Elizabeth has been on the throne for twenty years and has so far refused to marry...
Without a husband there can be no direct heir and as a consequence,
there is danger of civil war between those competing for the succession.
England is a small and vulnerable Protestant country and the Catholic powers,
led by Spain, are waiting to seize the heretic Queen's throne.
All is as it should be, ma'am.
Thank you, Dr. Lopez.
Her Majesty is still capable of bearing children.
Ahh...
Virgo intacta.
Thank you, Dr. Lopez.
So we may proceed with her marriage.
If we're to trust her doctor.
If she were too old to bear children, my lord,
there will be little sense in her marrying.
Do we only marry to bear children?
To contemplate the prospect of an heir, certainly.
Is there another reason
we should not approach the Duke of Anjou?
Politics, religion,
temperament. Messenger!
Ah...
and of course the Earl of Leicester.
Francis Walsingham. My Lord Burghley.
Married men both, and peddlers of the matrimonial state.
You should wed each other since you think so highly of the condition.
Certainly speed up the process of government.
The Earl of Leicester has the familiar touch.
If we are to make an alliance against Spain,
Anjou would seem the obvious choice:
Brother to the King of France,
and giving us a Catholic ally.
Where do you stand on the issue, Francis?
I think the French make better acquaintances than friends.
Tell Anjou we still need the Queen's permission
to start negotiations.
Thank you, my lord.
Oh..!
Your Majesty.
What's the news, old friend?
That I am as I have always been.
Oh, well am I changed then?
- There is talk of... - Talk...
talk is free.
And I would be so, too. No no no,
be not afraid... I will not marry.
So...
we have each other still then?
We have each other always, Robin,
since that way our affections tend.
Who can tell the heart where it should lead us?
Our hearts cannot be told.
Time has worn away the promises we made to each other once.
What promises, my lord?
To amuse each other.
Your Majesty, I...
I do not trust the Duke d'Anjou.
Because he's a Frenchman?
Because I do not trust him to love you as you should be loved.
- I'm afraid, Bess. - Of what?
Of the dangers in bearing a child.
The danger to you.
What is the world without you in it, hmm?
- Oh, this is most flattering. - How?
Because you are jealous.
And why should I not be?
Do I not live in the sun of your favor?
And does not the world condemn me for it?
For 19 years, Your Majesty,
this Council has implored you
to secure your succession by marriage.
You have refused all suitors, but now...
I do not say I will not marry, Lord Burghley,
the question before us is whom.
Spain is the threat.
Our only hope is to divide the Catholic powers.
- Put Spain against France. - Oh God.
A union with the ruling house of France would do precisely that.
Anjou, as brother to the King of France...
Might I remind the Council...
that although he may oppose
the Spanish interests in the Netherlands,
the Duke of Anjou is still a Catholic.
But he is of the quiet kind, my lord.
Biddable, they say. He will pray in a corner, if you ask him.
He was a friend to the Protestant cause in France.
He's has even had private conversation with Master Walsingham
who eats Catholics.
...words with you in the Presence Chamber.
My Parliament seeks words with us,
and we must seem to listen.
Francis?
Since you of all of us
has met this fellow Anjou...
what of him?
His religion, madam, his politics,
his sincerity or otherwise
in his support of the Dutch Protestants?
His appearance, Master Secretary...
is he a man to my liking?
I couldn't say, Your Majesty.
Well, is he well-favored or is he ugly?
Is he a master at serving women?
He is Catholic. He only serves the Pope.
He was not ugly, madam...
but...
he was not beautiful.
Oh..!
Well, gentlemen, I have come to hear you talk
and I trust you will watch me while I listen.
Your Majesty.
We beg to raise the question of your marriage.
Well, so long as you do not come to me
to complain about your wives, I am content.
Sir Leicester...
here stands my master of music who wrote this very piece for me.
A Catholic,
but an Englishman first.
Thank you so much for the anthem.
You see, a man may be a good Catholic, and a good Englishman.
Not at the same time, ma'am.
Get him up.
Take him away.
You're quite safe, ma'am.
Oh Robin.
Quite safe, ma'am. No hurt, ma'am.
Shh... no hurt, ma'am.
Clear the way! Clear the way!
- Oh God. - Your Majesty, take my arm.
- How did he get in? Who is he? - Calm yourself.
Oh!
And how does Your Majesty now?
The Queen does not know how she does, Leicester.
How she does and what she feels seems questions of little account.
She sometimes wonders whether she is allowed the luxury of feeling anything.
That villain was as close as you are now to me.
No one could be as close as we two, Bess.
You mustn't be alone tonight.
- No. - No.
Nor shall I, my lord.
Our prisons in the tower were as close as our two apartments are now.
Sweet imprisonment.
In your sister Mary's reign when I was in the tower,
and looking to die every day,
I remember the morning they brought you in through the Traitor's Gate.
Over your shoes in water as you stepped off the barge.
I sat down on the stone steps and refused to move.
My usher broke down and cried. I rated him severely.
"Truth is what matters, not misfortune."
That's what I said.
And that none of your friends should ever have cause to weep for you.
No. Nor shall they, Leicester.
Some things still are possible.
I cannot stay.
Is this the marriage to Anjou?
If I marry, I must marry royalty.
I could not marry you. I could not raise up a subject so.
Shhh.
Just kiss me, Bess.
Good night, my lord.
That's enough.
Shh, shh, shh, shh.
Shh, shh, shh.
Who sent you to attack the Queen?
The French?
The Spanish?
The Pope in Rome?
