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From the private world of a beloved English queen, a story of intimacy, royalty, espionage, rumor, and subterfuge.
Queen Elizabeth I acceded to the throne in 1558, restoring the Protestant faith to England. At the heart of the new queen's court lay her bedchamber, closely guarded by the favored women who helped her dress, looked after her jewels, and shared her bed.
Elizabeth's private life was of public concern. Her bedfellows were witnesses to the face and body beneath the makeup and raiment, as well as to rumored dalliances with such figures as Earl Robert Dudley. Their presence was for security as well as propriety, as the kingdom was haunted by fears of assassination plots and other Catholic stratagems. Such was the significance of the queen's body: it represented the very British state itself.
In The Queen's Bed, the historian Anna Whitelock offers a revealing look at the Elizabethan court and the politics of intimacy. She dramatically reconstructs, for the first time, the queen's quarters and the women who patrolled them. It is a story of sex, gossip, conspiracy, and intrigue brought to life amid the colors, textures, smells, and routines of the royal court.
The women who attended the queen held the truth about her health, chastity, and fertility. They were her friends, confidantes, and spies-nobody knew her better. And, until now, historians have overlooked them. The Queen's Bed is a revelatory, insightful look into their daily lives, the untold story of the queen laid bare.
Queen Elizabeth I acceded to the throne in 1558, restoring the Protestant faith to England. At the heart of the new queen's court lay her bedchamber, closely guarded by the favored women who helped her dress, looked after her jewels, and shared her bed.
Elizabeth's private life was of public concern. Her bedfellows were witnesses to the face and body beneath the makeup and raiment, as well as to rumored dalliances with such figures as Earl Robert Dudley. Their presence was for security as well as propriety, as the kingdom was haunted by fears of assassination plots and other Catholic stratagems. Such was the significance of the queen's body: it represented the very British state itself.
In The Queen's Bed, the historian Anna Whitelock offers a revealing look at the Elizabethan court and the politics of intimacy. She dramatically reconstructs, for the first time, the queen's quarters and the women who patrolled them. It is a story of sex, gossip, conspiracy, and intrigue brought to life amid the colors, textures, smells, and routines of the royal court.
The women who attended the queen held the truth about her health, chastity, and fertility. They were her friends, confidantes, and spies-nobody knew her better. And, until now, historians have overlooked them. The Queen's Bed is a revelatory, insightful look into their daily lives, the untold story of the queen laid bare.
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Reviews
"Unquestionably [Elizabeth] is one of the most powerful women to have ever lived. So is it any wonder that this brilliant, vain, temperamental, wily woman still fascinates centuries later?. . . Elizabethan England was a ribald wondrous realm ruled by an extraordinary woman and Anna Whitelock brings it vividly to life in The Queen's Bed."
Robert Collison, Toronto Star
"[The Queen's Bed] is filled with fascinating details of life at her court, with eyewitness accounts from diaries, letters and pamphlets. . . a trove of interesting facts."
Moira Hodgson, Wall Street Journal
"As Anna Whitelock's The Queen's Bed proves, there is still a new and fascinating vantage from which to consider Elizabeth I. . ."
Kathryn Harrison, New York Times Book Review