The Virgin Queen

“I will have but one mistress here, and no master! Do you hear me? I will have no man rule over me!” storms Elizabeth Regina I to Robert Dudley as they have yet another passionate disagreement. This actual quote from one of the most famous queens in history is a wonderful way to sum up the intensity, majesty and conflict in this fantastic 2006 Masterpiece adaptation depicting her ascent to the throne until her death.The Virgin Queen Season 1 Download.

Elizabeth was known for her cleverness, her vanity, her wily ways and her complex relationships. The role is loaded with opportunities for an actress to show her range, and Duff carries it all off magnificently. In scenes where she is the proud monarch exacting her will on the men around her, she is regal, proud and intimidating. When her Privy Council tries to push her into marriage with her many eligible suitors once too often, she walks proudly into court and announces that she will do as she pleases because she believes it’s the will of God, and they never can fully hold her to their will despite all their efforts. Even when she is older and frail in body, she still rules with conviction.  Each time she power walks from her chambers with purpose, it seems quite reasonable that everyone else should step back and drop a curtsey before this commanding woman.

The Virgin Queen also spends considerable time showing the other vulnerable side of this queen as well.  “A woman ruler is not as other women, is she?” she tells Robert Dudley.  “Like the coin that bears her image there are two sides to her. On the one, she embodies the feminine frailty of her sex, and on the other she is the body politic ordained by God.” I don’t know about frailty, but we see this Elizabeth struggling with her everyday burdens and feel for her.