Hmm?
Wait!
Good.
You have something to say.
Good morning, Your Majesty.
For the safety of my person and my kingdom
I must proceed with this match.
Bess, I beg you.
I mean who was this would be assassin?
In the pay of Spain? Well, how many more will they send?
And how much more secure will you be with Anjou?
His interest is purely selfish in the Netherlands.
Your people will...
Why, you have company!
My Lady Essex has come to court.
I crave your pardon, ma'am.
I here since the death of Lord Essex,
upon your service in Ireland.
I have made an offer to assist the new Lord Essex.
We were sad to hear of it.
Oh...
so young to succeed to a title.
We will kiss you.
You look well, my Lady Essex.
Perhaps you're in search of new offers of marriage.
She has an eye for you, Leicester.
Oh, the portraits of your ancestors
- look well on your walls, my lord. - Yes.
Pity so may of them proved to be traitors.
No, only my grandfather and father, ma'am.
The present generation is entirely devoid of treason.
We are pleased to hear of it.
She knows.
She knows nothing.
She knows.
Those eyes of hers...
marbled like a snake's.
She knows.
She has an eye for you, Leicester.
She knows nothing.
The villain who attempted your life has been put to the rack.
And?
And it seems likely that the so-called Queen of Scots
has solicited Spanish help against you
- with the blessing of the Pope. - Likely?!
"It seems likely"? This is our cousin, Master Walsingham.
Is she not confined by us?
Is she not under guard at our command?
Do we have proof positive that she was involved in this attempt?
Has the young man named her?
She long has been the focus of such conspiracies.
But the active agent of such plots?
If the Spanish seek a Catholic for the throne of England, Madam,
then the Royal Catholic cousin of the Queen of England
would appear to be the obvious choice.
We did not ask to be lectured on our dangerous cousin Mary.
If we are ever inclined to forget our dear dear cousin
then the Council can be relied upon to remind us.
Oh, Robin.
I am set about by enemies, and I know not who to trust.
Well, not France, I beg you.
Hmph.
Since I know you think I argue for myself...
You speak for your stomach sometimes.
I'll talk self interest.
What do you imagine Monsieur will do with me after he has your hand?
Shall I be Catholique?
Shall we all be Catholic?
The Duke's religion is a private matter, Robin, as is yours.
I will not make windows into men's souls.
Yet he will be your master.
Monsieur will be bound by strict conditions.
Robin...
the only things that will kiss in this affair
will be lawyers' pens and lawyers' papers.
He has foul breath they say, and a hump.
Poor England stands alone, Robin.
Well, gentlemen...
if marriage it must be then it must be.
Oars up.
Oh, gentlemen, why such long faces?
Are we about a marriage or is a funeral in prospect?
Jean de Simier, chief aide to the Baron de St. Marc,
and chief darling to the Duke of Anjou.
Is this what passes for charm at the French Court?
Are you what passes for lack of it at the English one?
- Touché. - I bring you jewels
from the Duke his own self.
He's in ecstasy at the thought of your beauty.
His representative does him little credit.
A monkey.
A most obvious monkey.
Personally I have always found monkeys charming, and amusing.
- And intelligent. - Oh.
Ah, Master Davison.
Thank you, Monsieur.
Welcome, Monsieur, to our poor country...
...full of miserable protestants.
The pleasure is mine, My Lady.
This way.
I'm sure Your Majesty appreciates that
while the Duke is most sympathetic to your faith
it is simply not possible for my master
to convert to the Protestant religion.
We would not ask it of the heir to the throne of France, Monsieur.
I do not know you well, ma'am,
but I know you would never make a Catholic.
You do me great honor, Monsieur.
My master the Duke is not one to make issue of his beliefs.
Then he and I are well suited.
We understand the Duke seeks an annual income of...
£60,000, madam.
Which the Council has rejected.
Are we to talk terms here, Robin?
Or do you think to drown my marriage prospects in "No, maybe, perhaps"?
Let us continue to talk...
...walk with me.
My master was so eager to see you.
I said to him, "But, Sir, the Queen is waiting."
We are ourselves somewhat anxious, dear Sir.
So when will he arrive?
He is already on the boat, madam.
- What? - We have come in disguise, Your Majesty.
You?
Oh Monsieur, of course, excuse me... no?
Monsieur?
- No. - No?
Madam... I wish to present
His Highness Francois, Duke of Alencon and Anjou.
Brother of the most Christian King,
Henry III, King of France.
We are most pleased to make you welcome, Monsieur.
I cannot move, madam.
I am dazzled by your beauty.
So do you think your queen like our master?
So.
Much hangs on the result of our conversation.
Oh, our every glance will be weighed and discussed.
A man and a woman were never at less risk of being natural.
I am not even supposed to be here, Elizabeth.
And yet...
I have never felt more natural.
And I too.
Both of us, I fancy, have spent so long in the glare of court gossip
that... that privacy seems unnatural.
- Mistress Val Leseur? - No, sir.
Lady Anne?
Where is everybody?
Where is Her Majesty?
We understand she is at Greenwich.
She spends much time there.
The air is good there.
- What? - Good Air.
And why are you not with her?
That is indeed a very good question.
My Lord?
I think it may be that...
Simier's Master has arrived.
Anjou?
At Greenwich?
The Queen is ready to be wooed.
Why should he not be here, my lord?
Is it any concern of yours?
You know my concern, Lord Burghley.
I counsel out of love for her.
This marriage will not go.
Her heart will be broken.
Not yours.
Or his, if he had one.
