All language subtitles for Elizabeth 103 - Heart of a King

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'In July 1588,
beacons were lit across England

'to warn of the arrival
of the Spanish Armada.

'Elizabeth's darkest fears
had come true.'

England was at war -

open war at last.

It was something
that Elizabeth had twisted and turned

for 20 years to avoid.

Elizabeth hated war
because it was so expensive.

It was also unbelievably risky.

The loss of Calais had destroyed
her sister Mary's reputation.

And Elizabeth well knew
that a similar, unforeseen disaster

could undo all her own work.

'Elizabeth loathed war

'because, as a woman
she couldn't lead her own armies.

'Instead, she had to give their command
to hot-willed men

'who would disobey her orders

'and might even turn
her own forces against her.

'The slide into war had begun
nearly 20 years before.

'By the early 1570s,

'Elizabeth had triumphed
over her opponents in England.

'She had seen off a rebellion
and executed the ringleaders,

'including her own cousin,
the Duke of Norfolk.

'There was a fragile peace in England

'but Elizabeth was in constant danger.

'She had powerful enemies abroad,

'headed by the Pope, who,
like a 16th-century ayatollah,

'had signed a fatwa
on the Protestant English Queen.

(Reader) "Whosoever sends her
out of the world

"with the pious intention
of doing God's service

"not only does not sin
but gains merit."

'Elizabeth had powerful Catholic
enemies at home as well.

'Mary, Queen of Scots
had been Elizabeth's prisoner

'since her desperate flight
from Scotland in 1568.

'Mary had a strong claim
to the English throne

'through her great-grandfather Henry VII.

'On her arrival in England,

'Mary identified herself
passionately with Catholicism.

'Mary's faith set her
on a collision course with Elizabeth

'especially as relations between
Catholics and Protestants in Europe

'were about to explode.

'In Paris, on St Bartholomew's Day,
24th August, 1572,

'Catholics began a massacre
of their Protestant neighbours.

(Reader) "Everywhere
there were people who fled

"and others who ran after them
crying, 'Kill, Kill!'

"There was no mercy,
either for age or for sex.

"It was, in very truth, a massacre.

"The streets were strewn
with naked, mutilated corpses.

"The river was covered with them."

'Sir Francis Walsingham,
Elizabeth's ambassador in Paris

'barely escaped with his life.

'The Queen recalled him to London
and gave him a new job

'masterminding England's security.

'Walsingham quickly identified
public enemy number one.

(Reader) "Nothing is more necessary

"than that the realm
might be delivered of her.

"If the sore be not salved

"I fear we shall have
a Bartholomew breakfast."

'Mary was a figurehead
for Catholics everywhere

'who wanted to depose Elizabeth.

'And Mary knew that there could be
only one way out of her confinement.'

(Mary) "I will not leave my prison,
save as Queen of England."

'The St Bartholomew massacre
heightened the fear

'of a bloody Catholic rising in England.

'It also plunged France into civil war.

'Elizabeth had relied on France

'as a counterbalance
to the mighty Spanish empire,

'which controlled much of Europe,

'including the Netherlands -

'that is, modern-day Holland,
Belgium and northeastern France.

'But although England
might fear her Catholic neighbours,

'she couldn't live without them

'because in the Netherlands
was England's biggest export market,

'the booming city of Antwerp.'

In 1532, the year before Elizabeth's birth,

this magnificent new exchange was built.

Antwerp was now a combination
of the City and Wall Street

and the most important commodity
traded was English wool.

The English traders held centre stage,

doing their deals here,
in the middle of the trading floor.

As usual, money talks

and the volume
of the London-Antwerp trade

meant the Netherlands were normally
England's chief overseas ally.

The rulers of the Netherlands
in the 16th century were the Hapsburgs.

'One of them was Philip of Spain,

'who had been married to Mary Tudor,
Elizabeth's sister.

'When Mary died,
Philip tried to keep hold of England

'by proposing to Elizabeth.

'But the new queen refused him.

'Neither Elizabeth nor her people
wanted to be ruled by a foreigner again.'

