The famous portraits of Elizabeth—such as the Armada Portrait or the Rainbow Portrait—were not mere art, but political tools. Every detail, from the pearls in her hair to the eyes and ears on her gown, communicated messages of purity, vigilance, and divine blessing. Castor argues that these images were not born of vanity but necessity. Elizabeth had to be seen as more than a woman—she had to become an icon, a living symbol of national unity.
The Marriage Question: Power and the Female Body
Nowhere was Elizabeth’s insecurity more visible than in the question of marriage. Parliament and her advisors pressed her relentlessly to marry and produce an heir. The threat of dynastic collapse loomed large. Foreign suitors—such as Philip II of Spain, the Archduke Charles of Austria, and the Duke of Anjou—were proposed and entertained diplomatically, but none were accepted.
Castor makes it clear that Elizabeth’s refusal to marry was not an act of romantic idealism, but a shrewd political maneuver. Marriage would mean the arrival of a man who, by law and expectation, might rule in her place. Elizabeth understood that her authority would be compromised. Her declaration of being married to her people was both a defensive and offensive strategy, one that enabled her to retain absolute control in a male-dominated world.
Religious Divides and Political Plots
Elizabeth’s reign was haunted by religious conflict. As a Protestant queen succeeding a Catholic monarch, she faced immediate hostility from powerful European states and from within her own realm. The papal bull of 1570 that excommunicated her and released her subjects from allegiance intensified Catholic plots against her.
Castor highlights the near-constant sense of peril Elizabeth lived under. The Ridolfi Plot, the Throckmorton Plot, the Babington Plot—all aimed at replacing Elizabeth with the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots. These conspiracies were not abstract fears; they were real threats that shook the government and fueled a climate of suspicion and repression. The execution of Mary in 1587, though politically necessary, deeply troubled Elizabeth, a fellow anointed monarch. shutdown123