Personally I never cared for the Dutch.
I find them common.
But you came to their aid.
They are a nation of shoemakers, ma'am.
But I would rather have them than the Spanish.
Ugh.
And besides, they are Protestant...
and I have this weakness for Protestants.
Does it extend to becoming a Protestant yourself?
My Catholic relations are far worse than yours.
They keep trying to kill me.
- Mary, Queen of Scots. - Ah.
You charming French Cousin.
When she was betrothed to my elder brother Francis
who was to be the King of France,
it seemed most romantic.
But of course Mary was only five.
Poor little thing.
She was Queen of France after all!
Queen of France, then Queen of Scotland
and now... she's nothing.
The park's deserted.
Empty of Frenchmen.
The duller for it then.
Why did you hide it from me, Bess?
Can I not keep my counsel if I choose?
Am I bound to you, sir?
If you cannot read my silence then you are nothing.
So what manner of man is this Duke d'Anjou?
Hmm?
- He is personable. - Oh.
We like him well.
So you'll help him retake the Netherlands?
Can you not wish me happy, Robin?
Would my contentment be such a burden to you?
I swear, I did not think it would ever be granted me,
but these last few weeks I...
- I cannot lie to you, madam. - There's a new failing in you.
This marriage must not be.
When we were young and fair, and favor graced us,
I sought you for my wife.
But you spurned me.
You said "Go. Go seek some otherwhere.
Importune me no more."
And now...
And now?
Now would you bid me hide a passion...
when a passion's caught me?
Me.
Late fruit of the tree, a breath away from withering.
I pray you do not work on your brothers in the council in this matter.
That is my stern command.
I am not allowed to dance with her.
I understand, I am not yet one of her intimates.
But this? Is this still necessary?
Am I to go out in a veil like a Saracen's wife?
Officially, Monsieur, you are not here.
Unfortunately the Earl of Leicester is not the only Protestant...
...in this miserable country.
Does the fellow not dance?
The Court watches us too closely.
How many hours you and I...
...Have wasted dancing. - Don't say wasted, Bess.
Each dance was worth a lifetime's wait.
Don't marry him, Bess, he's a dull fellow.
It's a pity...
...she is quite pretty.
Leicester.
Look at her,
simpering like a girl.
Does she love you still?
That may change.
Seems I am carrying your child.
Give welcome to his Grace,
the Duke of Anjou.
He is of the most Royal House of France
and we graciously receive him here
as suitor to our hand in marriage.
I am most glad to be welcomed to the English court.
Louder.
Louder, you dogs!
Is not this what you wanted?
Is this gentleman not to your liking?
Must I consult you all before I find out whether he is to mine?
Monsieur, le Duke.
Why do we still waste so much time on this matter, gentlemen?
The French clown should be sent packing!
My Lord of Leicester,
may I remind you we are but Her Majesty's Council?
We follow the Queen.
Her Majesty doesn't seriously contemplate...
She is taken with the Duke, sir.
- Huh! - I say she is taken with him.
And the security of our nation demands this match.
What security?
An alliance with France will protect us from Spain.
The Catholic powers in Europe...
Are the natural enemies of England.
Anjou invaded the Netherlands as the protector of the Dutch Protestants.
Ha! Was he though?
My lord, I have doubts as to his sincerity.
- I'm sorry? - Whatever his motives...
he was thrashed by the Spanish General.
The Duke of Parma destroyed him.
He may simply be using us to regain his lands in Holland.
The question of the security...
If we forge an alliance with France...
We will put our religion in the gravest of dangers.
Francis?
The Frenchman is not serious in his affections.
Marriage to our Queen is not something he desires...
except insofar as it may further his ambitions.
She is far older than him anyway, and I don't think...
I'm minded to box your ears, Leicester.
Your Majesty.
Do you think no one could be interested in our person?
Are we so unattractive?
Your Majesty is old only in years.
Only?!
Only?
Why I could dash off the points of a dance on that table.
I could be brisk or grave or gay.
I could be as suave as a courtier.
Or as sulky as a member of the Privy Council.
The Queen is as young as the wives none of you deserve.
I am so sorry, I would stay but...
the Duke of Anjou craves my attendance at dinner.
I must ask you this...
are you minded to take me as a husband,
in all seriousness?
You know that during your stay, I...
Ma'am, I am as anxious as you to avoid the tyrannies
of too much certainty in religion.
But I am a Catholic.
And this is a Protestant People.
I have not yet seen open hatred for me, but...
If it is not possible, I will understand.
I think you understand
what it is I have begun to feel for you.
Indeed I do, ma'am.
Indeed I do.
But we are born to the same life, you and I, Elizabeth,
in which even our gestures are not are own.
Does not a prince feel?
Does he not have hands, eyes, a tongue, and...
a disposition to be loved?
He does, ma'am.
And if you do,
shall we not dare to risk the displeasure of others?
I have asked the Earl of Leicester not to approach Your Majesty, but...
Your Majesty, I...
Your Grace...
forgive me. I had no idea you were here.
But I have some papers which I felt...
Her Majesty should see.
Instructions in the art of courtship, perhaps?
Hmph.
Who wrote this?
There is no name, ma'am.
I felt you should see it since...
What exactly have they written?
"Advancing in years as she is..."
Oh, I don't know.
"...our Queen has no need to tie herself to an odd fellow,
a Frenchman by birth, by profession a papist,
and an atheist in conversation,
an instrument in France of unclean..."
This is a most serious insult
to our royal guest and ally.
