[instrumental music]
[music continues]
[cannon balls firing]
[instrumental music]
[people cheering]
[music continues]
There he is!
[music continues]
How nobly he bears himself.
Oh, it must be wonderful
to be a man and a hero.
Woman 1: He carries himself like a king.
See how his eyes constantly look up...
searching for the queen.
Yes, isn't he wonderful?
Yes, and love too has its victories.
And this, I think, belongs to Her Majesty.
An easy victory if one is a queen and may command it.
What if Her Majesty should overhear you?
[instrumental music]
The day when Essex returns, every petticoat at the palace
is chosen with an eye to pleasing him.
Come along, my son, it's time you went
into the presence chamber.
You may do as you please, father.
- I'll have no part in this. - Don't be a fool, Cecil.
Elizabeth can be difficult, even on her good day.
Good days or bad, we'll see little enough of her now
with Essex home.
Something's got to be done to tarnish him
or we'll have him sharing England's throne with her.
Then where shall we be? No, I'll be hanged if I welcome him.
You may be hanged if you do not, my son.
You know Her Majesty's infatuation for him.
[music continues]
But, Your Majesty, I must beg you to reconsider.
Essex is a proud man, you cannot,
you must not do this thing to him.
Elizabeth: Bacon, this will not be easy for me.
Whatever he has done, he is the man
of all men closest to my heart.
Whatever he suffers,
I suffer a thousand times more intently.
Then why, Your Majesty, why?
Elizabeth: Because the necessities of a queen
must transcend those of a woman.
His ambition has jeopardized
the prosperity of the English people.
It may endanger the very peace and stability of England.
Your Majesty, forgive this frankness,
but your love for him jeopardizes the situation.
Elizabeth: A situation fraught with gravest consequence
for my subjects, Bacon.
My personal feelings must not enter into this.
God help me.
Go now. Let me alone.
Bacon: Your Majesty.
Elizabeth: My fan. Hurry.
[instrumental music]
- Present arms! - Up!
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
Robert Devereux,
by grace of Her Majesty
Earl of Essex, general of the horse
and knight of the garter.
Charles, Baron Howard of Effingham,
Lord High Admiral of England.
Walter Raleigh, knight, vice admiral
of the fleets, and warden of the Stannary.
Do you kneel in homage, my lord Essex...
or in shame?
Shame, Your Majesty?
Have you lost your hearing as well as your military skill?
Stand up.
I believe my military skill was well
demonstrated at Cadiz, madam.
Is it possible our commissioner hasn't brought you
news of my victory?
Your victory!
For three years, the rains of England
have rotted our harvest to the ground.
Three years of famine and a depleted treasury.
But my lord of Essex had the cure for that.
Yes, indeed.
“Raise me but 50,000 pounds, madam," says he,
"and I'll sail for Cadiz and fetch you
“such a Spanish treasure fleet
as will make England rich again."
So I did.
I taxed my already overburdened people.
Got him his 50,000 pounds.
Now, where is my Spanish treasure fleet?
Look!
He can't answer. He daren't answer.
If Your Majesty will let me tell you.
Elizabeth: Go on, then, tell me.
Unfortunately, it was you yourself
who called the fleet back from Cadiz
before my plans had been carried out.
Unfortunately, the Spanish treasure fleet,
with 12 million ducats
lies beneath the waters of Cadiz Harbor,
sunk by the Spaniards themselves.
While Essex, against the advice of Howard and Raleigh
gathered fame for himself by storming the town.
There was naught else to be done in honor, madam.
It was for the glory of England.
For the glory of Essex!
Will that put food into the mouths of my starving people?
Can they subsist upon laurel wreaths from your heroic brow?
You think they're displeased with what
I did at Cadiz, madam? Listen to it.
[crowd shouting]
Obviously, the English people are more
readily pleased than their queen, madam.
They cry your name today, but what will they say tomorrow
when I must tax them again to pay off
the soldiers and the fleet?
Does it mean nothing that 1200 pieces of Spanish ordnance
were sunk in my hollow victory?
And the Spanish fleet totally destroyed?
Thanks to my lord Howard and to Sir Walter Raleigh.
It seems you've no reward for me as a soldier, madam.
That the soldier can endure.
But the man had hoped for a different kind of reception.
You meant well, perhaps...
but my rewards are for unselfish effort,
not for things half or meanly done.
