Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens

Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots: two powerful women whose relationship dominated English and Scottish politics for thirty years from 1558. But their stormy relationship reflected a much broader story. Protestant Elizabeth and Catholic Mary’s struggle for dynastic pre-eminence became inseparable from national religious struggle and England’s turbulent relationship with Scotland, France and Spain. Behind the popular perception of Elizabeth I’s reign as ‘Gloriana’ was a world of rel...