(Bells ringing)

'The people of the Netherlands
didn't much like Spanish rule either

'and in 1576, they united
behind Prince William of Orange.

'He was horrified
by the brutality of Spanish rule

'and he turned to Elizabeth
as a fellow Protestant, for help.

'Elizabeth now proved herself
to be a queen of deception.

'Instead of intervening directly,
as her father Henry VIII might have done,

'Elizabeth preferred to get others
to do her dirty work for her.'

Elizabeth's policy towards
the Netherlands trod a tightrope.

She didn't wish to be seen giving help
to Philip's rebellious subjects

because that would break
the rules of the royal club

to which both she and Philip belonged.

Nor, on the other hand
did she want to see Philip

re-establish a real power
over the Netherlands -

that would enable him to resume
persecution of the Protestants.

Still worse, it would enable him
to turn the Netherlands

into a springboard
for the invasion of England.

So every time Philip looked as though
he was getting the upper hand,

Elizabeth threw large amounts
of gold at the Dutch rebels

to stiffen their resistance.

(Cannon fire, shouting)

'But mighty Spain would not
be beaten by a Dutch revolt

'and William's rebellion began to buckle
under the force of Spanish arms.

'Elizabeth needed someone else
to try to stop Philip.

'Enter the Duke of Anjou.

'His mother had put him forward
as a husband for Elizabeth

'when he was just 18 and she was 39.

'But he was reputedly puny
and scarred by smallpox

'and Elizabeth hadn't been interested.

'But six years later,
he began to intrigue her.

'The Duke belonged
to the French royal family

'but as the youngest son,

'he had little chance
of inheriting the throne,

'so he had to look elsewhere
for a kingdom of his own.

'He hoped to find one in the Netherlands.

'If Elizabeth could pull the right strings,

'Anjou would be the perfect
puppet to oppose Philip.

'Elizabeth flourished
her diplomatic trump card,

'now a bit worn and past its best
but still playable.

'Marriage was on the table again.'

Vous allez restaurer cette vie...

...languissante...

'Anjou's ambition needed money.

'He began a secret correspondence
with Elizabeth

'but his letters
didn't talk of interest rates.

'Instead, they used the language of love.'

La plupart fait...

'She was his "belle majest�".

'He was her slave.

'His declarations combined
devotion and passion

'with just a tasteful hint of eroticism.

'Anjou sent a close friend,
Jean Simier, to England,

'to continue the seduction

'and the financial
negotiations on his behalf.'

Je vous pr�sente
une lettre de Monsieur le duc.

'Simier was described
as "a most choice courtier

"'exquisitely skilled
in love toys and court dalliances."

'Elizabeth was more than
half in love with his master

'without even having met him.'

Anjou arrived at Greenwich
in the small hours of 17th August, 1579.

His first thought was to rush
to the Queen's bedchamber.

Instead, Simier persuaded him
to take some rest.

But then Simier wrote a letter to
Elizabeth that was almost as titillating,

as though the Duke really had
burst in on the slumbering Queen.

"I got in between the sheets,"
Simier wrote.

"And would to God you were there too,

"so that he could explain
his mind to you more easily."

'Elizabeth and Anjou
hit it off immediately.

'She'd steeled herself
to meet an ugly little fellow.

'What she saw instead
was a mature and attractive man.

'She nicknamed him her "Frog".

'The Spanish ambassador
Mendoza remarked...'

(Mendoza) "The Queen has,
with difficulty, entertained the Duke,

"being captivated, overcome with love.

"She told me she's never found a man

"whose nature and actions
suited her better."

Elizabeth was in love.

The ice maiden had melted.

The Virgin Queen was longing
to become a blushing bride.

Anjou had caught her on the rebound.

She'd just learned
that Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester,

her favourite of 20 years' standing,

had betrayed her
by daring to get married in secret.

But she was also fascinated
by Anjou himself.

All of the Englishmen,
who'd attracted her

from Thomas Seymour when she was
a teenager to Leicester himself,

were bold, athletic men

who barnstormed their way
into Elizabeth's favour.

Anjou was different.

With his quirky face,
his expressive hands

and his French ways,

he charmed her into love.

