellion.

Mary's reign had been brief
and pretty disastrous.

She had been determined to put
her stamp on the country

in terms
of her Catholic religion.

Elizabeth's going to have
to reconstruct

a nation in chaos,

financially, religiously,

diplomatically, internationally.

Absolute nightmare that she's
going to have to fix, somehow.

She was inheriting a big job.

She's now the queen

and commanding every room
that she ever will walk into.

I imagine it was very overwhelming
for her.

I imagine there were moments
where she probably felt fear.

Few people expect
that she'll succeed.

In Tudor England, women were
very much second class citizens.

They were considered inferior
in every single respect.

Physically,
intellectually, spiritually.

The rule of a woman is
a thing against nature,

is against
God's natural order.

For a woman to come
to the throne requires

accidents of fate to happen,

requires princes to die,

requires a situation
where blood trumps gender.

But Elizabeth will prove
the world wrong.

Elizabeth I is the definition
of a badass queen.

She is not going to be
dominated by anyone.

15th January 1559.

Today, two months after
she ascended to the throne,

Elizabeth I is being crowned.

At her coronation,
the 25-year-old queen

is going to resolve an issue

that's been plaguing England
for decades

once and for all.

It was a long-established
tradition that the monarch

would set out
for their coronation

from the Tower of London,
and Elizabeth did just that.

The coronation procession
sets off from

the Tower of London,
heading towards Westminster Abbey.

Elizabeth must have experienced

a whole set of conflicting emotions
at being back.

Her own mother had been
put to death at the tower.

It was one of the worst places
on earth for Elizabeth.

But she was returning in triumph
as Queen of England.

She was carried in
a litter of yellow and gold.

And everybody had come out

to see this very glamorous
young queen who had more than

a whiff of scandal about her past.

Now she is Queen,

Elizabeth would no longer
be shamed.

Anne Boleyn's name had hardly been
mentioned since her execution

more than 20 years before.

But now Elizabeth celebrated her.

There was a life sized model
of Anne Boleyn

on the processional route.

She celebrated her.

She was proud to be
the daughter of Anne Boleyn.

Elizabeth arrives
at Westminster Abbey

where 20 Kings of England have been
crowned over the past 500 years.

Entering this church,
Elizabeth knows that

England's religious divisions
must be tackled

if she's going to keep her throne.

Elizabeth knows that
when she comes to the throne,

at least half her subjects think
she has no right to be there.

Ever since her father broke away
from the Roman Catholic Church

in 1534 to marry her mother,

England has been divided.

While the country
remained Protestant

under her brother, Edward VI,

her sister, Mary I,
was a devout Catholic.

Mary attempts to reinforce
ardent Roman Catholic worship

on the country.

Those who fail to adhere
to this will be punished

in the most extraordinary way,
publicly.

"We're going to burn you alive."

It's during the coronation
ceremony itself,

Elizabeth chooses to reveal
exactly how she will rule.

With the accession of Elizabeth,
a Protestant queen,

I think there was an expectation
that she was going to take revenge

against all of the persecution
that her sister

Mary had imposed
against Protestants.

Elizabeth passes a book
to the bishop leading the ceremony

and fixes him
with a steely look.

Elizabeth's approach to religion

was dramatically different
to what had gone before.

She wants the gospel
to be read twice,

once in Latin, and once in English.

This has never been done
at any coronation before.

Elizabeth was undoubtedly
Protestant in her heart.

She'd been raised that way,
but above all else,

she was a pragmatist.

She wanted unity in her kingdom.

She wanted an end
to these deep-seated divisions

between Catholics
and Protestants.

So her aim as the new queen
of England was to unite

the warring factions
in her country.

The language you could pray in

was a major point of contention

between Catholics and Protestants.

Using both Latin and English
in her coronation ceremony,

Elizabeth is signalling
that there is space

for both kinds of worship
in her kingdom.

It's reported that she says
she doesn't seek

to make windows into men's souls.

And what this, I think, means is
as long as you conform outwardly

to the things that matter,

as long as you attend
the Church of England,

because that's important,
messages from the crown come there.

This is how we build communities.

This is how we make you loyal.

As long as you attend
those frequently enough,

you can believe what you want
in private.

Four months after her coronation,
Elizabeth's radical attitude

to religion is made law,

changing the world forever
by helping to establish

a religion still practised today.

I think the religious settlement

is probably one of Elizabeth's
greatest achievements.

She is absolutely asserting
her authority over

a male dominated court
and a male dominated church.