Sir Walter Raleigh.
From today, you take rank as commander of our guard.
My Lord Howard.
Your Majesty.
In grateful return for what you tried to do at Cadiz
without thought of self and only for your country's honor
I appoint you Lord Lieutenant, General of all England,
commander of my army and my fleet,
and name you Earl of Nottingham.
Your Majesty.
- Why that's impossible. - Keep silent.
I will not be silent.
Do you intend that this Earl of Nottingham
take precedence in court over me?
He'll take precedence in court over you
as he did in wisdom at Cadiz.
You were in command and abused it,
with Essex first, and England second.
Think that if you will, but I still consider
it an injustice that you place Howard before me.
- I feel you have no right. - I have...
I have no right?
As a queen, yes, but as a woman,
do I mean nothing to you?
Nothing.
Lord Essex!
Do you dare turn your back on Elizabeth of England?
You dare?
I would not have taken that from the king, your father.
Much less will I accept it from a king in petticoats.
[intense music]
If the courier comes, send him to me at once.
You may go.
I said, that's all.
Well?
With Your Grace's indulgence
there's another matter.
Well, what is it? What's it about?
Essex.
Did I not forbid his name to be spoken at court?
But, Your Majesty, Sir Thomas Egerton received
a letter from him from his manor at Wanstead.
Ha-ha! I knew he'd come to it, Cecil.
Begging Egerton to intercede for him, of course.
Well, perhaps I was a little harsh.
What did the letter say?
- When is he coming home? - I have it here.
Let me see.
He says, "I owe to Her Majesty a duty of allegiance
in which I never can, never will fail."
Poor darling. Of course he's sorry.
But a little apprehensive perhaps.
Go on. Go on.
“But I do not owe her the duty of attendance upon her.
“And had I that duty,
“Her Majesty's conduct has canceled it.
“As for asking her pardon, why should I ask pardon
for receiving an insult?"
Stop it!
No.
No, go on. I'll hear it.
“When the vilest of indignities is done to me
“not even religion enforces me to sue.
“I have received the wrong.
Let her seek pardon of me."
“And if she refuses, all her power can show
“no more strength in oppressing me
than I can summon to resist it.”
Cecil, this is intolerable!
Are you sure Essex wrote this?
Not you or your friends?
- Your Majesty... - Don't "Your Majesty” me!
You, slimy toad. I know human nature.
Nothing would suit you so well as to see
Essex saying farewell to his head.
Will Your Grace examine the letter more closely?
Rumor hath it you are not unacquainted
with milord of Essex's writing.
And rumor hath it, I have a heavy hand for insolence.
Have you forgotten it? Now, get out.
- But, madam... - Get out, I say!
[instrumental music]
Robert.
Robert, I don't know which II hate the most,
you for making me love you
or myself for needing you so.
[music continues]
There has seldom been a man so unwise,
so headstrong
but he could sometime see the
necessity of keeping friends
and not making enemies at court.
But you, you quarrel with the queen
because she wanted peace and you wanted war.
War? There is a war, with Spain.
And such a silly, frightened womanish war
as only a woman would wage.
Let me answer that.
You are not forthright with yourself.
You wish to complete your record as general,
crush Spain, make a name like Caesar's,
and climb to pinnacle of fame.
You won Cadiz and caught the people's hearts.
Caught their voices until the streets
ring with your name whenever you pass.
Take care. You are too popular already.
My Lord, you are loved better than the queen.
That's your danger.
She will not suffer a subject to eclipse her,
she cannot suffer it.
Make no mistake, she will not.
So I must wait, huh? Hold back?
- Precisely. - Why?
I come of better blood than Elizabeth.
My name is among the earls who stood around
the oak with King John.
What the nobles once taught a king,
a noble may teach a queen.
You talk treason and death. The old order is dead.
You and your house will die with it if you cannot learn.
This is Elizabeth we're dealing with.
What the devil's a king but a man, a queen but a woman?
There's one man in all her kingdom
she fears, and that man's yourself.
And she has good reason to fear you.
To fear me? Why? I'm loyal.
You're a man not easily governed
moreover, a general, popular and acclaimed.
And last, she loves you
which makes you more to be feared
whether you love her or not.
Love her?
I most certainly do love her.
My Lord, a man as young as yourself...