'Elizabeth was in love
with a man 20 years her junior,

'a Catholic and a Frenchman.'

But would the marriage be a real one?

That's to say, was Elizabeth,
unlike her sister Mary,

still able to have children?

Her minister Burghley
had thought of this problem too

and he'd had confidential
discussions with her doctors

and her ladies-in-waiting.

And they'd all said the same thing,

that she was apt to have children
even at this day.

'After just two weeks,
the lovers were torn apart.

'Anjou was recalled to Paris
after a friend was killed in a duel.

'He sent Elizabeth three love letters
tied with pink ribbons

'before he had even left English soil,

'calling himself "the most faithful
and loving slave on earth".

'Elizabeth, intoxicated with the attention

'couldn't wait for him to return.

'Elizabeth's old favourites were enraged.

'Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester,
was parrticularly jealous.'

(Reader) "Leicester is much put out
and all the councillors are disgusted.

"A friend of Leicester tells me
he's cursing the French."

'A pamphlet appeared
on the streets of London.

'It was venomous
in its opposition to the match.

'Elizabeth would be drawn
into a Catholic den of idolatry.

'If she died in childbirth
Anjou might become King of England.

'Besides, the Frenchman
probably had the pox.

'Elizabeth was incandescent with rage.

'She ordered that the author
John Stubbs, and his printer'

'have their right hands struck off.

'Stubbs spoke of his loyalty to the Queen

'before having his hand severed
with a butcher's cleaver

'and the stump seared
with a red-hot iron.

'Public opinion turned
viciously xenophobic.

"Hop off, you Frogs!"

But Tudor England wasn't a democracy.

The men whose opinions
Elizabeth would listen to

were the members of her Privy Council.

The council
debated the marriage all day.

Finally, opinion was split fifty-fifty
for and against.

In those circumstances, the council felt

that it could offer
the Queen no formal opinion.

Elizabeth was genuinely astonished.

For 20 years, her ministers
had been telling her she had to marry.

Now she'd found the ideal marriage
and they refused to endorse it.

She took her council's lukewarm reaction

as an effective veto
on the Anjou marriage.

'So Elizabeth wouldn't marry
her Prince Charming.'

(Reader) "She remained extremely sad
and was so cross and melancholy

"that it was noted
by everyone who approached her.

"She's been greatly alarmed by all this."

'Elizabeth wrote to Anjou
explaining why public opinion

'made it impossible for her to marry him.'

(Elizabeth) "The public practice of the
Roman religion so sticks in their hearts.

"I beg you to consider this deeply

"as a matter which is so hard
for Englishmen to bear

"that it passes all imagination.

"For my part, I confess
there is no prince in the world

"to whom I think myself more bound,

"nor with whom I would rather
pass the years of my life,

"both for your rare virtues
and sweet nature.

"With my commendations
to my dearest Frog."

'Elizabeth thought
she'd seen the last of him.'

(Mary) "I will not leave my prison
save as Queen of England."

'Mary, Queen of Scots

'had now been Elizabeth's prisoner
for 11 years.

'She dreamed of rescue

'and she dreamed of
taking her captor's throne.

'So she became the centre
of a web of Catholic conspiracy,

'keeping contact with her
supporters at home and abroad

'via secret letters.

'Some of these letters
contained encouraging news.

'Although Catholicism in England
had been driven underground,

'Jesuit priests were being trained abroad
to keep the faith alive.

'The Jesuits were
spiritual revolutionaries

'who were being smuggled into England
in disguise.

'Among them was Edmund Campion,

'one of the outstanding churchmen
of his age.

'Campion had left the Church of England
to become a Catholic

'and he had the zeal of a convert.

'Campion landed in England in 1580,

'posing as a travelling merchant.

'His mission was spiritual,
to minister to Catholics.

'He had no plans to stir up rebellion

'but he knew that the Protestant
authorities would treat him as a traitor.'

(Campion) "I cannot long escape
the hands of the heretics.

"The enemy have so many eyes,
so many tongues,

"so many scouts and crafts.

"I often change my name.

"Threatening edicts
come forth against us daily.

"I read letters sometimes
that tell news that Campion is taken."