It was a huge moment in
the history of the monarchy.

Without it,
we wouldn't have

the Church of England
as it is today.

1563.

Elizabeth has been on
the throne for five years.

She's single,

and has a genius plan
to use her relationship status

to enhance her power
on the world stage.

The way for women in this period
to secure their power,

their place in society,

whether they are
a farmer's wife or indeed

in the royal court,
is through marriage.

And Elizabeth at this stage
in her life,

is really no different.

There is a huge and mounting
pressure for her to marry.

This is the first
full-length portrait

commissioned by the palace.

It will be sent to the most
eligible bachelors in Europe.

In the Tudor period, flowers,

both in paintings and in real life,

are a way of encoding messages

and saying things to people.

And in this image,

there are an abundance
of flowers behind her.

We are being told by this
that she is fertile.

She's young, she's beautiful,
she's in bloom.

The pearls that are draped
across her body,

they're a symbol of purity,
and in this context,

when she's a young woman
looking to marry,

this is about purity
on the marriage market.

In Elizabeth's hand is a carnation,

and this is a really clear symbol
of matrimony.

It's a flower that she is holding
close to her body.

She's ready to give herself
as a bride.

But in reality,

when it comes to agreeing to
a match, Elizabeth seems hesitant.

After your dad's
had your mother beheaded,

I think it's reasonable
to think that she would have

a view of marriage
as being dangerous.

After her mother's death,
her father's next wife is one

of her mother's ladies-in-waiting,
Jane Seymour.

Jane passes away,

not long after Edward's birth from
complications from childbirth.

Henry, her father,

will go on to marry
three more times.

Anne of Cleves, that's a disaster.

Catherine Howard
ends in an execution.

It's said that after her stepmother
Catherine Howard is dragged

to her execution,
pleading for her life,

an eight-year-old Elizabeth
declares that she will never marry.

Elizabeth's early life experiences
perhaps left her feeling

uncomfortable with
the idea of marriage,

on an emotional level.

One of the things we know

is that when you haven't had

really consistent warm,
nurturing relationships

with early attachment figures
in your life,

you are more likely to remain single

and you are more likely
to want to be self-reliant

and to not want to commit
to an intimate relationship.

It's Elizabeth's final stepmother,
Katherine Parr,

who takes care of her when
her father, Henry VIII, dies.

Elizabeth goes and lives with
Katherine after her father's death,

and also with Katherine's
new husband,

Thomas Seymour,
who is not a good man.

We have records of,
you know, we found them together.

He's half-naked.

He's trying to tickle her.

She is potentially
a victim of grooming

and what we would now see
as child sexual exploitation.

Perhaps she chose

not to have any truck
with men because of that.

And yet, as Queen,
Elizabeth is willing

to entertain a whole host
of suitors.

She was not indecisive.

She was doing exactly
what she wanted,

playing the cards she was given

in a male dominated world.

Elizabeth knew her value
as a bride

on the international
marriage market.

So she gave a very willing ear

to a whole suite of different
suiters from across Europe,

keeping them in play,

giving them just
enough encouragement

to talk of alliance,

and then always backing out
at the last moment.

Elizabeth is using
her single status

as the ultimate diplomatic tool.

She knows if a foreign prince
is courting her,

he cannot also go to war with her.

They keep bringing men,
and she plays with men's vanity,

believes that,
yes, they can woo her,

they can change her mind.

The fact that she could pretend
that she just might,

was part of her absolute genius
as queen.

1581.

Elizabeth has just rejected
another suitor.

The proposal by
Francis, Duke of Anjou,

was widely considered her
last chance to get married.

Now aged 48, she's seen as past it.

What Elizabeth was doing
in choosing to be queen

without a husband,

without going down the
conventional path for women

was incomprehensible
to her subjects,

to the world.

They just had no explanation
for this.

They couldn't understand it.

How could a woman rule her own life,
let alone her country without a man

to tell her what to do?

But Elizabeth will use men
to keep her grip on power

and leave her mark on the world.

February 1577.

At her Palace in Greenwich,

Queen Elizabeth I has just met

with a privateer called
Francis Drake.

She has given Drake
the equivalent of around �60,000

to carry out a secret mission.

One that will not only break
international law

but leave a stain on her country's
reputation for centuries to come.

In the 1550s, when Elizabeth I
became Queen of England,

England was financially in
a very difficult situation.

Therefore, the monarch
and her Privy Council looked

for opportunistic moments where
money could be obtained.

Ten months after their meeting,
Drake sets sail aboard the Pelican,

his iconic ship that would later be
known as the Golden Hind.