We shall return to Whitehall
and we will have the author of this vile rubbish
found an punished. You have my word for it, Monsieur.
We shall proceed with this marriage.
We would have the papers prepared.
What profit did you think to gain by this, my lord?
I did but...
- Bring me news I did not wish to hear.
Men have been hanged for less.
We will proceed. This is agreeable?
It is why I am here, madam.
- Find me the man who wrote this. - Yes, ma'am.
This fellow Stubbs is the one who wrote the pamphlet.
He is a dog. And I keep my dogs tethered.
He seems quite respectable.
The crowd are silent.
English do not like public torture?
Usually their preferred way of passing an afternoon.
I did what I did for love of Her Majesty.
As an Englishman, I love her beyond all else.
And if I dared speak against the French marriage
it was only to show the love we all hold for her person.
Perhaps they would enjoy it more
if it was a French hand being chopped off.
God save the Queen!
I have here the hand of a true Englishman
who loves his Queen and his country.
He loves me enough to insult me, like so many men.
It would appear that the people have little stomach for this marriage.
Death to the French!
Then the Queen has little stomach for the people.
As we talk of marriage, how is you wife, my lord?
Is she well?
Your... wife, Robin?
I understood that you and Lady Essex are married
and that she carries your child.
Oh, you son of a whore!
Your Majesty,
you must know that...
Know what, my lord?
...that I would never have taken a wife
if there were but a chance you would smile upon my suit.
I never...
I never wish to see your face again.
My heart still runs on you, I swear it.
Be off before I hang you, I am minded to hang you now!
- With my own hands, too! - Bess.
Get out of my sight!
We forbid you access to our presence.
You are no longer welcome at our court.
Be gone, sir.
Now.
You ask to know my inclination as to the French marriage?
Your Majesty,
your subjects seek only your happiness
and if it is what you seek,
all we would urge you is that if the voice of the people...
You all know my mind.
Could there be any more security for my reign and my realm
than that I should marry and have a child
and continue the line of my father King Henry VIII?
Have I not been told by you and you and you
that I should do as other women do and get me an heir?
Yes, but the people...
Do you imagine I do not want a child?
Do you imagine I do not have the desire to hold a babe in mine arms?
Am I so unnatural to you by virtue of my exalted position?
Now I have at last found a man that is both royal
and to my liking, may I not...
Am I made of stone, gentlemen?
And so...
farewell.
Some princes do not deserve their subjects.
It is the opposite case with you, madam.
A courtier and a scholar
and a poet
and a woman of great beauty.
It is the last compliment I shall treasure, my lord.
You know well what it is that separates us.
It is the public practice of the Roman religions... sticks in their hearts.
There is no prince in the world to whom I would rather be bound
or with whom I would rather spend the days of my life.
"I grieve and dare not show my discontent.
I love and yet I'm forced to seem to hate.
I do yet dare not say I ever meant.
I seem stark mute,
yet inwardly do prate.
I am and I'm not.
I freeze yet am burned.
Since from myself another self I turn.
My care is like my shadow in the sun.
It follows me flying, flies when I pursue it,
stands and lies by me,
does what I have done.
Or let me live with some more sweet content,
or die.
And so forget what love ere meant."
Well England, the Queen is all yours.
Seven years later
Ah, Francis.
Your Queen has been on progress, good people,
but she is glad to be again home.
She should be kept from the people.
Should she be?
Has she not need of their love?
- I mean, with Leicester gone... - Intelligence from Rome.
Not half as glad, it may be said, as the lords who entertained her,
since they are relieved of the expense of her entertainments.
She must be told. But when?
And which of us should tell her?
I'll tell her straight, my lord.
I have the right face for bad news.
...While people feast at the expense of the nobility,
then there is hope for England yet, eh?
- Your Majesty? - Sir Francis.
News from Rome, madam.
No good news then.
His holiness... declares you a heretic,
excommunicates you and says that for all good Catholics
killing you would be no murder.
Your Majesty! Your Majesty!
Your Majesty!
- Make way... make way. - Get back.
- Make way, I say. - Make way!
Let Her Majesty pass!
And am I supposed to return the compliment
and slaughter them where I find them?
It means His Holiness intends
to put a Catholic upon the English throne.
He'll have to push me off it first.
There are those who would help him, madam.
Philip of Spain was ever anxious to do the Pope's bidding.
He does not lace his shoes without a Papal dispensation.
So we may expect him, gentlemen.
Or he may work through loyal friends closer to home.
- Your cousin Mary... - And you would have me act?
Strike, strike and strike again, eh, Francis?
When the occasion calls for it, Francis,
I will strike.
My lord... you may remember this gentlemen.
He made the attempt on Her Majesty's life.
He's a Catholic and he's known to those
who know the so-called Scottish Queen.
He will now help us lead that devilish...
corrupt scheming woman
to betray herself in a way that Her Majesty will not be able to ignore.
So...
you will reveal to us the conspiracies
in the mind of this evil woman?
What if Her Majesty Queen Mary
has no thoughts of conspiracy in her head?
She will have them.
I am lately come from the Presence.
I was within a sword's length of her on two occasions.
Sir Anthony, speak lower I beseech you.
What, Father Ballard?
Would not half this place applaud our design?
To kill Elizabeth will be no murder.
- We will... - What we will
is not yet decided, Sir Anthony.
As I take it, you seek to approach the Queen of Scotland.
Mary, the rightful Queen of England, should I say, sir?
It seems you know everything.
And you also know I now have the Pope's authority.
And there are plans for the Spanish King
to invade England on Queen Mary's behalf.