If she were my mother's kitchen hag
toothless and wooden leg, she'd still
make all the others seem pale and colorless.
I tell you she's a witch. She's got a witch's brain.
I love her. I hate her.
[scoffs] I adore her.
That side of it you must know for yourself.
But, my lord, permit me to caution you.
Don't count too much on the loves of queens.
Thanks, Schoolmaster Bacon, for that sound lecture
and the sound advice.
Which you probably will not take.
Which I probably will not.
[instrumental music]
What's the shortest road to London?
Up the hill to the river, then follow it.
[instrumental music]
Elizabeth: So, you would take the queen's knight,
Mistress Penelope?
I fear you are over-presumptuous and over-inexperienced.
All knights are fair game, Your Grace.
I have observed you seem to think so.
The queen will protect her own.
Why didn't you move?
- If I do, I... - You will take my knight.
Is that so far from your desire?
Move, I tell you.
Check to Your Grace.
I fear the queen is powerless now.
The queen is never powerless.
For example...
[clattering]
I had no desire to play, but Your Majesty commanded me.
Never mind, child.
It's only a game, and I'm out of sorts.
I'm tired of it.
Do something. Sing. Play.
Amuse me.
- Your Majesty? - Well?
Would you perhaps like to hear Master Marlowe's song
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love?"
Anything you please.
[instrumental music]
Please, Penelope, don't.
- Your Majesty. - Well?
By Your Grace Sir Raleigh has lately writ
an answer to Master Marlowe's ballad.
And with your permission I'll sing it
if Mistress Margaret will take Marlowe's verses against me.
A tournament of song? By all means.
Proceed. Proceed.
So, Sir Walter has turned rhymester.
[laughs]
The words will fit perfectly.
A woman in love with a man much younger than herself.
Are you mad, Pen?
She'll beat you
or send you to the tower.
[instrumental music]
♪ Come live with me and be my love ♪
♪ Enjoy with me the pleasures here above ♪
♪ That hills and valleys dales and fields ♪
♪ And all the wooded mountains yield ♪
♪ If I could be as young and fair as you ♪
♪ Believe what every shepherd said was true ♪
♪ These pretty speeches might me move ♪
♪ To live with you and be your love ♪
♪ And I will make your bed of roses ♪
♪ In lovers’ vows there is but little truth ♪
♪ And of a thousand fragrant posies ♪
♪ And love cannot endure without its youth ♪
♪ A cap of flowers and a kirtle ♪
♪ The flowers fade when summertime is ended ♪
♪ Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle ♪
♪ Our love is dead ♪
♪ A love we thought so splendid ♪
♪ If these delights your mind may move ♪
♪ Then live with me and be my love ♪
♪ But were I young and loved so well ♪
♪ Then I might hold you close forever... ♪
[glass shatters]
So, you brazen wench,
you defy me!
You dare hold your queen up to ridicule?
You forward hussy!
You, who can keep neither your eyes nor your nose
or your person where they belong.
Look at you.
Because a gentleman once glanced at you
doesn't entitle you to come into my presence
dressed like an indecent hedge drab.
Take it off, you shameless baggage.
Get out of my sight!
You too.
Do you stand around like a herd
of stupid cattle while I am treated so?
You, too, think I am too old,
too ugly for a man to look upon with love.
[glass shattering]
Take them down!
Do you hear me?
Smash them!
Destroy them!
[glass shattering]
Break every mirror in the palace.
I never want to see one in Whitehall again!
[music continues]
[crying]
What is this?
What now?
Why are you crying, Mistress Margaret?
Come here.
What have you to fear?
You, the most innocent of them all?
[crying]
Look at me.
Or do you too find your queen's face
too harsh for kindly glances?
Oh, no, Your Majesty.
I think you're lovely. Really, I do.
But I was crying because I...
- Well? - Well...
A little for myself because I was frightened and lonely.
Because I was lonely, I cried for you too.
You cried for me?
Oh, forgive me, Your Grace,
but I too know what it is to love someone and
not be able to see and to hear.
It makes me cross too sometimes and out of sorts.
You've no idea, when I'm out of your presence,
how horrible I am.
Are you indeed?
And what is he like, this lucky one that you are lonely for?
Oh, he's so tall
and his nose curls up. [chuckles]
His nose what?