(Father Hewett) 'Campion had
a very attractive personality.

'Clearly a man of integrity,
ambition, great intelligence.'

The authorities viewed him
as a dangerous individual,

,
because he was so gifted,
because he was so attractive

because he had
such a great name already

from his days at Oxford
and as a member of the Anglican church.

'He represented a new kind of religion,

'not just establishment religion
of either sort.'

It was enthusiastic religion
and that's always dangerous,

particularly if you're trying your best,
as Elizabeth was

very understandably
from her point of view,

to form an established church
which didn't satisfy anybody

but kept everybody more or less
contained and quiet.

One thing Campion was not was quiet.

(Starkey) 'The Catholic Mass
was illegal in England.

'That didn't stop Campion
moving from house to house,

'saying Mass and hearing confessions.

'He published pamphlets

'which challenged the very basis
of Elizabeth's church.

'Elizabeth had met Campion
at Oxford 15 years earlier,

'before he had converted to Catholicism.

'She had been greatly impressed by him

'but she couldn't ignore the gauntlet
that he was now throwing down.

'Like it or not
she had to treat him as the enemy.'

Elizabeth and Campion
actually had a lot in common.

Both believed that it should be possible

to distinguish between religion
and politics.

At the beginning of her reign,
Elizabeth had claimed passionately

that she wouldn't make windows
into men's souls

whilst Campion, for his part,
insisted that he had no political motives

and was the Queen's loyal subject.

But in the circumstances
of the European cold war

between Protestant and Catholic

the distinction between religion
and politics

was almost impossible to maintain.

After all, Campion was
the loyal servant of the Pope

and the Pope claimed
the authority to depose Elizabeth.

He had already in the 1560s

authorised her subjects
to rebel against her

and he could and would do so again.

'Campion's solitary journey

'now brought him to Lyford Grange
near Oxford.

'Here, a priest-catcher discovered him
and alerted the authorities.

'The house was ransacked
and after a search of two days,

'a chink of light betrayed
Campion's hiding place.'

Campion was taken to London,
where he had a secret meeting

with Leicester and Elizabeth herself.

The Queen offered him pardon
and preferment if he would recant.

Campion refused
and in turn reminded Elizabeth

of her glorious Catholic ancestors
whom she had betrayed.

'Campion was returned to the Tower

'and five days later was put to the rack,
to extract a confession of treason.

'At his trial, he was found guilty

'and sentenced to be hanged,
drawn and quartered.

'On the scaffold, Campion prayed to God

'to grant the Queen a long, quiet reign

'with all prosperity.'

The effect of Campion's death
on the Catholic world

was tremendous strengthening.

As always, when you make martyrs,

you usually increase the cause
you're trying to oppose

and that certainly
was the case with Campion.

'Word got round of his
heroic death, by any standards.

'So, tremendous encouragement
for the Catholic world.'

The very thing that Elizabeth
was trying to cool down -

enthusiastic commitment
and religion of any sort -

was the very thing he strengthened.

'Elizabeth was provoking
her Catholic enemies.

'Most aggrieved of all
was Philip of Spain.

'Whilst Campion's death
had insulted his faith

'another of Elizabeth's subjects
had been busy emptying his pockets.

'On September 26th, 1580,

'a battered ship dropped anchor
in Southampton harbour.

'The ship was the Golden Hinde.

'The captain was one of the most
outstanding Elizabethan seamen,

'Sir Francis Drake.

'Drake's voyage
had begun three years before

'as a pirate expedition to the Pacific.

'One of the investors
was the Queen herself.

'Drake's target was
the Spanish treasure ships.'

Fire!

'Drake had waged a private war

'against the most powerful empire
on earth.

'As he sailed back into Southampton,
Drake must have had the odd doubt

'whether the Queen would still
welcome her pirate subject.'

(Coleman) 'Drake would have
returned with much trepidation.'

He had been away for three years

and he had no idea
what had happened during that time.

And I think one of
the first things he asked was

was the Queen still alive?

Coming back
with all that gold and silver,

if the political situation
had changed dramatically,

he could have been hailed as a hero
or condemned as a villain

when he returned to England's shores.