- When the occasion is right. - Now is the occasion.
I have gathered about me a group of Catholic gentlemen
who have sworn to free Mary and take Queen Elizabeth's life.
No, we will slay her,
and then when the King of Spain invades
we will place her cousin Mary of Scots on the English throne.
Master Gifford tells me
you will approach our Spanish friends.
Yes.
I will let them know of your design.
Good day, Babington.
The Duke of Anjou is dead, Your Majesty.
Well...
we are sorry to hear of it.
And so it seems the French have made their peace with Spain.
King Philip has sent the Duke of Parma against the Dutch.
His plan will be to finish them,
then move against England.
To which end King Philip builds an armada...
a fleet, the largest ever seen.
Is there any good news?
I feel a knife at my neck once more.
Our intelligences have revealed a new conspiracy here in England.
- Sir Anthony Babington. - Babington?
He may have ties not only with the Spanish, but also with...
Your cousin Mary,
so-called Queen of Scots.
All I require, madam, is the evidence.
These are hard times.
And no one to talk to, no one in whom I can confide.
We have recalled the Earl of Leicester.
Oh gentlemen, these long faces you put on.
Is it any wonder I crave amusement?
I have sent for the Earl of Leicester, and he will come to court
no matter how long your faces grow.
Faster, faster, Thomas.
Good.
Excellent.
Oh!
Tell me the difference between love and friendship.
- There is none. - How do you reckon that, my lord?
Well, we are here walking arm in arm.
My marriage was forced on me, Bess.
Since I could not marry you.
But what I felt for you then,
I still feel.
And the case is not altered with me, my lord.
I married to have an heir, Bess.
And we had but one child.
A son.
He was but seven years old when God took him from us...
even this year.
Oh, Robin...
what is it the world does to us?
I have his things still...
his clothes,
his little suit of armor.
I can't seem to...
Forgive me, Your Majesty.
Well, Brother Leicester,
you must continue to be my eyes,
for you see things so clearly.
Here too, children is all. For I have none
and therefore no successor, and the vultures gather.
Mary of Scots...
or...
Mary of France or Mary of whoever will have her.
If I kill my cousin Mary then the Spanish will declare war.
But if I leave her alive...
She will be obliged to kill you...
to save her soul and free her body.
So says Francis Walsingham.
He sifts the evidence and draws the trap ever tighter round her.
- Her own son has betrayed her. - How so?
King James VI of Scotland is now a pensioner of the English crown.
England pays the wages of the King of Scotland.
Bess, you are formidable.
The Scottish Queen is little pleased by it.
Oh, I missed Court intrigues.
I did hear you were planning to help the Dutch
with military aid against the Spanish.
You know, I've longed to serve you.
- If the Netherlands fall... - No no no. You are not to go, Robin.
I have not had you with me these seven years.
I need you here by my side, alive if possible.
Years ago there was a plan that Mary and I should meet.
It was years and years ago. It came to nothing.
And you wish to revive it.
If I were to visit her, it would have to be in secret,
for all at court would argue against it.
- But it could be done, I imagine. - Mm-hmm.
All these conspiracies have her at the center.
Why should I not reason with her, my lord?
If I cannot dissuade her from the courses she is on
what else can I do but seek her death,
upon which the whole world will break about my ears?
It is not too late to turn her.
Oh, tell me that is true, for I would have it so.
Bess, you have the great weakness of the clear minded.
You believe that other people think like you.
But...
I will arrange it.
So this is her prison.
Stand down the guard, my lord.
- Where is she? - Follow me.
- I heard she's grown fat. - Mmm.
Well, she's had little else to do but eat and sleep.
And plot, Your Majesty.
Let us hope sweet reason will reason her from her unreason.
Since we both know, my lord,
that the other way will lead my sister to her death.
And on the other side of that lies war with Spain...
for which poor England is ill prepared.
You were not announced.
I'm not here.
Why do you come?
Is it curiosity?
To witness my confinement?
To see what you have brought me to?
As you see, I am not well.
Perhaps this pleases you.
Was it I who brought you to this, Mary?
Who else?
I am more your friend than you imagine.
I am the only thing that stands between you and destruction.
Royalty stands with itself, madam.
Who else will stand with us or for us?
We serve the people, Mary.
I am a little bored with the people.
I think it is time we sent out for a different set of subjects.
Well, this is what my dog thinks.
Possibly.
- I am come to warn you. - Of what?
There are those on my council who would have you dead.
They say you conspire against my life.
Your Majesty knows I have never...
Sir Francis Walsingham gathers evidence.
Of what?
And if I am given proof
I will have no choice but to take the sin of your death...
the death of a God-anointed queen...
upon my head.
No, you would not dare.
I would have no choice.
There will be war,
cousin, on my death.
A war of Spain and France
against this little...
Vile country, nest of Lutheran chickens?
I do not choose to stay here.
Well, who would have you?
Scotland?
Or your oh-so-grateful son?
You are hard, madam.
It's the business of living that has made me so.
Oh?
Oh, you cast a cold eye upon me, cousin.
We are both prisoners of the time, you and I.
Both prisoners?
Then shall we two walk free together?
I say again, I am come to warn...
No, I am...
I am come to counsel you.
I am come to implore you.
I am come to beg you
not to persist in your treason.
I swear to you, cousin,
that I have no intent against you.
That all I seek is liberty.
I pray to God the death of one of us is not
the only way to buy the freedom of the other.
Oui.
We shall see.
At last I am able to fight your cause.
The Dutch.