I mean, when he laughs, his nose crinkles up like this.
He laughs a lot, you know? [chuckles]
Sometimes at me.
Imagine. Oh, and he's handsome too, no doubt.
Oh, madam,
and his eyes are blue, like cornflowers, only much nicer.
And when he looks at me...
Who is this paragon?
Why, Sir Peter Finchley, Your Grace. Don't you remember?
Sir Peter Finchley? Ah, yes. Now I remember.
A wide-shouldered rascal, and much better looking
than any man has a right to be.
With Baganold's forces in Ireland, isn't he?
You want him home again, I suppose?
Oh, more than anything in the world.
He shall be recalled.
I don't know how to thank, Your Majesty.
But it's doubtful if he'll come.
Oh, I shall command it.
And when he takes you in his arms again
thank heaven you're not a queen.
But I thought to be a queen...
To be a queen is to be less than human.
To put pride before desire,
to search men's hearts for tenderness
and find only ambition.
To cry out in the dark for one unselfish voice,
hear only the dry rustle of papers of state.
To turn to one's beloved with stars for eyes
and have him see behind them
only the shadow of the executioner's block.
A queen has no hour for love.
Time presses, events crowd upon her.
And for a shell,
an empty, glittering husk,
she must give up all that a woman holds most dear.
And now,
fetch me Master Francis Bacon.
- Master Bacon? - At once.
Yes, Your Majesty.
[instrumental music]
[knocking on door]
Will your steps always be so laggard
when I send for you, Master Bacon?
My steps have lost the habit
of being summoned by you, Your Majesty.
And your tongue has lost none of its sharpness, I see.
To bed and hopeful dreams.
You're a friend of my lord Essex, aren't you?
I! am whatever Your Grace desires.
And your own interest dictates.
Anyway, you know him better than any other man.
Why has he not returned to court?
Not for lack of attraction, madam,
but possibly his pride.
A pox on his pride!
He must come home. I command it!
You need him back so badly, Your Grace?
Purely for matters of state. Do you understand?
Perfectly, madam.
Oh, Bacon.
Bacon, stop being clever.
I'm too tired to fence with you.
I can't force him back, and you know it.
And he's so stupid, so stubborn, so pig-headed
that he'll never return of his own accord
unless I humble myself to him.
And that Ill never do. Never!
- Do you hear? - Naturally, Your Majesty.
Naturally!
It's against all nature that I should suffer so.
Tell me, what shall I do?
Find me a way to compel his return
without having to punish him.
I'll not be ungrateful.
My reward would lie in your happiness, Your Majesty.
And the advantage to you
in his return to favor, of course.
I'll not deny it, madam.
But how to persuade him
and still save the pride of each,
I'm hanged if I know.
Perhaps if I slept the night upon it.
[knock on door]
What is it?
A courier from Ireland, Your Majesty.
Have him enter.
[intense music]
Your Majesty.
I came...
[music continues]
Bacon. Wine. Quickly.
Chair.
Allow me, Your Majesty.
- Pardon, Majesty. - Never mind that.
What is the news?
We have been annihilated in Ireland, Your Grace.
Tyrone surprised us. Sir William Baganold is dead.
Every company, troop, arms,
stores, everything, utterly destroyed.
[sighs] Wars, death, famine
in that unhappy land.
And for what?
A few miserable acres of fever-smitten bog
and few handfuls of tattered peasants
whose only desire is to be left in peace
to cut each other's throats.
Well, they may.
I'll put an end to it.
Not another man goes to Ireland.
And let Philip of Spain use it as a base?
He's not forgotten Cadiz, remember.
And whoever holds Ireland points a dagger
at the heart of England.
Yes, yes, yes, I suppose you're right,
but I'm sick of this bloodshed.
My policy has always been peace
and this war was forced upon me.
And Ireland...
[claps]
Get a physician.
Give him the best of food and lodging.
Yes, Your Majesty.
[indistinct chatter]
One moment.
What of Sir Peter Finchley?
- Is he dead too? - Yes, Your Majesty.
He was struck down.
My thanks to you.
Take good care of him.
[instrumental music]
"His nose crinkles when he laughs
and his eyes blue, like cornflowers."
And when he looked at her...
Oh, Bacon.
I'm only a woman.
Must I carry the weight, the agony of the world...
alone?
Not any longer, Your Majesty.
