Tripe masqueraded as history

Rating: Null/10 (19 January 1999)

"Elizabeth" should be marketed as fiction because that is what it is. It captures the feel of the time and Cate Blanchett and the whole cast do an excellent job of portraying what they were given.
However, the history is all wrong. There are several points that do not match up with what actually happened:
-Elizabeth knew that Dudley was married - she attended his wedding before she was Queen
-while Mary I ruled, Elizabeth was not addressed as Princess, but "Lady"; Mary I refused to recognize her as heir to the throne
-Marie of Guise was not wicked; she did not go to bed with Sir Francis Walsingham; she died of natural causes
-Sir William Cecil was made Lord Burghley; however, he was not given this title until 1572 and was an excellent advisor until his retirement at a much later date than is shown
-nothing is mentioned of Elizabeth I's run in with smallpox, her tremendous intelligence (it is hinted at briefly), or her amazing linguistic ability
-also, she never ruled with her heart, but with her head - always (that is not to say she didn't have a heart, she did, but she was very shrewd)
The characterization depicted of Elizabeth I really belongs more to her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots (who did rule with her heart).