What in God's name do we have in common with the Dutch?
Our religion, ma'am.
The Dutch have no religion, they have cheese.
If we do not contain the Duke of Parma
and his Spanish army
he'll be knocking at our door by the end of the year.
I can't tell you how I appreciate this command, madam.
And how I value your trust in me.
You are a fireside general, Robin.
- I would have you by my side. - Bess!
My cousin Mary plots against my life and you leave me.
Ah, the Earl of Essex, my stepson, ma'am.
I have given him a command.
Is that Lady Essex's son?
'Tis, ma'am. He fights alongside me.
He's grown into a pretty youth.
Your Majesty.
I see a world in your eyes.
They... they outshine the stars.
You turn an excellent compliment for one so young, my lord.
If I may return it, it is rare to find such...
beauty
gifted with the power of self-expression.
Come along, sir.
Oh well, off you go.
And don't the pair of you look valiant indeed?
Farewell, my Bess.
Come back safely.
The Dutch.
Heaven help us.
You have news?
From Holland.
The Earl of Leicester is safe.
Madam, we have intercepted a coded letter
from the so-called Queen of Scots
to Sir Anthony Babington.
Copy of the original,
and here...
the transcript.
There, and here.
"The affair being thus prepared and forces in readiness
both within and without the realm,
then will it be time to set the six gentlemen...
to work on the Queen's murder."
She gave me her word.
Proof positive that she...
conspires against you, madam.
How came you by these letters?
Do we have someone of ours in her confidence?
And if so, is this his scheme or hers?
These gentlemen approached her, Your Majesty.
And she has countenanced their scheme and given it her encouragement.
This is plain evidence she seeks your death.
As you do wish for hers, Sir Francis. You've already marked it with the gallows.
Or did Queen Mary make that mark herself?
There is no lie or counterfeit laid here before you, madam.
And though it call down the wrath of Spain upon us,
I say, she should be dealt with.
I will not move precipitately, sir.
The Spanish build ships these last years
and we have none to put against them.
I will not move too soon.
I will write to the Earl of Leicester.
Whatever the Earl's view, madam,
we must advise you that...
I am subject of plots and conspiracies
and all I have to defend me is you and...
sad old Lord Burghley!
I want Leicester! Bring him home!
The army, madam,
have need of their general.
So... your spy,
our spy...
who is he, Walsingham?
The young man who once tried to kill you, madam.
We turned him.
I have done what I have done for your safety, madam.
Mary of Scotland is a traitor.
So.
Do you think because I am slow to make war, that I am merciful?
You think women are kinder than a man or more gentle?
I'll tell you, gentlemen, we women have forgotten
more about cruelty than you could ever remember.
What we do not like is lies.
Why should I not hang you
as well as the fellow Catholics you've duped? And I tell you, sir,
we'll hang them not a whit before we cut them open for a traitor's death.
Shadows
and shadows...
of shadows.
Being alive is punishment enough for this creature.
For the others, kill them as I have said.
I want them alive when you cut out their heart and their bowels!
I mourn more for the death of one good and faithful man
than I do for 20 traitors.
And now with those I love across the seas
risking their lives for my life,
I tell you I want to hang those conspirators myself!
Oh, I am made of cruel passions, my lord!
And when the time is right will so act on them as to astonish the world.
I have love and compassion too.
And as I can punish, so can I yearn...
for those who are true and faithful and...
and who love me according to my true deserts
as their Queen.
Hang him! Hang him!
Queen Mary must be brought to trial.
To try an anointed sovereign, sir,
is no light matter.
The Earl of Leicester would be in favor of a trial, madam.
Oh, really?
Well, shall we ask him?
My lord, how goes it in Holland?
We seek your opinion on an urgent matter.
- Madam, we must... - How busily my subjects
set about to see a Queen laid low.
Well, let it be done then. Let it be done.
But I would have it done with an eye
to the justice of the thing.
All Europe watches us, my lords.
And waits to see
how we will serve my perjured Catholic cousin.
In nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti.
I am an anointed Queen.
And not subject to the ordinary laws of England.
Madam, in England a free prince
offending is subject to our laws.
Would you prefer to be tried in your absence, lady?
I am no subject, sir.
And would die a thousand deaths rather than acknowledge myself to be one.
But go to it...
for I see you are all determined.
This letter
to Sir Anthony Babington...
Is forged.
I would not dare make shipwreck of my soul
by compassing the death of my dear sister.
Dear, indeed.
Yet we have proof positive this is your hand
and given out by you.
So she is judged guilty.
By a fair trial, madam.
And both Lords and Commons humbly petition Your Majesty
that you may pass sentence of death upon her.
Oh, this goes hard with me.
What will my enemies not say that for the safety of her own life
a maiden Queen could be content
to spill the blood even of her own kinswoman?
I may therefore well complain
that any man might think me given to cruelty
wherever I'm so guiltless and so innocent.
Nay I'm so far from it that for mine own life I would not touch her.
I pray you accept my thankfulness,
excuse my doubtfulness
and take in good part my answer, answerless.
Madam, this business must be settled.
Both Lords and Commons must needs have it so.
They are most passionate in this wish, ma'am.
I will not sign the warrant.
I care not if you lay it before me every day for a whole year
I tell you I will not sign it.
We will remove to our palace at Richmond.
Richmond! Vascillation, vascillation...
vascillation!
Is it really him?
I think it is, Your Majesty.
On whose side is he in this matter of the Queen of Scotland?
I imagine he is on the side of the Earl of Leicester.
I have failed you, Bess.
