Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years

Shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award 2016

I have made it my aim to scythe through spin and legend and come closer to her ‘authentic’ voice. When this is done, vivid glimpses of the real Elizabeth, so often carefully screened from our gaze, at last emerge from the shadows.

An ageing queen, an heirless state, conspiracy all round: here is the court of Elizabeth I as her reign enters its twilight years.

History has pictured Elizabeth I as Gloriana, an icon of strength and power. But the reality, especially during her later years, was not so simple.

In 1583 Elizabeth is fifty years old, past childbearing, but her greatest challenges are still to come: the Spanish Armada; the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots; relentless plotting among her courtiers and the challenge of unsecure succession.

This gripping and vivid portrait of her life and times - often told in her own words ('You know I am no morning woman') - reveals a woman who is fallible, increasingly insecure, and struggling to lead a divided nation and secure the legacy of hard-won stability.

‘“I have made it my aim to scythe through spin and legend and come closer to [Elizabeth’s] authentic voice,” he writes. That might seem a common scholarly assertion, but Guy, a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, is no ordinary historian. Few can match his ruthless obsession for accuracy.’ - The Times