If you form a new army, you'll need a leader.
- Who? - Essex.
If you demand his return now, he can no longer refuse.
- ‘Tis his duty. - What?
And send him to death and ruin in Ireland?
Then make him master of the ordnance.
In that capacity, he'll remain in London
and available for consultation.
Go to him.
Tell him I have need of him.
Your Majesty.
Bacon.
As you leave the chamber,
bid Mistress Margaret Radcliffe come to me.
My pleasure, Your Majesty.
[instrumental music]
Poor child.
[instrumental music]
Her Majesty does not beg you, my lord.
She commands you to return.
What? She commands me?
Here, she insults me in front of the entire court
and now she commands me to return?
To the devil with her.
If you lose your head now, my lord,
you'll lose it in earnest later on.
Have you forgotten you're talking of your queen.
My queen? Ha ha.
The great-granddaughter of a Welsh pantry man.
To the devil with her. I tell you, I'll stay here.
Is your answer to be more than
please those around the queen?
- Why? What do you mean? - Haven't you heard?
Cecil, laden with honors.
Coke, appointed attorney general.
And Raleigh, working himself into favor.
Every day, he grows nearer to her
in counsel, closer in her affection.
Raleigh, that toad.
She's bought him new silver armor,
whose magnificence outshines the sun.
[scoffs] He grows closer to her in affection, you say?
For lack of someone dearer. She loves you.
But, being a woman, she has her pride.
Her pride.
Look here, Master Bacon, there's no mystery to handling women.
They're all like this little lady here.
You starve them a little to make them keen.
Yes, and if you starve them too long, they turn and rend you.
- I'll look to myself. - Better look to England.
Now that Baganold's been defeated in Ireland.
What's that? Baganold defeated?
Killed, and his army destroyed.
That is the reason Her Majesty commands you to return.
She needs you.
Well, of course she needs me, with a lot of addle-headed
nincompoops like Raleigh and his crowd around her.
- Mountjoy! - Milord.
Back to Wanstead and pack.
We're returning immediately to London.
[instrumental music]
My dear Sir Walter.
Well, well, well.
You're even more splendid than I'd imagined.
You know even in my retreat, news came to me
of that silver armor of yours.
I was ill and I swear it cured me.
I'm glad you're well again, my lord.
Oh, you should have heard the compliments
I've heard passed on you.
"Sir Walter's in silver,” they said.
“The world has been outdone. The moon, not moon..."
- You need not repeat them. - Oh, but I insist.
The design. The workmanship.
Look, Bacon. Magnificent, is it not?
And I said to myself, “The great man."
This is what we've always needed. More silver armor.
Silver everywhere. Oceans of silver.
Sir Walter has set the style. The world will follow.
And when I heard that Her Majesty herself admired it, I...
Wait, gentlemen. A moment.
Ho there, guard attendant!
I straight away sent for the silversmiths
and had them produce enough armor
for the queen's personal guard.
Take care, my lord. I bear insults badly.
Insults? What insults?
You ordered that armor in the queen's service.
In the queen's service, I ordered a dozen more like it.
Essex, I've endured much from you!
And will endure more before I'm finished.
There can be no quarreling here.
My Lord, have you forgotten a certain appointment?
- Bacon, you protect me? - I protect you both.
You may have your laugh, Lord Essex.
Come, gentlemen.
[laughing]
Oh, another lecture? Come, schoolmaster.
Essex, when will you realize how vital it is
not to make enemies at court? If Raleigh or...
I'll make friends and choose enemies to please myself.
Now that I'm back they'll need friends more than I do.
My Lord, you have been my friend and patron.
My star is fixed to yours.
And since I've no wish to see that star fall,
ll ask you one question more.
When you see the queen, what do you intend?
To pacify her? Retain her favors and all that go with it?
Or to set yourself against her
and trust your fortunes to the popularity of the mob?
Ll not answer you directly, but this I will say.
I've never yet loved nor hated for a policy or a purpose
and I'll burn in eternity before I'll ever start it.
You understand, do you not?
- Penelope. - My Lord.
Have I kept the queen?
Would I admit Her Majesty would wait for any man?
[laughs] I admire your discretion.
- Only my discretion? - Anything you wish.
- Just tell her I'm here. - She's not quite ready.
May I have one moment, my lord?
Of course.
