AFTER ELIZABETH
The Death of Elizabeth and the Coming of King James
LEANDA DE LISLE
For Peter,Rupert, Christian and Dominic,my cornerstones.
‘If you can look into the seeds of time,And say which grain will grow and which will not’,
William Shakespeare, Macbeth
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 ‘The world waxed old’ The twilight of the Tudor dynasty
CHAPTER 2 ‘A babe crowned in his cradle’ The shaping of the King of Scots
CHAPTER 3 ‘Westward … descended a hideous tempest’ The death of Elizabeth, February–March 1603
CHAPTER 4 ‘Lots were cast upon our land’ The coming of Arthur, March–April 1603
CHAPTER 5 ‘Hope and fear’ Winners and losers, April–May 1603
CHAPTER 6 ‘The beggars have come to town’ Plague and plot in London, May–June 1603
CHAPTER 7 ‘An anointed King’ James and Anna are crowned, July–August 1603
CHAPTER 8 ‘The God of truth and time’ Trial, judgement and the dawn of the Stuart age
P.S. IDEAS, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES …
Q AND A WITH LEANDA DE LISLE
A LETTER TO THE READER BY LEANDA DE LISLE
IF YOU LOVED THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE …
The Descendants of Henry VII
The Royal Houses of Portugal and Spain
The House of Talbot
The House of Cavendish
‘There are more that look, as it is said,to the rising than to the setting sun’
Elizabeth I
The twilight of the Tudor dynasty
SIR JOHN HARINGTON arrived at Whitehall in December 1602 in time for the twelve-day Christmas celebrations at court.