The season finale of Becoming Elizabeth sees us fast-forwarding two months from the end of the last episode, where we saw Edward coughing up blood. The king appears to be dying, there’s a power struggle between Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, the former Lord Protector, and his successor, John Dudley, but also between Edward’s half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, and then, wham bam, Edward is standing there: “Surprise, I’m alive, and you’re all in big trouble! One of you in huge trouble!” That about covers it!
But is any of that true? Well, let me, historian and best-selling author Claire Ridgway, enlighten you…
If you’ve been following my weekly videos on the Starz series “Becoming Elizabeth”, you’ll have realised that I’ve been rather disappointed in its central theme. I don’t feel it’s shown viewers what shaped Elizabeth in her youth, what made her the woman and queen she became. It’s been frustrating.
It’s made me all the more determined to ensure that my online event “Elizabeth I: The Life of Gloriana, the Virgin Queen” does Elizabeth I justice. I want to peel back the many layers that have built up over the centuries and look at Elizabeth I’s life, her reign, what shaped her, who she relied on, her achievements, her relationships (both personal and diplomatic), and the many myths that surround her.
Related posts:
Becoming Elizabeth – Episode 1 – Keep the Knife Bright – Fictions versus history
Becoming Elizabeth – Episode 6 – What Cannot be Cured – The fact behind the fiction
Becoming Elizabeth – Episode 4 – Lighten Our Darkness – Becoming Elizabeth or Becoming Mary?
Becoming Elizabeth Episode 7 – To laugh, to lie, to flatter, to face
Becoming Elizabeth – Episode 2 Part 2 with feedback from Tom Cullen and Anya Reiss
Becoming Elizabeth Books – Books to help you learn the history behind the series
Becoming Elizabeth Episode 5 – Necessity compels me to plague you – The real history behind the show
Becoming Elizabeth – Episode 2 – Elizabeth I’s #metoo moment is ruined
Just who was the real Queen Elizabeth I?
Elizabeth I in A Discovery of Witches
26 March 1603 – James VI receives news of Elizabeth I’s death and his accession as James I
Becoming Elizabeth – Episode 3 – Either Learn or Be Silent
I enjoyed this episode as well, althoughI kept wondering where Lady Jane was. If I put the history aside, I enjoy the series even more, but some of it has been too ridiculous for words. I still like Mary- she has shown the fierceness (and stubbornness) she inherited from both her parents, but I’m still waiting for Elizabeth to show up. I guess the fact that she’s staying in the shadows, and not being aggressive (for the most part) does show that she’s learning to be careful, and trying not to let anyone know what she’s thinking. Perhaps that’s a testament to her NOT wanting to go the way of her mother.
On another note, the teasers for the upcoming Catherine de Medici series looks interesting. I recognized the actress playing Catherine as the one who portrayed Mary Stuart (with a Scottish accent) in Elizabeth, The Golden Age.
If it is fiction, don’t use the names of real people. It is a sort of identity theft.
It’s a tv show, just like the Tudors. They have taken much artistic licence with the show. If you watch it as you would watch any other historical drama, then it is enjoyable. I am a Tudor Historian, and know the truth, which they seem to have skimmed over in the tv show. All in all, I enjoy it as a tv show, not as historically correct.
I haven’t seen much of the episode but I have seen enough. I think it was an interesting episode but it’s again all over the place. My first thought was why is Edward Seymour still alive in 1553, which you assume Edward 6th is being ill with consumption, but then it’s a timeline in error as usual. The talk between Mary and Elizabeth was nonsense. They didn’t fall out until 1554 when Elizabeth was implicated in the Wyatt Revolt and was seen as a threat. How we can speak about their feelings is unknown, nobody knows how they felt. We know they got along. They showed affection to each other and Mary even warned Elizabeth that others would use her and Elizabeth ignored her. She made her own problems but before that the sisters were not enemies.
I still think John Dudley is foxy.
I enjoyed this episode as well. The ins and outs of characters and their actions were fascinating. However, I much rather prefer true history being a Tudor fanatic ala “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” and “Elizabeth R” but anything about this tumultuous period I just eat up! I am thankful for your videos to set things straight and have thoroughly enjoyed them. I hope you will continue to do them. Perhaps when “The Serpent Queen” debuts on Starz about Catherine DiMedici???? I love your insights!
All the best!