- Answer honestly. - Honestly.
Do you...
Do you love the queen?
I do, my dear. Deeply.
I wish you loved someone who loved you better.
- Meaning? - Oh, no one. Myself perhaps.
Anyone who loved you better.
Why? Doesn't the queen love me, sweet?
She loves you, she loves you not.
Why do you tell me this?
- I'm afraid. - For me?
I've heard her, walking up and down
her room at night,
all night long cursing you,
cursing you because she must love you and can't help herself,
swearing a terrible revenge
for this love she scorns to bear you.
Oh, Robert, be careful.
You anger her too much.
Why? Isn't it the same with all lovers?
Oh, no. I've never cursed you.
[laughs] But if we were lovers, you might.
So thank your lucky stars we're not.
Don't joke.
I'm afraid.
- Oh, promise you'll be careful. - I promise.
- I'll tell her you're here. - There is no need.
[intense music]
When my Penelope passed me just now
her eyes and her lips looked the softer for kissing.
Was I inopportune?
She's just a thoughtless child.
These little children have their ways with each other.
Do we begin already with hints and accusations?
Why, you know perfectly well I...
I only know what! see.
Do you find Penelope charming?
Well, there are other men for me,
besides yourself, to love and be loved.
There's always Egerton
or Sir Walter the handsome, the, uh...
The silver-plated?
Well, he'll wear no more silver at your door.
I knew this silver would draw your fire.
Hm. What did you do?
[laughing]
Come on, tell me. What happened?
Nothing. I think the fashion suddenly became too popular.
He's gone to change his clothes.
[laughing]
He'll wear no more silver at your door.
[laughing]
Isn't it strange how one man's kisses
can grow to be like any other's?
Yes, yes. Or one woman's to be like any other woman's.
Not mine for you.
Nor mine for you, you lying villain.
You devil tongue deceiver, curse you.
Curse you and double curse you.
- You devil of brass. - Silver, darling.
Let me be a devil in silver.
It reminds me of Raleigh.
[laughing] Raleigh?
Must you forever be thinking of him?
[laughs] What else do you expect
when you prefer the ants and the squirrels
of Wanstead to me?
What's today?
Thursday.
Come again when I'm in a better mood.
Next Wednesday, say.
Or any Wednesday later in the summer.
Any summer.
What, you still here?
If I could only walk out
of that door and stay out.
It's not locked.
Ah, if I went, I'd only come back again
like a fool and you know it.
Would you?
Why didn't you write to me when I went before?
Why didn't you return?
Return? You let it be known you'd not admit me.
I may have meant it at the time.
If ever a man was possessed of a wicked devil, you're mine.
Why I don't knock your head off...
And if ever a mocking devil tortured a woman,
you're my devil and torture me!
For pity's sake, let us part now and quickly,
or it will grow worse.
- Go, please! - I'll not go!
[instrumental music]
Darling.
Come here.
Robert.
Robert, let us be kind fora moment.
No, I'll be kind. You needn't be.
You're young and strangely sweet.
And my heart cries out to you wherever you are.
And there's something in me that has drawn you.
But this same lovely, dreadful thing
that draws us together,
hurts us and blinds us until we strike at one another.
Yes, dear, but...
This has gone on for a long time
and it grows worse with the years.
- It will end badly. - What are we to do?
You must go away, darling. I must never see you again.
That's what I said last time I went and here lam.
You must love someone else. I will forgive you.
Darling, you mean you'll try to forgive me.
- Ah, but I would. - There'd be nothing to forgive.
I've tried to love others. It's as empty as ashes.
What others?
- Oh, no one. No one. - What others?
Oh, everyone. Hundreds of others.
Thousands, if you like.
What are the loves of others to me
when I can only hear your voice?
Even your laughter, mocking me, defying me.
That's what you've done to me.
You've made everything seem empty away from you.
And with you too.
But what about me when you are gone?
Darling, if we must quarrel when we're together
why, then let's quarrel.
At least when we do, we're together.
If we are to love, sweet, we must be silent.
For, when we speak...
Then I'll be silent, and you shall speak.
[sighs]
[instrumental music]
If only sometimes you'd hate me.
Shh.
If only sometimes, when I'm right, you'd admit it.
Shh.
Instead of instantly flying into opposition,
no matter what I say.