Things did not go well for us.
What did I tell you?
You said I was a fireside general.
And was I right?
You're always right, Bess.
The Spanish have a clever general in the Duke of Parma.
Now that the States of Holland are theirs,
I fear they may think the time is right to attack.
You are not well.
- You are tired? - Am I?
- Sit. - I am in the best of health, ma'am.
How could I be otherwise when I'm looking at you?
Well, Leicester, I have need of you.
- In what way, ma'am? - Our cousin Mary, of course.
Both the Lords and Commons
set about me with petitions for her death.
- It is not possible for me... - Bess.
I cannot lie to you.
The Scottish Queen must die.
There is her death warrant, and all it requires
is my signature, Master Davison.
Suffer or strike,
is that not the message sent to me by the council?
Even Leicester betrays me.
Her son
suggests I grant him the succession
to take away the sting of killing the woman who bore him.
Now there's a son who loves his mother, eh?
This is a person of royal blood.
This is our father's sister's child.
Do you understand what that means, Davison?
This is our cousin.
And what a pretty thing the family is.
How it breeds love and tenderness in the child.
How it trains us in sweetness and honesty and affection.
There, easily done.
She is to be beheaded at Fotheringay.
This is the last I wish to hear of it.
As to the manner of her death she is to be accorded
the privileges of someone of royal blood.
I do not wish to hear of it.
But someone is to give me an account of it when it is done.
Wait!
Do not give that to the council until I say.
As for now, it is as if I never signed it, do you understand?
- I... - Now leave me!
Why should Her Majesty ask a man of no great experience
to bring this document to her for signature?
- An then... - She chose him deliberately, my lords.
She wants the woman dead but she cannot bear to give the order.
This was ever her way.
Sideways, sideways, sideways.
The Earl of Leicester is right. We must all put our hand
to this order of execution,
or else I tell you, gentlemen,
we will all hang.
You and I have had our quarrels, my lord,
but may I say,
we have need of wise politicians at court.
Now who will witness the execution
and tell her the deed is done?
I will do it myself.
Don't cry for me...
...you promised me, Jane.
Pardon me, ma'am.
I hope that you shall bring an end to all my troubles.
Oh...
the color of the Catholic martyr.
In nomine patris et filii
- et spiritus... - Lord, have mercy on this sinner.
We pray according to the reformed prayer book.
that our Lord gives help to the helpless,
hope to the hopeless.
Lord, stay within us.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost...
I shed my blood
- for the ancient Catholic religion. ...Amen.
God save the Queen.
- God save the Queen. - How can I ever tell the Queen of this?
How can I tell her
and keep her love?
Ah, Walsingham!
It is done. Will you... will you tell her?
As you wish, my Lord.
Forgive me.
Oh!
Oh, Sir Francis, I did not see you there.
Please, do not stop, ma'am.
Oh.
What is that?
Is someone married?
I think someone has died, Your Majesty.
Who has died?
A very great traitor, madam.
Mary of Scotland.
Who ordered this?
I rather think you did, Majesty.
Dead by my orders?
Oh... oh my...
Davison!
Oh, you!
No!
Leicester!
Where is the Earl of Leicester?
Get me Leicester!
Leicester!
Your Majesty.
Why could you not have stopped this?
I'll hang Davison, you hear me?
And you too, if you show your face!
- This is your Robin. - Take him away!
Take him away!
Oh my God!
Oh, God forgive me.
- Oh God! - Bess!
Stand aside.
O Lord...
Thou has set me on high.
If I swell against Thee
pluck me down in my conceit.
Though I have taken a life
the life of an anointed Queen.
Oh God, forgive me.
God, forgive me. God, forgive me.
You are angry with me, madam.
That you of all people should fail to understand
the case in which I stood.
That went hard with me, my lord.
I saw her die.
How did she die?
In truth, there were things there that were done
not as they should have been done.
She was denied her rosary.
And they denied her her priest.
This will not be in the report the council gives you, but...
there were two...
- strokes of the axe... - No, enough!
I tell you the truth as I saw it.
Yes...
yes, you do. I know you do.
If I'd heard that from another's lips...
but you were right to say it.
I must remember who I am and learn humility.
Before God,
what are the stumblings and offences of my life?
What is there between you and I?
What's a crown when love's voice speaks to us?
None of the others would have dared do
what you have done.
No.
We must not.
Robin, we cannot.
There will be war.
Philip of Spain will move to avenge her.
We must be strong, both of us.
And since friendship outlasts love,
and is stronger than love...
let us be friends.
Always.
Will I be able to fight, my lord?
I fear we shall all have to fight, sir.
Will I be able to meet Her Majesty again?
That, sir, is why I brought you here.
Make way for the Earl.
I fear there are more important matters at court today.
- Sir, make way, sir. - My lord.
The Spanish Ambassador...
Don Bernadino.
Since our peace emissaries have been withdrawn from Spain,
I see you're leaving us.
I have said farewell to your heretic Queen.
The murderer of her sister Mary.
When our fleet lands... she will burn,
with all the other heretics.
And we will have a new Queen in England.
Yourself perhaps.
You will apologize for speaking of the Queen in that fashion.
Sir!
Calm, sir.
Now, remember this.
Her favor changes with her moods.
She is a woman.
But if you love her...
and I say this to you as a father...
- love her constancy. - We will consider this petition.
- For it is there. - My lords.
Lady Anne.
Your Majesty.
You asked to see the Earl of Essex.
We have need of young men like the Earl of Essex.
How so, ma'am?
