Includes bibliographical references and index.

'We are a prince from a line of princes' Lisa Hilton's majestic biography of 'The Virgin Queen', Elizabeth I, provides vibrant new insights on the monarch's compelling, enthralling life story. It is a book that challenges readers to reassess Elizabeth's reign and the colourful drama, scandal and intrigue to which it is always linked. Using new research from sources in France and Italy, Lisa Hilton to presents a fresh interpretation of Elizabeth as a queen who saw herself primarily as a Renaissance prince. She delivers a new perspective on the most intimate details of Elizabeth's life, and upon her attempts to fashion England into a Renaissance state. Elizabeth was not an exceptional woman but an exceptional ruler, and Hilton redraws English history with this animated portrait of an astounding life. Her biography maps the dramatic journey that Elizabeth took from being a timid and meek newly-crowned queen, to one of the most powerful and vivid monarchs ever to rule England.