I saw the movie "Elizabeth" recently and found it entertaining, but disappointing in many ways. Although Cate Blanchett does a great job of portraying Elizabeth (and looks eerily like the 16th century queen), the script writer took several liberties with history.
Let's focus on the centerpiece of the movie: Elizabeth's relationship with Robert Dudley. There was a real Lord Robert, and Elizabeth did have a long romance with him. According to the movie, Elizabeth was with Robert when men came to arrest her for possible involvement in a rebellion against her half-sister, Queen Mary. But in fact, Lord Robert himself was already confined to the Tower of London because he had supported an attempt to place his sister-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne.
Elizabeth had known Robert since she was eight years old. According to legend, their romance began while they were in the Tower, but this is highly unlikely, as they were closely guarded and probably never met. Lord Robert was a married man whose wife often visited him at the Tower. According to the movie he kept his first marriage secret, but in fact there was nothing secret about it.
Although the movie did not show this, Elizabeth was terrified when she was taken to the Tower through the Traitor's Gate. She begged to be taken through some other gate, and for a time sat on the stairs in the rain and refused to go inside. Of course, she had every reason to be afraid, since her mother had been executed after being taken through that gate 18 years before.
Despite her fears, she was eventually released, and after Mary's death she became queen. Early in her reign she showed great favor toward Lord Robert, spending much time with him and even giving him a room near her own. In the movie she has sex with him in full view of her ladies-in-waiting, but this is quite absurd. She was indeed surrounded constantly by her ladies, and they never saw her in bed with Lord Robert or any other man.
The movie ignores the mysterious death of Robert's first wife, Amy, who was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in 1559. It appeared that she had accidentally tripped and broken her neck, but some people suspected that she had been murdered so that her husband could marry the queen. But Elizabeth didn't intend to marry anyone, and 20 years passed before Robert (now the Earl of Leicester) took a new wife. He kept this second marriage secret, and Elizabeth was furious when she found out about it, but she forgave him. According to the movie, she was so hurt by Robert's betrayal that she never saw him privately again. In fact, he remained her favorite until his death.
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