Elizabeth I was the consummate politician. Mary Queen of Scots was the consummate mother. This program weaves the two lives together in a fateful dance of dueling divas.
Allegedly, Elizabeth learned that she was Queen of England while sitting under an oak tree. When she received the news, she quoted Psalm 188: "This is the Lord's doing."
A special ability that Elizabeth brought to her rule came from her education: rhetoric. She had to use it skillfully when pressured for years to take a husband. Her counselor William Cecil fretted about "greensickness" if Elizabeth did not acknowledge her biological time clock and conceive. "Conception is a blessing," observes Hamlet.
For Elizabeth, her cousin Mary was a menace. She tried unsuccessfully to pawn off Robert Dudley as a mate, but Mary had a will of her own. But her choices in men were unwise. Darnley had whiskey running in his veins. Her lover Rizzio was stabbed before her eyes. She never should have married Bothwell, who had throttled Darnley after the gunpowder blast.
Mary's ace in the hole was in her belly: a baby boy. But death follows Lady Stuart like a lady in waiting. Bothwell had no political skills, and, at age twentiy-five, Mary's political life is effectively over when Scotland is ruled as a regency until the majority of her baby James. Separated from her son, Mary flees to England. It would be the worst decision of her life. She thought that she would spend a month there, but it turned into nineteen years.
These were dangerous times, due to the wars of religion, and England was becoming a national security state. Francis Walsingham's motto was "intelligence is never too dear." He and Burghley recognized that knowledge is power. Walsingham engineered a trap on Mary, and it was a gem. Her secret messages sent through wine barrels were read by Walsingham's spycraft team, while Mary remained under lock and key by Amias Paulet.
Anthony Babington was Mary's champion, and she apparently wrote back words of support for his plan. Mary is arrested at Chartley. Her final stopping place is Fotheringhay. Elizabeth signs the death warrant on February 1, 1887, a moment that will trouble the conscience of Queen for years. Mary Queen of Scots is instantly transformed into Mary the Martyr.
Everything comes together for Elizabeth on August 8-9, 1588 at Tilbury. The first great speech of a Queen is recorded for posterity. The battle with the Spanish Armada was not decided on the sea, but on the soapbox at Tilbury. In the end, the rhetoric made a difference for Elizabeth in 1588, just as Churchill's rhetoric made a difference in 1940.
James I succeeds Elizabeth after her death in 1604, which occurred like the dropping of an apple from a tree. With her son as King of England and Scotland, did Mary triumph over Elizabeth in death? What is clear is that in death, the two women were united more closely than they had ever been in life. Together, they had produced their own baby, uniting England and Scotland as Magna Britannia (Great Britain)
Allegedly, Elizabeth learned that she was Queen of England while sitting under an oak tree. When she received the news, she quoted Psalm 188: "This is the Lord's doing."
A special ability that Elizabeth brought to her rule came from her education: rhetoric. She had to use it skillfully when pressured for years to take a husband. Her counselor William Cecil fretted about "greensickness" if Elizabeth did not acknowledge her biological time clock and conceive. "Conception is a blessing," observes Hamlet.
For Elizabeth, her cousin Mary was a menace. She tried unsuccessfully to pawn off Robert Dudley as a mate, but Mary had a will of her own. But her choices in men were unwise. Darnley had whiskey running in his veins. Her lover Rizzio was stabbed before her eyes. She never should have married Bothwell, who had throttled Darnley after the gunpowder blast.
Mary's ace in the hole was in her belly: a baby boy. But death follows Lady Stuart like a lady in waiting. Bothwell had no political skills, and, at age twentiy-five, Mary's political life is effectively over when Scotland is ruled as a regency until the majority of her baby James. Separated from her son, Mary flees to England. It would be the worst decision of her life. She thought that she would spend a month there, but it turned into nineteen years.
These were dangerous times, due to the wars of religion, and England was becoming a national security state. Francis Walsingham's motto was "intelligence is never too dear." He and Burghley recognized that knowledge is power. Walsingham engineered a trap on Mary, and it was a gem. Her secret messages sent through wine barrels were read by Walsingham's spycraft team, while Mary remained under lock and key by Amias Paulet.
Anthony Babington was Mary's champion, and she apparently wrote back words of support for his plan. Mary is arrested at Chartley. Her final stopping place is Fotheringhay. Elizabeth signs the death warrant on February 1, 1887, a moment that will trouble the conscience of Queen for years. Mary Queen of Scots is instantly transformed into Mary the Martyr.
Everything comes together for Elizabeth on August 8-9, 1588 at Tilbury. The first great speech of a Queen is recorded for posterity. The battle with the Spanish Armada was not decided on the sea, but on the soapbox at Tilbury. In the end, the rhetoric made a difference for Elizabeth in 1588, just as Churchill's rhetoric made a difference in 1940.
James I succeeds Elizabeth after her death in 1604, which occurred like the dropping of an apple from a tree. With her son as King of England and Scotland, did Mary triumph over Elizabeth in death? What is clear is that in death, the two women were united more closely than they had ever been in life. Together, they had produced their own baby, uniting England and Scotland as Magna Britannia (Great Britain)