(Starkey) 'Drake was lucky.

'Elizabeth was fascinated by his stories
and entranced by his loot.

'And, in the event, his piracy suited
her devious foreign policy.

'Gold from the New World paid for
Spain's troops in the Netherlands.

'So, by diminishing the supply,
she had weakened Philip's grip.'

At his anchorage at Deptford,
Drake's ship, renamed the Golden Hinde,

quickly became a tourist attraction

and in April, Queen Elizabeth
herself joined the throng.

Elizabeth, despite the outraged protests
of the Spanish ambassador,

had already pocketed
her share of Drake's loot.

This amounted to the staggering sum

of nearly one year's
parliamentary revenue

and represented a 5,000% return
on the money that she'd invested.

Now she'd arrived
to confer respectability,

in the most public fashion possible,
on Drake.

She jokingly told him
that she'd brought a golden sword

with which to cut off the head
of this notorious pirate.

Instead, Elizabeth gave the sword
to the Duke of Anjou's representative

and told him to knight Drake
here on the deck of the Golden Hinde.

'By asking a Frenchman
to knight her pet pirate,

'Elizabeth was making
her allegiances very clear.

'England was still ranged
with France against Spain.

'The alliance with France meant that
her liaison with Anjou would continue.

'After two years' absence,
he returned, asking for more money

'for his campaign against
the Spanish in the Netherlands.

'Accompanied by
the French ambassador

'he also decided
to pop the marriage question again.

'Elizabeth's answer was astonishing.'

You may write this to your King...

that the Duke of Anjou
shall be my husband.

'At the age of 48, Elizabeth was engaged.'

It was a formal, public
betrothal in front of witnesses.

Messengers were dispatched round
Europe with the astonishing news

and church bells were rung in Antwerp.

Back home in England,
the reaction was more mixed.

Burghley rejoiced, Leicester was furious
and other courtiers burst into tears.

That same evening,
the opponents of the marriage

instructed Elizabeth's
ladies-in-waiting to paint,

in graphic terms,
the restrictions of married life

and the horrors of childbirth.

As a result, the Queen spent
a miserable and sleepless night.

'For one extraordinary moment,
Elizabeth's heart had ruled her head.

'But it didn't last long.

'In the morning, she told Anjou
that she couldn't marry him,

'because the welfare
of her subjects must come first,

'before her own happiness.

'What accounts for
this extraordinary on-off behaviour?'

Elizabeth had certainly abandoned

any serious intention
of marrying Anjou two years earlier.

But he was politically useful
and she found his company attractive.

So, for one moment

she fondly allowed herself
to imagine what might have been.

Then, the following morning,
in the cold light of day,

the pretence was abandoned

and she ditched, with many
expressions of regret, her dream lover.

'Elizabeth might have thrown her suitor
back in the water

'but her Frog didn't swim away.

'He stayed on for three months
begging for more money.

'Finally, Elizabeth was driven
to pay him �10,000

'and Anjou set sail for the Netherlands

'to pursue his quest
for another kingdom.

'She would never see him again.

'She could no longer pull
the strings of her puppet prince

'for, instead of helping the people
of the Netherlands fight Spain,

'Anjou tried to set
them against each other

'in a cynical attempt to seize
absolute power for himself.

'But his plan failed

'and in 1583
Anjou retreated to France in disgrace.

'A year later, he died.

'Elizabeth was genuinely saddened.

'She wrote to his mother...'

(Elizabeth) "If you could see
a picture of my heart,

"you would see a body without a soul."

'There would be
no more pretence of marriage.

'Elizabeth would rule alone

'and she would die
without a natural heir.

'Elizabeth had always avoided open war

'and she had maintained peace

'by persuading others
to fight her battles for her.

'But her policy was about to collapse,
thanks to events in the Netherlands.

'At midday on 10th July, 1584,

'William, Prince of Orange
was dining with his family

'in the Prinsenhof in Delft.'

William had already survived
several attempts on his life,

so by 16th-century standards,
the security round him was tight.

Here in his own house, at least
he should have been relatively safe.