- Because you are so... - Elegant?
Clumsy.
Make that bow again.
There, you see, Leicester, he never bows the same way twice.
Now that is a mark of true sincerity.
I could have bent my mind to a more retired course, ma'am,
and stayed in the country.
The country is very pretty.
But I do not like to be dead.
Well, you'll have to learn more of the ways of court, sir.
Now your stepfather and I must talk of graver matters.
So the Spanish fleet is assembled?
Their ships are said to number more than 100.
- Father. - Robert.
The last hope for peace is gone.
The negotiations were...
Well, at least I have you at home.
Perhaps it's for the best.
We will throw them back from whence they came.
So the Earl of Leicester will be in charge of the land forces.
We'll set our army at Tilbury where the Duke of Parma is like to land.
We have precious few trained men to put against him.
Let's hope you do better against him there
- than you did in Holland, Robin. - Thank you, ma'am.
Francis?
Their vessels are too heavy in the water.
We will dog them from the Lizard
and we will destroy them before they get to Calais.
And when I do, ma'am, I swear they will wish themselves back at Lisbon
kissing pictures of the Pope's foot.
It has been suggested that Her Majesty be removed to a place of safety.
You may hide in a hole in the ground if you so wish, Lord Burghley,
I intend to be there to meet them if they come.
A hundred ships.
What shall I say to those
who are prepared to fight and die on my behalf?
Your Majesty...
will give them courage.
And breathe scorn on the invader.
Scorn?
The only words I have for them
are love for them and this...
this their sacrifice,
unwarlike woman that I am.
Can that really be so?
Good morning, my lord.
I could swear Your Majesty
had the heart and stomach of a King.
Oh, Robin.
- Robin, you are not well. - Excuse me, Your Majesty.
All is well.
I pray you.
Bring him over.
Do you lead me like a groom, my lord,
to let England know you have no designs to be my equal?
From where will Your Majesty speak?
Why, from my heart of course.
How long have you been in the army, good man?
One month, Your Majesty.
Well, I'll wager you are a very terror with that fork.
God save the Queen!
God Save the Queen!
Armies are not made by their equipment, my lord.
Why have you persuaded me to wear this?
It suits you very well, ma'am.
I am among my people who love me
and among whom I am proud to die if I have to.
God save the Queen! God save the Queen!
My loving people...
My loving people.
We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety
to take care how we walk among armed multitudes.
But I assure you I do not desire
to live to distrust my faithful and loving people.
Let tyrants fear.
I have always so behaved myself that...
that under God I have placed my chiefest strength
and safeguard
in the loyal hearts and goodwill of all my subjects.
I am come among you as you see at this time
not for my disport or recreation
but resolved in the midst and the heat of the battle
to live or die among you all.
To lay down for my God,
for my kingdom
and for my people
my honor and my blood...
even...
even in the dust!
I know... I know I have the body
but of a weak and feeble woman.
But I have the heart and stomach of a king.
And of a King of England too!
And I...
and I think it foul scorn
that Parma or Spain
or any prince of Europe
dare invade the borders of my realm!
God save the Queen! God save the Queen!
No.
I'd be much happier if Your Majesty returned to London.
The Spanish Fleet is in the Channel.
We've had reports that Parma may cross tonight.
Which may mean that Drake...
Drake?
Drake has the wind behind him, Robin.
He will set his ships among them and they will rue the day they ever came to England.
You're not well. This has taken its toll of you. You should rest.
Oh, I'm...
- Reports of a ship, Your Majesty. - Where?
Coming up the river.
Come, sir.
One of ours, or one of theirs?
One of ours, Your Majesty.
If the news was good they were to put out flags.
Both white and black.
- Your colors. - Well, have they?
Not yet.
Well?!
The day is ours, ma'am.
My lord.
- Majesty! - Robin!
See to the Earl.
- Robin! - My lord.
A hard-won victory.
Oh, Robin, here.
I want to talk to you about my stepson.
The young Earl of Essex?
Although...
I am not his natural father...
There are those who say that you are.
Oh, Bess.
Lechery does not interest me, Robin.
Love on the other hand...
Is that what it is between us?
Oh yes.
And it is very proper.
Well...
I am glad to hear you say it is love.
Was...
and is.
There are those who say I was of the calculating kind.
But what I felt for you
I could not help.
Sometimes it...
did not help my cause at all.
But truth be told...
it was as constant as the heavens.
When I lost my way
it guided me
as stars...
do sailors.
Robin?
No, I beg you, do not weep.
You spoke of your son?
Of Essex.
He is all the son I have.
I bade him hither.
May he approach?
Sir?
Sir, your father needs you.
Take care of her, young man.
She needs...
looking after.
To be so strong for so many people...
is not easy.
And I will not be there.
My love.
You will be with me always, Robin.
I am for the dark, Bess.
My life is done.
Be careful of each other.
I stand here before you
among the captured banners of our enemies,
and yet, in victory,
I say we still shall humble ourselves
before our God
and our people.
We are mindful
that we have lost a personage...
who was most dear to us.
One who should stand here with us today.
And as we commend his soul to Heaven...
we turn ourselves to our only solace,
which is the people of this our England.
And let them know they may have yet a greater Prince,
but they shall never have a more loving one.
Next Time
Great things hang on a kiss, Robin, when princes are involved.
I am in danger about signing the Queen's Majesty.
My lord, I would beg you to be careful.
Oh, my ladies love to look at you.
Do you think the Queen is mistress of her feelings?
I have offended you.
What I must not say is that I love you.