Portrays Elizabeth as both a woman and a queen, an extraordinary phenomenon in a patriarchal age. This book tells of: Elizabeth's long-standing affair with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester; her dealings with her many suitors; her rivalry with Mary, Queen of Scots; and, her bizarre relationship with the Earl of Essex, thirty years her junior.

Elizabeth the Queen begins as the young Elizabeth ascends the throne in the wake of her sister Mary's disastrous reign - both a woman and a queen, Elizabeth's story is an extraordinary phenomenon in a patriarchal age.

From Elizabeth's intriguing, long-standing affair with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to her dealings - sometimes comical, sometimes poignant - with her many suitors, her rivalry with Mary, Queen of Scots, and her bizarre relationship with the Earl of Essex, thirty years her junior, here, in rich, vivid and colourful detail, Alison Weir helps us comes as close as we shall ever get to knowing what Elizabeth I was like as a person.

'Excellent...intricate and absorbing...An elegant, shrewd and wonderfully vivacious book.' The Times