About two o'clock
William left the dining room

to go upstairs to his study.

He was going to meet a recent contact.

The man had introduced himself as
Balthasar Gerards, a French Protestant.

William had decided to send him
to France with letters.

He'd given him money
to buy clothes for the journey.

Balthasar Gerards
wasn't a Protestant at all.

It wasn't even his real name.

Instead, he was
an undercover Catholic fanatic

and he'd spent William's money
not on clothes but on pistols.

He fired three shots at the Prince.

Two bullets passed through
William's body...

and lodged in the wall.

The Prince died a few minutes later
uttering as his last words,

"God have mercy on my soul
and on my poor country."

'His death was
appalling news for Elizabeth.

'It left her as the only
Protestant leader in Europe.

'Spain could overrun
the whole of the Netherlands

'and then invade England.

'There was no one left
to fight England's battles for her.

'Elizabeth had no choice.

'She finally had to send
English troops overseas.

'Her old friend, Robert Dudley,
Earl of Leicester, was in command.

'But still, Elizabeth was wary
of declaring all-out war.

'She discouraged Leicester
from going on the offensive.

'She hoped a display of English muscle
would scare off the Spanish.

'But Leicester's opponent
was the Duke of Parma

'Philip's greatest general.

'For him, England and Spain were at war
and he didn't hesitate to attack.

'The war put Elizabeth under huge strain.

'She was now at her most contrary

'and things weren't helped
by Leicester's mixture

'of high-handedness and incompetence.

'In defiance
of Elizabeth's explicit instructions,

'he became the governor general
of the Netherlands

'and he proved hopeless
as a general as well.

'So Parma's troops swallowed
the Netherlands bit by bit.

'Elizabeth recalled Leicester.

'Her favourite had failed her.

'Only the sea now stood
between England and invasion.

'There was one person in the kingdom
who welcomed the news -

'Mary, Queen of Scots.'

In January 1585, Mary was brought here

to the hill-top castle of Tutbury
in Staffordshire.

The assassination
of William of Orange abroad

and a series of plots in England

brought home the danger
Mary presented to Elizabeth's life.

So far, Mary had been kept
in honourable custody.

Now it became a real imprisonment.

She had a jailer - the harsh,
unsympathetic Puritan Sir Amyas Paulet.

There were armed soldiers
who patrolled the battlements.

Mary was cut off from all
correspondence with the outside world.

She was isolated, bored and resentful.

But the devil, in the form
of Sir Francis Walsingham,

soon found work for Mary's idle hands.

'Elizabeth's patient spy master set a trap

'and then waited for Mary to walk into it.

'A servant offered
to smuggle Mary's letters

'in a beer barrel from a local brewery.

'The servant and the brewer
were in Walsingham's pay.

'Every letter she sent
and received was intercepted

'and decoded by Walsingham's
private secretary, Thomas Phelippes.'

Six months after the setting up
of the barrel post,

Mary received a letter
from Anthony Babington.

Babington came from
a rich Derbyshire family.

He was young, Catholic and idealistic

and he'd just organised
a plot to assassinate Elizabeth.

Babington saw the murder
in terms of high heroics.

He even had a group portrait painted
of himself and his fellow conspirators

with the motto
"We are comrades united in danger."

'It was intended to be their monument.
Instead, it was their tombstone.'

Anthony became involved
in the plot against Elizabeth

mainly due to his connections
with Mary, Queen of Scots

while she was imprisoned
early on in her life

and while he was
a young page in her service.

'We can only believe
that he had a crush on her

'and was infatuated by her,
if not besotted

'which carried on
for most of his life and her life.'

Anthony was politically naive.

He was very impressionable
and he was used by conspirators

who had much stronger beliefs
than he had on the wider European front.

(Starkey) 'Babington wrote to Mary,
saying he and his friends

'would dispatch the usurper Elizabeth
and rescue Mary.

'The Spanish would invade
and Mary would take the English throne.

'Mary's reply, when it came
a few days later, was clear enough.'

(Mary) "The affair being prepared

"and forces in readiness
within and without the realm

"then shall it be time to set
the six gentlemen to work.

