The home life of our own dear Queen
Geoffrey Parker
THE VIRGIN QUEEN: THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF ELIZABETH I by Christopher Hibbert
Viking, £16.99, pp. 287
Another book by Christopher Hib- bert! According to the list on the flysheet of his volume there are 23 other published works, ranging from a study of China and the West between 1793 and 1911, through biographies of six historical figures and three cities, to a social history of crime and punishment. Another life of Elizabeth I! Almost 100 have been printed this century, including one by Viking Penguin itself only three years ago.
This combination of a prolific profes- sional writer and a somewhat over-studied subject is at first sight distinctly unpromis- ing — almost by definition what is new is unlikely to be good while what is good is unlikely to be new — and the list of acknowledgements is not encouraging. For whereas most historians thank first and foremost their colleagues and then (perhaps) their publishers, Mr Hibbert thanks first his two literary agents, then his five editors (in Britain and the United States), and only finally a (single) histo- rian.
However, great praise is certainly due to those who have produced this book be- cause it is handsomely printed and pack- aged, reasonably priced, and adorned with 61 illustrations (half in magnificent col- our). But there are still some problems. For example, the plates are never referred to (let alone discussed) in the text. Thus when Mr Hibbert writes about the various portraits of the queen (pp. 101-3), he comments on one likeness which is not reproduced (the 'Rainbow portrait'), on one which is included among the plates under a different name (`The Procession to Blackfriars'), on one which is on the jacket though not a plate (the portrait at Hard- wick Hall), and on another by an artist (Zuccaro) whose name is spelled different- ly in the caption to a picture (which, be it noted, is not the one mentioned in the text). Given the quality and novelty of the reproductions, it is a pity not to know more about them.
As for the text, the best part by far consists of four central chapters which fulfil the promise of the book's subtitle and provide a 'personal history of Elizabeth I': `The queen in her privy chamber', 'The queen in her council', 'The queen at court' and 'The queen on progress' (pp. 100-43). Delightful and telling details are combined to evoke a remarkable portrait of how the queen spent her days, how she dealt with the people she met, and how she worked on projecting the 'Virgin Queen' image that has endured to this day. Thus, for example, she controlled all her portraits: none might be produced tut such as the Serjeant Painter should have first sight of, and from time to time an official 'face pattern' was issued under royal licence to ensure that painters produced acceptable likenesses. Unacceptable ones, when dis- covered, were burnt. Elizabeth also took great pains over her public appearances, going out of her way to talk to people in a crowd or to enter and admire a private house, listening attentively to tedious municipal orations, watching intently the most laborious pageants, and making sure that everyone enjoyed plenty of opportuni- ties to admire her regal bearing and her magnificent attire. The only people who sometimes remained unimpressed were her ministers and servants. Sir Thomas Smith, her secretary of state, grew 'weary of life' because he could not persuade her either to sign orders or to have orders 'already signed permitted to be sent away, but day by day, and hour by hour, deferred until anon, none, and tomorrow'. His successor, Sir Francis Walsingham, once lost his temper with the queen's procrastination and indecision. 'For the love of god, Madam,' he blurted out, let not the cure of your diseased estate hang any longer in deliberation'. Amazingly, he lived to tell the tale. Likewise, when she had changed her mind three times about when to leave Windsor castle on a progress and over- heard a frustrated carter cry out, Now I see the queen is a woman, as well as my wife', she threw the man some compensa- tion money out of the window..
Here, then, is the real Elizabeth: indeci- sive yet impatient, self-indulgent but mean, never happier than when slitting the throats of the stags she had hunted down or watching the baiting of one of her team of prize bears by her mastiffs in the London `Bear-Pit'. It is a pity that so few of the well-chosen anecdotes are dated (for the book has no footnotes), so that the im- pression is sometimes given of an unchang- ing, almost reptilian persona; but I have read nothing better on the personal life of the queen.
The rest — six chapters of Elizabeth's precarious existence before her accession and on the problems she faced as queen, and ten more on the major political issues and decisions of her 'reign — are smoothly and accurately narrated. If they contain little that is new, conversely they contain little that is wrong. This may not be the `definitive' study of Elizabeth I, but, with such a complex, devious and long-lived monarch, one could scarcely expect that of a work containing less than 300 pages. Taken as a whole it is probably the best `popular biography' currently available. Possessing literary agents, gifted editors and extensive writing experience do, after all, bring their own advantages.
Geoffrey Parker's many books include The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road 1567-1659 and a biography of Philip 11.
`It's a sad case . . . he used to work for News at Ten!'
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