Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens

Wonderful exhibition at the British Library looking at the lives of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots.

This is a large and quite dense show but it has everything you would want to be there if you know this period and it is such a thrill to see them together. It takes you through the lives of both queens comparing and contrasting as it goes along.

Being the British Library there are a lot of documents but they are explained well and there are some iconic pieces such as the attached, the only contemporary copy of Elizabeth’s Armada Speech, and the Tide Letter, which Elizabeth wrote to her sister Mary I asking for clemency as she was sent to the Tower of London which  she wrote slowly in the hope of missing the tide and delaying imprisonment for another day. There was also the letter Mary wrote to Elizabeth telling her about the death of Rizzio.

There were a good selection of portraits some of which I hadn’t seen before and some great objects such as the hanging Mary made when imprisoned with the help of Bess of Hardwick.

What did I learn? That Walsingham witnessed the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in Paris and that Henry III of France held a funeral service for Mary at Notre Dame. It’s worth giving this show a lot of time so fuel yourself with coffee before going in. It took me about two hours and I’m a fast reader.

Closes 20 February 2022

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