"Upon the accomplishment
of their design,

"I may suddenly be transported
out of this place."

'At last, there was evidence enough
to send Mary to the scaffold.

'Babington and the conspirators
were arrested a few days later.

'They were tortured, tried for treason,
and sentenced to a traitor's death.'

Pressure from the country
and council was now building up.

They were determined
to have Mary's head

and Elizabeth was forced
to agree to a trial.

The trial was to take place
at Fotheringhay Castle

and Burghley himself
drew up the seating plan.

But, despite these careful preparations,
the trial nearly didn't take place at all.

Mary, Queen of Scots absolutely refused
to accept the jurisdiction of the court.

"I am not a subject," she said,

"and would rather die a thousand deaths
than acknowledge myself as one."

Instead, she was a sovereign prince

and so, answerable to God alone.

'Elizabeth retaliated.'

(Elizabeth) "You have, in various ways,
attempted to take my life

"and bring my kingdom to destruction.

"I have never proceeded
so harshly against you.

"On the contrary, I have maintained you
and preserved your life.

"It is my will that you answer
the nobles of the kingdom

"as if I were myself present."

Eventually, a form of words was found
that enabled the trial to go ahead.

Mary defended herself ably
in two days of examination.

She denounced the Babington
letters as forgeries

and wriggled out of the most
incriminating questions.

But finally, she was cornered.

She could only say
that she had to be believed

because she spoke
on the word of a prince.

This cut no ice with her judges.

The court adjourned to Westminster
for the final decision.

The verdict, guilty.

The sentence, death.

'Elizabeth now had to decide Mary's fate.

'The two queens had never met,

'although Mary had been Elizabeth's
prisoner for 20 years.

'Yet Elizabeth agonised
over the decision.

'She was reluctant to execute Mary

'because she too
was a member of the royal club.

'Cutting her head off might set
a very unwelcome precedent.

'Elizabeth asked Mary's jailer,
Sir Amyas Paulet,

'to assassinate her
by poison or suffocation

'so that the Queen would not
have to take responsibility for her death.

'Paulet refused.

'As Elizabeth hesitated
England seethed with rumours.

'The Spanish had invaded.
London had been burned.

'Finally, on 1st February, 1587,
Elizabeth signed the death warrant.

'Seven days later,
the sentence was carried out

'in the great hall of Fotheringhay Castle.'

Mary herself behaved
with a theatrical courage.

She included Elizabeth
in her final prayers.

Ladies removed her outer clothes
to reveal a petticoat of scarlet,

the Catholic colour of martyrdom.

"She knelt at the block.

'But the executioner bodged his task

'and he took two strokes
of the axe to remove her head.

'Still worse
when he tried to hold up the head,

'he found himself
clutching only a wig,

'whilst the head, with its thin
greying stubble, rolled at his feet.

'England celebrated Mary's death.

'Elizabeth grieved.'

(Reader) "Her countenance changed.
Her words faltered.

"She gave herself over to grief,
putting herself into mourning weeds

"and shedding abundance of tears."

What a performance.

It was even more complex
and self-contradictory

than Elizabeth's usual behaviour.

Some of those tears were real.

Elizabeth had been profoundly reluctant
to execute Mary

and when the deed was actually done,
she was horrified.

But there were also tears of rage.

She strongly suspected she'd been
jumped into the action by the council.

They'd met secretly
and decided not to tell her

that the warrant had been
dispatched to Fotheringhay.

That's why she tore strips
off her ministers

and secretary
William Davison in particular,

who'd actually dispatched the warrant.

He was imprisoned, fined
and even threatened with hanging.

But finally,
they were crocodile tears as well.

By exaggerating her grief
and scapegoating Davison,

Elizabeth was trying
to deflect responsibility

from where it really and finally lay -

with her.

'The news of Mary's execution
exploded across the Catholic world.

'It gave Philip of Spain
the excuse he needed

'to declare war on the heretic queen.

'Philip ordered the Duke of Parma
to prepare an army in the Netherlands

'for the invasion of England.

'The Armada would sail from Spain

'to collect Parma's force
and land them on the English coast.