Officially he is attempting
to be the first Englishman

to circumnavigate the globe.

But his real mission from the Queen
is to raid Spanish ships

laden with riches
from the New World.

Francis Drake headed up
a band of pirates.

They very much ran around
as, like, renegades on the seas,

attacking Spanish settlements
and Spanish ships,

taking gold, resources,

things that would be financially
beneficial for England.

From one ship alone, Drake stole
treasure worth the equivalent

of around �480 million
in today's money.

But his voyage of discovery didn't
just fill the Queen's coffers.

North of Mexico, Drake claims
England's first territory

in the New World - New Albion.

Elizabeth was instrumental in
beginning the colonisation

of America precisely because she
sanctioned it.

Elizabeth saw colonisation as a
crucial step in funding the country,

but also establishing England on
the world stage.

At this point, the Spanish
and Portuguese empires

had really dominated the New World,
so this was important for England

to position itself as an empire
rather than just a single country.

Elizabeth is so instrumental in
colonising the New World

that in 1585, when
Sir Walter Raleigh tries to set up

the first permanent English
settlement in North America,

he calls it Virginia
in honour of his Queen.

And these new colonies would change
England forever.

People like Walter Raleigh
and Drake,

they brought in goods that were new
and unusual to this country.

Some of these goods and services
have become part

and parcel of English culture -
tobacco, cigarettes.

The potato - that we might regard as
being an entirely English thing,

of course it's not. It comes about
as a result of Englishmen being

involved in these
sorts of activities.

But Elizabeth is also involved
in the beginnings

of a much darker trade.

During Elizabeth's reign, this was
the first time that the English

had participated in the enslavement
of African people.

John Hawkins, another of Elizabeth's
state-sanctioned pirates,

made three expeditions
to West Africa during the 1560s -

all enthusiastically supported
by the Queen,

and all to enslave Africans.

If Elizabeth hadn't sponsored
the likes of Sir Walter Raleigh

and John Hawkins
and the other pirates, essentially,

history would be very different.

This was the beginning of
the transatlantic slave trade.

1585 - Elizabeth is 52 years old.

A new portrait of her is
being painted,

and this new image will cement her
power not only in her reign,

but throughout the centuries.

Elizabeth really becomes
the queen of spin.

She is a master manipulator
of her image

and what it can do in the world.

What's so important about Elizabeth,
about this portrait in particular

is that she's really
pioneering artworks, portraiture

as a way to tell her story,
and she's the first monarch

who really harnesses
that to her advantage.

For years, Elizabeth has actively
promoted herself as a virgin.

Let's not go into that
if it was true or not,

but so many ambassadors reporting
that Robert Dudley left

the private chamber of the Queen
at 4am in the morning -

honestly, did they play chess
all night?

Now that carefully curated image
is a liability.

There is no clear heir,

which leaves a huge question
mark over the entirety of her reign.

That lack of security over what
the future will hold.

This carefully curated image-making
is more than mere vanity.

It's absolutely essential to project
Elizabeth's authority.

And as a female ruler, she has to
work so much harder than a man.

This latest portrait is
going to weaponise her virginity.

To the side of her, pawing at her
arm, we have this ermine.

The ermine is, in some ways,
perhaps a surprising addition

to the portrait. It doesn't
necessarily seem to fit in there,

but its pure white fur is
a reference perhaps

to Elizabeth's virginity.

And the fact that we see it here
with Elizabeth,

it's a living animal. It has
apparently a relationship with her.

It's touching her.
It's accompanying her.

We're seeing in this moment that
she is doubling down on that idea

of her virginity as her power,

as the power that she wields
in the world.

Elizabeth is no longer
a virgin queen,

she is THE Virgin Queen.

By becoming the Virgin Queen, she
turns what could be a bad thing,

ie that she's not marrying and she's
not securing this succession,

into a good thing, because she
projects this image

that she stands alone, that she has
no room to marry another

because she's already
the bride of the nation,

that her whole life is dedicated
to the service of England.

So she turns what could be her
greatest weakness

into her greatest strength.

Soon all images of Elizabeth will be
carefully controlled by law.

And they all have
a distinctive look.

The role of monarchy is
to promote consistency

so, therefore, to keep presenting
yourself in the same way,

looking the same way.

But Elizabeth's appearance is
changing. She's ageing.

The fact that Elizabeth's power was
so bound up with her public image

made it a huge challenge for her
as she began to age.

