An illustrated biography of Queen Elizabeth I as revealed through the buildings, artifacts, documents, and other relics that still exist today.

The Elizabethan Era was a golden age for England. Great playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe flourished, while the exploits of Sir Francis Drake and other ‘sea-dogs’ established the country as a global power. At the center of it all was Elizabeth herself—daughter of Henry VIII and last of the Tudor monarchs. In this magnificently illustrated volume, Elizabeth’s life story is told through the objects, buildings, documents, and institutions she left behind.

Historian Paul Kendall explores the queen’s birthplace at Greenwich Palace, her childhood homes, her prison in the Tower of London, the palaces she lived in, and her final resting place in Westminster Abbey. He also delves into the books young Elizabeth presented to her father and step-mother, Katherine Parr, with the binding she embroidered herself. Also covered in detail are her clothes, letters she wrote in her own hand, her coronation chair, her coat of arms asserting her title as Governor of the Church of England, and her signature signing the death warrant of her cousin, the 4th Duke of Norfolk.

This book is not just a journey back in time to the reign of Elizabeth I, but also a tour across the country to visit the sites which still evoke that golden era of the Virgin Queen.