Good fun, but not the way to learn history

Rating: Null/10 (3 March 1999)

This is not a history film, it is England in a parallel universe. The film is enjoyable, and the motivation for Elizabeth's making herself a living icon of virginity is plausible. But the true historical facts in the film could be listed on the fingers of one hand.
One reviewer said that Walsingham was too Machiavellian to be real, but in fact he was like that, and more so. He didn't kill Mary of Guise though.
The real reason why Elizabeth never saw Robert Dudley alone was because he was implicated in the murder of his first wife. He would never have betrayed her, and she loved him till his death. The film took events from the whole of her life and crammed them into a short period.
The costumes were good, the script nice and the backgrounds picturesque, but an Elizabeth like this would never have ruled a male dominated society for 45 years, as she did.