Many women fear that, as we age,
we somehow become less than,

less capable, less desirable. We'd
lose some of our power, perhaps,

and it's as if Elizabeth knew this
ahead of her time,

that she knew that part of holding
on to her power as Queen

was going to necessitate her doing
whatever she could

to hold back the clock.

Ever thicker layers of make-up
were applied, wigs were used -

all of these various little tricks
to give the impression

that Elizabeth was
eternally youthful.

If you look at her portraits,

you would think she didn't change
from the age of 25

to the age of almost 70.

Now, that was about more
than just vanity.

It was vital to betray no sign
of physical weakness.

She had to remain invincible.

From the 1590s, all portraits of
the Queen show her

with what's become known as
the Mask of Youth.

The classic Elizabeth is
the white face,

the sort of otherworldly beauty.

Elizabeth doesn't age.

That's not true - everyone does!
But Elizabeth doesn't age.

She's still magnificent
and beautiful.

Right until the end of her reign,
she's holding on to this idea

of herself, this version of herself
as a youthful virgin queen.

Early August 1588 - Elizabeth has
made a 25-mile journey

down the River Thames
to Tilbury, Essex.

It's just amazing to be here. I've
studied Elizabeth for so many years.

I've never actually walked in
her footsteps here

and imagined her arriving
on the 8th August by barge

from central London,
from St James's Palace.

And apparently shots rang out
to salute her.

Elizabeth is greeted not only
by celebratory gunfire,

but 3,000 soldiers.

These troops are at Tilbury
to defend Queen and country

against a Spanish invasion.

Spain is this great superpower. It's
a huge threat to England to have

the biggest power in the world
kind of knocking on their door

with their massive navy.

Ever since Elizabeth rejected
Philip II's marriage proposal,

Spain and England had been engaged
in an unofficial war.

Spain is Catholic, and now England,
under Elizabeth, is Protestant.

England is seen as a religious
threat. England is seen as a threat

to their empire that has
to be dealt with.

Now over 120 Spanish ships are
in the English Channel.

Spain amassed an enormous fleet
with the blessings of the Pope.

It had been imbued now with
a religious purpose,

not just a political
and an economic one.

This heretic Protestant nation
that had forsaken God

now had to be brought to heal.

For the past ten days, Elizabeth's
sailors have been fighting

this armada at sea.

Now there are rumours a Spanish
invasion force could land today.

Elizabeth has come to what could
soon be the front line.

This was all pretty unprecedented
for a woman.

Kings had led armies in battles
in history, but not queens,

so it was quite extraordinary.

She came here to inspect
the blockhouse

that was just behind me here.
Now, that was absolutely key,

strategically, because the
blockhouse defended the Thames.

Now she's here, Elizabeth
can see preparations

for the imminent invasion aren't
going well.

Worse still,
morale among the troops is low.

The men here were tired,
they were hungry,

many of them were unpaid,

and I think Elizabeth knew that
she had to do something.

Instead of returning to a nearby
manor house for the night,

it's said Elizabeth stayed here
to dine with her troops.

This is a woman who's used
to dining in luxurious palaces,

being served the best food,
yet she's here

in a kind of mess room
with her troops.

Conditions couldn't have been
that pleasant,

but Elizabeth didn't seem
to care what it was like here.

The point of her being here was
to show solidarity with her men,

to inspire them
for what might lie ahead.

It's absolutely crucial that she
boosts morale to see off

this greatest threat that England
had faced in about 500 years.

Tomorrow, Elizabeth is scheduled
to inspect her troops.

But she has decided she needs
to do more than that.

She has to go and address
her troops

and so she'll have been working on
this speech probably up late

in the night, thinking about what
she's going to say,

because it has to absolutely hit
the nail on the head

and be something that's going to
turn these men, who are tired

and hungry, into troops who are
ready to face the enemy.

And that's all now down
to Elizabeth.

Queen Elizabeth I is in Tilbury,

ready to review her troops on Gun
Hill ahead of a Spanish invasion.

Spain was one of the most powerful
nations in Western Europe.

England was not.

And not only was it not,
it was not prepared.

What happens next will become one
of the most iconic moments

not only of Elizabeth's reign,
but of any reign in history.

It's quite something, standing here
and looking out towards Gun hill.

I can see the church there

and that would've been there in
Elizabeth's day.

She could have just travelled over
there by carriage,

like she did around London
most of the time.

But instead, she rides out from here
on horseback.

She wants to portray herself as this
great military leader,

and she's dressed like that,

apparently with a plumed helmet
and a steel breastplate.

