The Queen’s Bed: An Intimate History of Elizabeth’s Court

Whitelock, director of the public history program at the University of London’s Royal Holloway College, follows up on her 2010 biography of Mary I, Mary Tudor, with a history of the reign of Mary’s younger sister and successor to the English throne, Elizabeth I. Maintaining the health and safety of the queen’s physical body was essential to maintaining peace within the realm, Whitelock argues, in a monograph that explores both the merging and diverging of Elizabeth’s private life and public persona. It was a process that was orchestrated, not just by Elizabeth herself, but also by the elite women who attended her in her private chambers. Elizabeth’s body represented the state itself to her subjects; thus her private life always was of public concern, from the questions concerning her virginity that arose before she acceded to the throne and continued unabated even after her death, to the unrelenting pressure upon her for decades to marry and bear children. This intimate portrait of Elizabeth’s private life, as refracted through her relationships with the ladies of her bedchamber, will engage any readers wishing for a more balanced portrait of Elizabeth the flawed human being, as opposed to simply another rehashing of the mythical representations of her as Gloriana. (Feb.)