I don't know the steps.
Come now.
You stand like this,
with your hands here.
And when she jumps,
on the fifth step,
you lift her.
What could be simpler?
Take your position, Sir Walter.
I am to be obeyed.
As Your Majesty wishes.
Hold her firmly. I don't want her dropped.
Play.
Six counts.
One, two, three, and lift, down.
Leave us.
I want both of them left alone.
Madam.
I must reply.
"If our forces are in readiness,
"both within and without the realm,
"then your Queen commands you to set the gentlemen to work."
I think we have it.
Yes.
Let God's work begin.
Where have you been?
I met up with some old friends.
From Paris, no doubt.
We haven't seen you for days.
Yes.
Now you're back.
Do you know, I can still remember the day you were born.
I was 11 years old.
And you, this helpless bundle.
I looked at you in your crib,
with your little, wrinkled face,
and I loved you from the first.
I've failed you, haven't I?
Forgive me if I haven't loved you enough.
Did you imagine I wouldn't know?
Your blessing, Majesty. My little one.
Your blessing?
Walk on.
The Queen is at her prayers.
Go!
Elizabeth is a whore! Mary Stuart is our true queen!
Elizabeth!
Whore!
You bring news?
The Queen has been attacked.
The assassin seized.
The Queen
unharmed.
Unharmed?
And you, ma'am, are to be tried for treason.
Me?
What has any of this to do with me?
That's the trouble with intrigues, isn't it?
With so many secrets,
you can never quite be sure who's on whose side till the game ends.
Walsingham has every letter you've written.
Traitor.
Traitors!
Ready to die, I see, Jesuit.
I have done what I was sent to do.
Why was the gun not loaded?
I need your help.
I, too, have failed, brother.
What was the Jesuit sent to do?
I told you everything I know.
So kill me.
There's a better world waiting for me.
We'll all be judged in the end, brother.
Even you.
William, you're not a martyr.
You weren't even much of a murderer.
I'm going to have you taken to France.
No one will know.
You must never let me hear of you again.
Francis.
Francis!
Francis.
I've never seen her so distressed.
She's been alone in her room since morning. She'll see no one.
Has she asked for me?
No.
But she needs you. I know she does.
Go to her.
Please.
Are you here to tell me I must murder a queen?
I would never presume to tell my Queen what to do.
Only you know where your duty lies.
Was it my father's duty to murder my mother?
She was a queen for a time.
Oh, I would be loath to die so bloody a death.
Since when were you so afraid?
I'm always afraid.
Kill a queen, and all queens are mortal.
We mortals have many weaknesses.
We feel too much.
Hurt too much.
All too soon we die.
But we do have the chance of love.
Do we?
I have given England my life.
Must she also have my soul?
Mary Stuart must die!
Must? Mary Stuart must die?
Where is it written? Who says so? Have I ordered it?
Majesty, this is no time for mercy.
Don't preach at me, old man!
Look at you. You can hardly stand.
Go home to your wife and your bed.
The law must have its way.
By whose authority do you condemn me?
God is my only judge.
The law is for common men. Not for princes.
The law, Your Majesty, is for the protection of your people.
Leave me.
Your Majesty. Your Majesty.
You know neither who you are or what you do.
I know who I am.
And if I die, it shall be as I have lived.
As a queen,
trusting in the mercy of God, my Father.
At which hour?
At 8:00.
Tomorrow morning.
It must be stopped!
I want it stopped!
I forgive you with all my heart.
Forgive me, Majesty.
I have failed you.
How have you failed me?
What am I to forgive you for?
Philip of Spain is a God-fearing man
who cannot declare war without a just cause.
I intercepted every letter Mary Stuart secretly dispatched,
but failed to see that Spain knew I was reading them.
They waited for her to write the words
that would, in my eyes, confirm her treason.
Forgive me.
I am trapped in my own web.
And I ordered Mary's execution.
I murdered God's anointed Queen.
And now God's most dutiful son makes holy war to punish me.
We are at war.
Who knows when we will meet again?
If we will meet again.
If England falls, my last days will be in a Spanish prison.
To die far from home.
That is the loneliest death.
Never.
My thoughts turn dark.
What do you do in a storm
when you're facing your death?
The closer I come to death,
the more I want to live,
the hungrier I am for life.
Yes. To live right to the end.
Why be afraid of tomorrow when today is all we have?
I wish...
I have never known a woman like you.
In some other world, in some other time,
could you have loved me?
I know only one world.
And in this world, I have loved you.
There's something you could do for me,
something I have not known for a very long time.
If you felt so inclined.
But it's not to be spoken of afterward.
It must be forgotten.
But just for now...
A kiss?
I die.
I've given Drake the orders
to prepare the fleet to defend the Channel.
How soon can you join him?
We're waiting for supplies. We can move as soon as we're ready and armed.
Good.
Bess.
I have something to tell you.
I ask for nothing. Is that understood?
Your life is your own. Nothing will change.
What is this?
I am... You're with child.
No one knows. My plans are made.
I shall ask the Queen for permission to leave court.
Where will you go?
To my mother's house.
I'm a ward of the Queen. I can't court a man without her permission.
I can't marry without her permission.
As for having a child,
your child...
All I know is nothing's as it should be.
Please, listen.
You once said to me, "Whatever I have to give, ask and it's yours."