She has to make an impact.

Everything rested on what she was
now going to say to her troops.

Never had her words counted for more
than they did now.

"My loving people."

Not my obedient servants,
not my royal subjects -

my loving people.

She's not saying,
"You must obey me."

She's inviting them to love her.

It's almost as if she's being
maternal towards her troops

and saying,
"Let's do this together."

It's completely over the top.
If there was even a moment

where a sword came remotely close
to English soil

that had a Spaniard behind it,
she would be away,

locked up in the White Tower
of London,

hoping that this all went away.

But the speech she gives
is a masterclass

in what she sees queenship is,

how she views her own character, and
what she thinks her strengths are.

She might not be as strong as
the men who are on the field.

In the end, it's her courage -
heart, stomach, right? -

that matter most.

And on that, there's no-one
who is her equal

because she's a king.

I think Elizabeth sees herself as
more than female.

She has this idea that rulers have a
body politic and a body natural.

So the body politic is the office,
and that can be held by anyone.

The body natural can be female,
but the office is genderless.

And I think Elizabeth really
realises the potential of this,

that she can be beyond gender,
that she can be king,

that she can be prince, that she can
be the ruler,

that she can be the sovereign,
and the fact that she's a woman

bears no import to her ability
to lead.

She is furious
that anybody should dare to invade.

She's really firing up her men
to feel furious with her.

When she described the King of Spain
attempting to invade her lands,

to invade her shores, she conjured
up an image for Englishmen

that they had to defend her honour
and defend her virginity.

This was a very powerful image
to push the men of the nation

to defend that nation in a way
in which a male monarch cannot.

Days later, Elizabeth is able
to declare victory

over the Spanish Armada.

What happened was unimaginable.
Elizabeth should have lost.

At first, we're going to have fake
news saying that, actually,

the English have lost because it
could not have gone any other way.

But soon the world would learn
the truth.

It spread in Morocco,
a Muslim empire,

and the Emperor saw
Elizabeth as his equal.

And in a Muslim country,
they were saying

that Elizabeth was a strong woman,
was a strong leader.

Even Elizabeth's greatest enemy
on Earth, the Pope,

is impressed at this moment. He
says, you know,

"She's only a woman, she's only
mistress of half an island,

"yet she makes herself feared."

Elizabeth wants to fully claim
the victory.

Riding on this victory, she creates
what is essentially a work

of powerful and almost
unprecedented propaganda.

The Armada Portrait is really
a masterclass

in how to assemble
an Elizabethan portrait.

There's three separate versions,

which tells you just how important
this image is.

Once she won against Spain, she no
longer needs to be

the Virgin Mary who was pure and
almost perfect,

because now she is the equal of any
kings, of any emperors.

Have you seen her arms? You have two
tiny hands

and you have the arm of a man.

And she touches with one hand
a globe.

And here what she's saying is like,

"I'm now a player,
and England intends to be a player."

Her whole body here is bedecked
in jewels.

We have them all across her dress.
We have them in her hairpiece,

in her ruffs. But, most importantly,
there's one pearl

that hangs down over her genitals.

Now, in the portraiture of her
father's court, Henry VIII's court,

male genitalia were often covered
with a codpiece,

and a big codpiece suggested male
virility, male power.

It became a symbol of
a powerful king.

In Elizabeth's case, she's drawing
attention down to this area,

and the pearl, which we know
is a symbol of virginity,

is absolutely drawing the viewer
to think about

not only her physical virginity,

but also the impenetrability
of England

in this moment of great victory.

What Elizabeth is doing here is
really flipping this idea

of male power and male virility.

Elizabeth I is widely considered to
be one of the greatest sovereigns -

full stop, male or female,
and I think with good reason.

What's amazing about Elizabeth is
that she managed

to be incredibly successful against
all the odds.

Illegitimate, female,
you know, outcast.

Her mother had been executed.

And yet Elizabeth emerged as one
of the greatest monarchs

that Britain had ever seen.

Elizabeth I has become a symbol
of how a woman should rule,

a symbol of an English queen.
And in many ways, later monarchs,

like Queen Anne and Queen Victoria,
took her as a prototype.

Even Elizabeth II took her
as a prototype.

Elizabeth made queenship viable.

She made it conceivable
as a concept

that a woman could rule
and rule effectively,

and so fundamentally changed
the perception

of monarchy to include women.

She'd gained not only acceptance as
a female monarch, but admiration.

In short, she'd made England fall in
love with queens.

# We ferocious

# Cos we ferocious, yes. #

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