Perspective

Alison Weir has an obvious respect for her subject. She makes a real effort to delve into the woman behind the crown and to understand Elizabeth psychologically. Weir is English herself and has written extensively on the royal families of England, both fiction and nonfiction. She seems to identify with Elizabeth and often points out that Elizabeth was a woman in a man's world surrounded by people who wished ill of her. She maintains that Elizabeth was, in fact, a Virgin Queen, and believes the gossip about the Queen's affairs to be unfounded. Elizabeth's life was so very public, she says, that there was no way for the Queen to have sexual relations without word getting out in a more concrete way. She gives Elizabeth the benefit of the doubt, preferring to believe Elizabeth's personal life was exactly as she said, especially given how complex the Queen's relationships...