'Philip's deadly intentions
were no secret.

'Reluctantly, Elizabeth ordered

'that the English fleet
be readied for the threat.

'Even now, she hoped to avoid war.

'She tried negotiating with Parma
as the Armada set sail

'but there was no mood for compromise
amongst her Catholic opponents.'

"She's an incestuous bastard

"begotten and born in sin
of an infamous courtesan."

'Cardinal William Allen, June 1588.

'English lookouts scoured the horizon
for enemy sails.

'They sighted them on July 19th.

'The Spanish did not really
expect to be challenged

'on their voyage up the Channel.

'The English fleet
was half the size of the Armada

'but what they lacked in numbers,
they made up for in design.'

The English ships
were much smaller than the Spanish.

The Spanish ships had large
forecastles and aftercastles

which were fortified areas on the ship

where they could house men
when they engaged in battle,

men who could then board other ships.

But as the rigs were fairly small,

in fact, too small, really,
for powering the ships along,

it meant that the Spanish ships were
largely only of use in trade-wind sailing,

in following the routes
between Spain and the Americas

rather than in tactical fighting
within the English channel.

I think that is where
the English ships scored,

because they were relatively smaller

and therefore more manoeuvrable
and had the tactical advantage.

'The English still weren't ready
to engage the Spanish fleet head-on.

'Sir Francis Drake
now promoted to vice admiral,

'favoured skirmishing tactics.

'As the Armada sailed up the Channel,

'there was a scatter of vicious dogfights.

'Elizabeth went on a morale-boosting
visit to her troops on land.

'Finally, she had found a rhetorical way
of reconciling the paradox

'of being a woman
and being a leader in war.'

(Elizabeth) 'I am come amongst you
not for my recreation and disport

'but being resolved
in the midst and heat of the battle

'to live or die amongst you all.

'To lay down for God
and for my kingdom and for my people

'my honour and my blood,
even in the dust.

'I know I have the body
of a weak and feeble woman

'but I have the heart
and stomach of a king

'and think foul scorn
that Spain or any prince of Europe

'should dare to invade
the borders of my realm.

'To which, rather than any
dishonour shall grow by me,

'I myself will take up arms.'

(Starkey) 'But Elizabeth did not need
to take up arms herself.

'The English had a secret weapon.

'They called it the "Hellburner".

'They packed five ships
with pitch and timber,

'set fire to them and put them adrift
amongst the Spanish galleons.

'There was panic. Many of
the Spanish ships upped anchor and fled

'and were scattered by the wind.'

Incredibly, Medina Sidonia,
the Spanish admiral,

managed to reunite his scattered ships.

They even resumed
their powerful crescent formation.

Then, off Graveline
on the coast of the Netherlands

the two fleets, for the first time
came into battle at close quarters.

Each side used its favourite tactics.

The Spaniards tried to board,

the English brought their heavy guns
into play at close quarters.

And it was the English guns
that won the day.

They killed thousands of Spaniards

and they did terrible damage
to the Spanish ships,

though only a handful
actually went down.

'The winds and the weather now finished
what the English fleet had begun.

'Many of the Spanish ships were
wrecked off the coast of the British Isles

'as they tried to find their way home.

'The defeat of the Armada was
England's and Elizabeth's finest hour.

'Little wonder that she had this
portrait painted as a symbolic memorial.

'Elizabeth was now
mistress of the seven seas

'as well as of her own people.'

Elizabeth had entered
the war against Spain

with a deep sense of foreboding

but she'd emerged triumphant.

Above all
she'd shown that a woman

could be an inspirational leader
in war as well as in peace.

Of course, the weather had played
its part in the victory over the Armada.

"God's winds blew
and they were scattered,"

as it said on the back
of the commemorative medal.

But this fact does nothing to diminish
the extent of the English victory

or the scale of Spain's
defeat and humiliation.

At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign,

the heralds had proclaimed
that she was Empress

from the Orkney Isles
to the Pyrenean mountains.

Then the claim to English overlordship
of the seas was empty bombast.

With the defeat of the Armada
it became sober reality.

It was an astonishing achievement.

The only problem now was living up to it.

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