Do you remember?
Of course, I remember.
I ask that you forget me.
Go to your ship. Do your duty.
Forget me. Bess!
We're summoned. Coming.
This Spanish Armada is at sea with an army of 10,000 men?
And Philip's friend, the Duke of Parma,
has 15,000 men on the French coast.
They plan to cross the Channel in barges and sail into the Thames.
They don't have enough barges yet. We have a little time.
And our forces defend the mouth of the Thames at Tilbury with...
What? How... Four thousand men?
Three thousand. Possibly.
If the Spanish fleet unites the barges,
their combined strength will overwhelm us.
Then we shall engage them at sea,
before they have the chance to unite.
Your Majesty,
this vast Armada will surely smash through our naval defenses
and overrun us on land.
We must prepare for the worst.
I need air.
With this ring, I thee wed.
With my body, I thee worship.
And with all my worldly goods, I thee endow.
In the name of the Father
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, amen.
Bess!
Bess Throckmorton!
Here, my lady.
Tell me, is it true?
Are you with child?
Yes, my lady.
You traitress.
You dare to keep secrets from me?
You ask my permission before you rut!
Before you breed!
My bitches wear my collars! Do you hear me?
Majesty! Please, dignity. Mercy.
This is no time for mercy, Walsingham.
You go to your traitor brother
and leave me to my business.
Is it his?
Tell me. Say it. Is the child his? Is it his?
Yes.
My lady, it is my husband's child.
You bitch!
Majesty.
This is not the Queen I love and serve.
This man has seduced a ward of the Queen.
And she has married without royal consent.
These offenses are punishable by law. Arrest him!
Go!
You no longer have the Queen's protection.
As you wish, Majesty.
Get out.
Get out! Get out!
Get out!
The fall of an empire, you told me.
Did you mean the English empire?
Because, by God, England will not fall while I am Queen.
If that is your prophecy, sir, you prophesy again.
You want me to tell Your Majesty
only what Your Majesty chooses to hear.
I will not be a toy of the fates!
Have I not faced an assassin's bullet and lived?
Just tell me there's no certainty.
That any outcome is possible.
The shadow of ghosts, you said.
Please, just give me hope.
The forces that shape our world are greater than all of us, Majesty.
How can I promise that they'll conspire in your favor,
even though you are the Queen?
But this much I know.
When the storm breaks, each man acts in accordance with his own nature.
Some are dumb with terror.
Some flee. Some hide.
And some
spread their wings like eagles and soar on the wind.
You are a wise man, Dr. Dee.
And you, madam, are a very great lady.
Light the beacon!
My lords,
I can offer you no words of comfort.
This Armada that sails against us,
carries in its bowels the Inquisition.
God forbid it succeeds,
for then there will be no more liberty in England
of conscience or of thought.
We cannot be defeated.
The bells are to ring from every tower.
Laborers are to leave the fields, and take up arms.
The harvest must wait.
All prisoners are to be released.
England is their country, too.
And release Raleigh.
He is forgiven.
As I, too, long to be forgiven.
Let the fleet know we're on our way, Mr. Calley!
Fire broadside from the bow!
Run out the prime!
From the starboard bow, number one gun!
On my mark!
Discharge! Two!
Three! Four!
Majesty, the enemy has been engaged.
What news?
A brave action, Your Majesty.
Two ships lost.
With what gain?
The enemy continue to advance.
Tighten the buntlines on the foresail!
Another four ships lost.
We must continue to engage and harass the enemy.
We're outgunned, Drake. Decisively.
We're losing too many ships. We must fall back and defend the coast.
If the wind is with us, Walter,
we can attack them with fire ships.
Six fire ships into the Spanish formation,
that may force them to scatter.
We can't get anywhere near them.
We have to break their formation. That's our only chance.
The Spanish are barely a day away, Majesty.
We must withdraw to safe ground.
I beg you to appreciate the gravity of the situation. There is very little time.
My loving people.
We see the sails of the enemy approaching.
We hear the Spanish guns over the water.
Soon now, we will meet them face to face.
I am resolved in the midst and heat of the battle
to live or die amongst you all!
While we stand together, no invader shall pass.
Let them come with the armies of hell! They will not pass!
And when this day of battle is ended,
we meet again in heaven
or on the field of victory.
Thomas! Get up! Get up, man! Get up!
Help me! Somebody, help me!
Help me!
They've dropped anchor.
These Spanish monsters can't handle our English seas.
We have the wind in our favor.
Do we go?
We go.
Godspeed, my friend.
Walter?
Don't forget to jump.
Calley!
Enough tar! Clear the deck!
If that cannon's primed, set the fuse!
Get everybody off the ship, now!
Get off the ship! Off the ship! Go!
Get over there!
Come on, boys! Get going!
The Spanish continue to advance.
Just five of their ships are burning.
Not enough.
Amen.
Francis?
I have served Your Majesty in all things.
I know it.
You won't need me anymore.
You rest here,
old friend.
Elizabeth has a son.
You must be proud.
Very.
And fulfilled.
As any man can be.
Do you still dream of your shining city in the New World?
Always.
I'd like to give your son my blessing.
I'd be honored.
I am called the Virgin Queen.
Unmarried,
I have no master.
Childless,
I am mother to my people.
God give me strength to bear this mighty freedom.
I am your Queen.
I am myself.