Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne

Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne
by David Starkey

Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne
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Book Summary Information

Author: David Starkey
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-09-25
ISBN: 0061367435
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Harper Perennial

Book Reviews of Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne

Book Review: Engaging, well-researched, innovative biography
Summary: 5 Stars

I admit to being a bit of a David Starkey fangirl, and thus biased in my opinion. That being said, this is possibly my favorite work of non-fiction about Elizabeth. This fresh biography examines Elizabeth's turbulent childhood and young adulthood. It was not an easy one. Her mother Anne Boleyn was executed when she was only three; after that she subjected to a revolving door of stepmothers, sexually abused and threatened with execution at age fifteen, and imprisoned and in danger of her life for most of her early twenties. And yet, it is these terrifying circumstances that formed Elizabeth's enigmatic and remarkable character.

Starkey is as terrific a writer as he is a lecturer; his style is amusing and accessible. He pays tribute to Elizabeth's achievements without being unduly worshipful, and dispels many of the more romantic myths about Elizabeth; far from the innocent red-haired girl sitting under the oak tree awaiting her destiny, she was in fact an experienced and ruthless opposition politician who had already formed a shadow cabinet prior to her sister's death.

The scholarship here is of course impeccable. But the book is never stuffy. There are many fine full biographies of Elizabeth out there, but I would love one by David Starkey. His documentary of Elizabeth's life is very good; however I prefer his writing. Powers that be, take note!

Summary of Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne

An abused child, yet confident of her destiny to reign, a woman in a man's world, passionately sexual?though, as she maintained, a virgin?Elizabeth I is famed as England's most successful ruler. David Starkey's brilliant new biography concentrates on Elizabeth's formative years?from her birth in 1533 to her accession in 1558?and shows how the experiences of danger and adventure formed her remarkable character and shaped her opinions and beliefs.

From princess and heir-apparent to bastardized and disinherited royal, accused traitor to head of the princely household, Elizabeth experienced every vicissitude of fortune and extreme of condition?and rose above it all to reign during a watershed moment in history. A uniquely absorbing tale of one young woman's turbulent, courageous, and seemingly impossible journey toward the throne, Elizabeth is the exhilarating story of the making of a queen.


The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, Good Queen Bess; Elizabeth I holds a unique place in the English imagination as one of the nation's most powerful, charismatic, and successful monarchs. Elizabeth usually is imagined as the icy, untouchable figure, re-created memorably on screen by Bette Davis and Dame Judi Dench, but that vision of Elizabeth ignores the turbulent years of her early life, from her birth as the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn in 1533 until her accession to the throne in 1558 after the death of her sister Mary. It is these early years that are the subject of David Starkey's fascinating Elizabeth, which was written to accompany the television series about her life.

Starkey argues that Elizabeth, in her first 25 years, "had experienced every vicissitude of fortune and every extreme of condition. She had been Princess and inheritrix of England, and bastard and disinherited; the nominated successor to the throne and an accused traitor on the verge of execution; showered with lands and houses, and a prisoner in the Tower". He draws on his skills as a respected Tudor historian to produce a deft account of the religious, political, and dynastic maelstrom of mid-16th-century England that reads "like a historical thriller." The book carefully picks its way through the finer points of contemporary religious conflict and the peculiarities of Tudor court ceremony, while exploring also the formation of Elizabeth's character in relation to a murdered mother, a charismatic father, a tortured sister, and a predatory guardian. Highly readable, and written with verve and pace, this is a fascinating account of the young Elizabeth. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk

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