What are you afraid of?
"I am my father's daughter. I am not afraid of anything."
It took me a very long time to get to that point, I assure you. There have been no fewer than two dozen attempts on my life at one time or another. And that was only after I had become Queen. Before that, I knew what it was to live life so precariously that I did not know whether or not I would draw breath long enough to witness the next sunrise.
The Kingdom that I inherited was a diseased state that my sister, Mary, and her husband, Philip of Spain had bankrupted. He had pillaged his wife's country's coffers to pay for his wars. The world had beset us on all sides, and England, through religious intolerance and division was rending itself apart. The Duke of Norfolk coveting my kingdom, while Spain and my cousin, Mary of Scotland's cause, led by her mother, Mary of Guise was pushed to the fore. I was the Great Harry's bastard whelp that no one ever believed would ever survive, much less become viable in the succession. And yet, here I was. Kept alive by my constant denial in the Thockmorton plot, and after my release from the Tower, I made it a point to keep as far away from the Court of my sister, Mary, as could be allowed. Now the world beats a path to my door as I remember that they once did when my father was alive.
What am I afraid of? I t is not so much fear as concern that England, my only true spouse, will be able to stand firm against Her enemies from both without and within. I have harnessed the sins of greed and ambition that lies within England's sons to take back that which Philip stole from both England and from others. My gentlemen adventurers sought out the lands of the new world in my name. The peace and prosperity of my reign, and the happiness of my people lay well within their own hands as much as my own. If heads were ever cut off in my realm it is because we had tried all other avenues and the Privy Council and the House of Commons made it so that I could naught but affix my signature thereupon. And the day that the Spanish Armada bore down upon us, God Himself became a Protestant, and struck the ships upon the rocks of our shores. No. I do not fear, because I rather feel as if my father must be watching from somewhere, certain that he had sired a Prince after all - even if he is to be found within the body of a weak and feeble woman.
Muse: Elizabeth I
Fandom: History / 'Elizabeth' and 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age'
Word Count: 456
crossposted to theatrical_muse
It took me a very long time to get to that point, I assure you. There have been no fewer than two dozen attempts on my life at one time or another. And that was only after I had become Queen. Before that, I knew what it was to live life so precariously that I did not know whether or not I would draw breath long enough to witness the next sunrise.
The Kingdom that I inherited was a diseased state that my sister, Mary, and her husband, Philip of Spain had bankrupted. He had pillaged his wife's country's coffers to pay for his wars. The world had beset us on all sides, and England, through religious intolerance and division was rending itself apart. The Duke of Norfolk coveting my kingdom, while Spain and my cousin, Mary of Scotland's cause, led by her mother, Mary of Guise was pushed to the fore. I was the Great Harry's bastard whelp that no one ever believed would ever survive, much less become viable in the succession. And yet, here I was. Kept alive by my constant denial in the Thockmorton plot, and after my release from the Tower, I made it a point to keep as far away from the Court of my sister, Mary, as could be allowed. Now the world beats a path to my door as I remember that they once did when my father was alive.
What am I afraid of? I t is not so much fear as concern that England, my only true spouse, will be able to stand firm against Her enemies from both without and within. I have harnessed the sins of greed and ambition that lies within England's sons to take back that which Philip stole from both England and from others. My gentlemen adventurers sought out the lands of the new world in my name. The peace and prosperity of my reign, and the happiness of my people lay well within their own hands as much as my own. If heads were ever cut off in my realm it is because we had tried all other avenues and the Privy Council and the House of Commons made it so that I could naught but affix my signature thereupon. And the day that the Spanish Armada bore down upon us, God Himself became a Protestant, and struck the ships upon the rocks of our shores. No. I do not fear, because I rather feel as if my father must be watching from somewhere, certain that he had sired a Prince after all - even if he is to be found within the body of a weak and feeble woman.
Muse: Elizabeth I
Fandom: History / 'Elizabeth' and 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age'
Word Count: 456
crossposted to theatrical_muse