Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Dramatic License

Dramatic License

As in the first film, some of the historical facts and dates have been changed by the film-makers for artistic purposes. Responding to concerns arising from this, lead Cate Blanchett said: "It's terrifying that we are growing up with this very illiterate bunch of children, who are somehow being taught that film is fact, when in fact it's invention. Hopefully, though, a historical film will inspire people to go and read about the history. But in the end it is a work of history and selection". The most notable of the alleged historical inaccuracies is the representation that Elizabeth wanted to respect Catholicism, which is highly controversial (see discussion below). Other changes include the following:

• Sir Walter Raleigh's role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada was relatively minor. The role of Sir Francis Drake, one of the key figures in the victory, is downplayed. In some episodes, such as the confrontation with the Spanish ambassador, Drake's historical actions are attributed to Raleigh. Similarly, Robert Dudley, 1st earl of Leicester, was lieutenant general at the armada crisis. His role at Tilbury camp is performed by Raleigh in the film, while Dudley is absent from the screen.
• Charles Howard, 1st earl of Nottingham, says, "We're losing too many ships." In reality, not a single English ship was lost during the battle.
• The film depicts Elizabeth frequently seeking the advice of Dr John Dee. Historically, however, Dee was travelling the continent throughout the period depicted and did not return until more than a year after the defeat of the Armada. Elizabeth's actual main advisor and chief minister, Sir William Cecil, is omitted from the film altogether.
• In 1588, Infanta Isabel of Spain is portrayed as a child. In reality, she was twenty-one by this time.
• In 1585, Elizabeth was fifty-two. The film shows various suitors being presented to the queen, with a view to marriage and children. These scenes presented actually took place much earlier in her reign. Erik of Sweden abandoned his proposals to marry Elizabeth after his trip to England was interrupted by the death of his father in 1560, when Elizabeth was twenty-seven.
• Several events that occurred during a different time during Elizabeth's life are shown coinciding. For example, her lady-in-waiting, Bess Throckmorton, became pregnant with Walter Raleigh's child in the summer of 1591 three years after the defeat of the Armada, not immediately before. Shortly after his birth, the baby, named Damerei, was relegated to a wet nurse and died shortly afterwards.
• Mary, queen of Scots, is depicted as having a Scottish accent when in actuality she probably had a pronounced French accent. She was raised at the French court from the age of five and did not return to Scotland until she was a young woman.
• Elizabeth is depicted as being a tolerant queen, which is debatable. In her forty-five year reign, only five people were burned at the stake in comparison to her sister Mary I (Bloody Mary), who burned alive almost three hundred Protestants during her much shorter time on the throne. While Elizabeth did not execute people strictly on the charges of their religion, some Catholic historians have suggested that some of those beheaded or hanged for treason were actually subject to fabricated accusations and that the treason was an excuse to be rid of papists. Monarchs during her time were typically critical of those who did not follow their religion, and while she may not have been as accepting as the portrayal, she was definitely more tolerant than most kings and queens were during the sixteenth century.
• The film shows Spanish envoys and other members of court wearing swords during their audiences with Elizabeth. Because of continuous threats of assassination, only members of the Royal Guard were permitted to carry weapons near Elizabeth while she was in court.
• The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, is portrayed as having happened very swiftly after her arrest, while she was still a young woman. However, the real Mary was held in custody in a number of castles and manor houses in England for 19 years before being executed in 1587, at the age of 44.
• In the movie, Elizabeth is confronted at the altar of Old St Paul's Cathedral by Anthony Babington with a pistol charged with powder but no shot. The real Babington Plot against the queen was thwarted while it was still being planned.
• Sir Walter Raleigh is shown being knighted in the castle against his will because the queen wishes him to stay in England. However, according to general belief, he was actually knighted on the deck of his ship after returning from a voyage and was not at all dismayed by it because by doing so Elizabeth was not attempting to keep him in the country. This was a way of honoring him for his service.
• There is no evidence that Elizabeth hit Bess Throckmorton on learning of the latter's pregnancy and elopement as the movie depicts. The only time Elizabeth is believed to have ever actually struck one of her ladies-in-waiting did not involve Throckmorton. However, she was expelled from court when the marriage was discovered and was not reinstated shortly after as portrayed. As a result of their elopement, which was illegal, Raleigh lived in disgrace for the next five years.
• In the film, when a young man who has been tortured is then hanged, the method of hanging is "the long drop" method, where the force of the fall coupled with a specific knot breaks the neck of the victim. This method of hanging was not invented until the nineteenth century by William Marwood.
• The Battle of the Spanish Armada was fought between Spanish and Portuguese ships (Portugal was at the time under the rule of Spain, and would reclaim its independence in 1640) against English and Dutch. The film creates a setting that Phillip II wished to invade England for religious purposes, using Mary Queen of Scots as a pawn and attacking a peaceful England, when in reality this battle was just a fragment of the Anglo-Spanish War between England and Holland against Spain and Portugal.
• In the film Phillip II of Spain is portrayed as an eerie absurd unsuccessful figure who is fixated on religion and world domination. In truth, although during Phillip II's reign Spain suffered economically, he was successful in foreign policy (e.g. Battle of Lepanto, destroying the Ottoman fleet and neutralising the Ottoman threat to Europe), war and expanding the Spanish Golden Age. During his reign Spain reached the height of its empire. He was known to be very hard-working, quite intelligent and a good administrator. His physical appearance was also different to the one that is shown in the movie, as he was blond and was much older at the time of the Spanish Armada than depicted.