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LILY AND THE QUEEN
Former supermodel Lily Cole plays Elizabeth I in a compelling new series that tells how the Virgin Queen narrowly avoided losing her head up to a dozen times – often at the hands of her family!
Lily Cole appears as Elizabeth I in a new series that reveals how she repeatedly cheated death by the skin of her teeth
The question of how to make hi story programmes more entertaining without being accused of dumbing down has long been pondered by broadcasters. But Channel 5 thinks it has the answer with its docu-drama series fusing historical fact with sumptuous reconstructions of the key events – and no shortage of good-looking people either.
Following its acclaimed Henry VIII And His Six Wives series last year, the latest looks at Elizabeth I, focusing on the many enemies who wanted her dead during her life. Again presented by Dr Suzannah Lipscomb, the stunning Oxford-educated Tudor expert, and cool Cambridge-educated historian Dan Jones, this one also stars former supermodel Lily Cole, another Cambridge alumnus, as the Virgin Queen.
‘History TV is littered with terrible dramatic reconstructions,’ says Dan. ‘What’s great about our series is we’re as serious about the drama as we are about the history. Aspects of these stories are better related through drama such as people’s connections, their disagreements and their foibles. When we heard Lily had agreed to be Elizabeth we had to pinch ourselves. It’s an amazing coup and shows people are beginning to take this type of show seriously.’
In the three-part series, Lily plays Elizabeth from the age of 20 when she narrowly escaped execution for treason by her half-sister
Mary I until, at the age of
53, she signs the death warrant of her cousin
Mary, Queen of
Scots. Lily, who gained a double first in history of art while modelling, has remained a history buff and did lots of research for the role.
‘Her life was so peculiar, having so many family members try to kill her,’ she says. ‘A hell of a lot of things happened, and the conflict on the continent was intense. But the impression I got was that she always tried to bring unity to the country. I tried to think about her from her perspective. I don’t think she would have thought of herself as a feminist but I do think she felt capable, smart, sure of her own merits and anxious not to be put into a submissive position just because she was a woman.’
As we’ll see, Elizabeth was fighting battles all her life. ‘People think of her as this great Gloriana who reigned successfully because we have hindsight,’ says Suzannah. ‘We know she saw off the Armada and reigned for 45 years, but when you go back to the beginning you see that even before she became queen she was under threat.’
Elizabeth’s first battle began when her father Henry VIII had her mother Anne Boleyn executed on charges of adultery and conspiracy. ‘It’s not a great start in life when Daddy lops Mummy’s head off before you’ve reached the age of three,’ says Dan. ‘The mar- riage was annulled and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. She was isolated and had a traumatic upbringing.’
The show moves on to Thomas Seymour, who married Henry VIII’s last wife, Catherine Parr, after Henry’s death. She was Elizabeth’s mentor and Seymour was known to be over-affectionate towards Elizabeth, then a young teenager, regularly visiting her bedroom at night. When Catherine died in 1548 he plotted to marry Elizabeth and seize the throne from her younger half-brother Edward VI, who’d acceded aged nine. In 1549 Seymour was arrested for treason and beheaded; Elizabeth escaped with her life.
When Edward died in 1553 and Elizabeth’s Catholic half-sister Mary Tudor became queen, the Protestant princess became a focus for English Protestants rebelling against Mary’s bloody rule with her Spanish husband Prince Philip. ‘Elizabeth was put under house arrest for a year,’ says Suzannah. ‘There’s this idea that Mary and Philip were simply unhappy with Elizabeth, but we show it was far more serious than that. There are begging letters from Elizabeth to her sister asking for her life to be spared.’
In 1558, when Elizabeth became queen after Mary’s death, she turned down a marriage offer from her brother-in-law, now King Philip II of Spain, and made an enemy for life. The show looks at the Armada in 1588 from Elizabeth’s point of view as she waited for news. As it happened, luck was on her
side. ‘The Armada was to pick up the Duke of Parma and his troops from the Netherlands, go to London and kill Elizabeth,’ says Suzannah. ‘But the troops weren’t ready so they had to wait. Then they were affected by bad weather. We use a reconstruction here to show her tension as she waits. But even after the Armada Philip tried to invade throughout the 1590s. And when he died his son Philip III tried to invade through Ireland.’
Then there was her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics. Even though Elizabeth had her incarcerated for 18 years, she became the figurehead for several Catholic rebellions until Elizabeth reluctantly signed her death warrant in 1587. ‘She was aware Mary was a real danger, but recoiled at the idea of having a queen killed,’ says Dan. ‘Accounts from her ministers make it clear she didn’t intend the warrant to be used. She was furious when Mary was killed.’
Even before she died in 1603 Elizabeth was fighting off coups, including one by her favourite the Earl of Essex. He raised troops against her in London, but they deserted him and he was arrested and beheaded. ‘Once again she was genuinely under threat,’ says Dan.
Even Tudor buffs will be surprised by some of the revelations. ‘This is the Elizabeth people don’t know,’ says Dan. ‘She was seriously under threat at least a dozen times. We hope it will fascinate people because the Elizabethan age really is the start of the modern age.’
‘It’s not a great start in life when Daddy lops off Mummy’s head’