But then, my love...
you so seldom are right.
- For example? - For example, Cadiz.
- Huh! - Loss of men.
The drain on the treasury.
I might have known you'd try to dig me with that.
Well, no matter what you think,
what I did there pleased England.
Is it my fame you think of, my lord, or your own?
Haven't you built your name high enough?
In spite of your blunder at Cadiz,
there's no name like yours in England.
Why, if we were to ride in the streets,
it's Essex the people would cheer not the queen.
Is it for this cheering then that you hold me back
from a raid on the coast of Spain?
It is because I believe in peace
and have no faith in what wars bring.
The truth is then you fear me,
fear what I might become.
I do fear you,
because you're flattered by the praise of fools...
until you think you'd make a better king than I a queen.
You think you'd rule England better because you're a man.
I do indeed.
And that's exactly where you fail.
Because you can't think and act like a man.
Ll make you sorry for those words!
Think like you is what you mean.
And why should I when my thinking's wiser?
What is your plan?
To take over England? To depose me?
[laughing]
Fiery wench, aren't you?
[laughing]
It's me bringing up. [chuckles]
I never knew from day to day who my mother was.
It shook me nerves.
[both laughing]
Yeah, you're your father's daughter, alright,
that I learned, the same quick temper,
the same hot blood.
[chuckles]
Tell me, darling...
don't I sometimes wear on you,
a little?
[sighs] Never, darling.
[instrumental music]
Elizabeth: And you won't tire of me?
Essex: Tire of you?
How could I?
You'd have to say that, wouldn't you?
I mean, because you wouldn't want to hurt me.
Because I'm your queen.
And so I'll never know till everyone else knows
and is laughing at me that I've lost you.
Let me finish, sweet.
When the time comes...
and I seem old to you...
You're not old. I won't have you old.
And you love someone else...
be kind and tell me.
Will you do that?
You may kill me if I ever say it.
Love...
may I say one thing more
that may hurt you?
Anything.
Now that you're back and safe in my heart again...
the post I have given you will not content you.
Your blood will be on fire to lead some new command,
some far adventure.
If you hear I need a general anywhere,
promise me you will not ask to go.
Is this what you wanted?
To force me into a cowardly promise?
Are you afraid I might return again in triumph?
Not that, dearest. No.
But there are those here at court, powerful enemies
who would love to see you gone from me
and who would stop at nothing to trick you into disaster.
- Am I afraid of such... - I asked you not to be angry.
Not to be angry? When you think I can't outflank
such numskulls as Raleigh and his clique?
Very well.
Go, if you like.
Only I love you and say what would be wisest.
The things II love in you most,
your honesty, your reckless pride
are the very things they would play upon, sweet.
All I ask of you is be careful.
Surely you can do so little
for one who loves you so well.
Will you promise?
Promise.
I promise.
Now we must go and...
talk of Ireland.
[indistinct chatter]
Man 1: This deficit has grown to alarming proportions.
It's now so large, we can no longer ignore it.
Man 2: What do you suggest, milord?
Man 1: Either a drastic increase in our present taxes
or a series of additional taxes.
- Kendrick will not endure it. - Milords...
Let us leave this question.
Any further business before us?
There is one perpetual subject, Your Majesty,
which we take up time after time
and always leave unsettled,
Tyrone's rebellion in Ulster.
It's no longer a smoldering coal.
It's a running fire spreading north to south.
- Which means? - Men. Money. Ships.
And more than that, Your Majesty a leader.
A lord protector, who'll carry fire and sword
from end to the bogs to the other
till there are no more rebels.
Who is this leader?
Unless I am wrong...
a proved and able general, Lord Essex.
Yes, indeed. Essex, Essex.
Thank you.
Essex is master of the ordinance.
I need him here.
Who else?
Sir Walter told me before the meeting
that he would go into Ireland if Your Majesty wished.
But we both believe that Lord Essex should go with him.
- In what capacity? - Leading an equal command.
Two generals of equal par, landing north and south
and meeting to crush Tyrone.
What then? Would you have two lord protectors in Ireland?
It was our thought to name Raleigh as lord protector.
And I under him?
Since your Cadiz adventure ended so lamely,
it seems that Raleigh should have first place in this.
My Ca...
- That's a deliberate insult! - It's a plain truth.
I speak for the good of the state.
You lie! You never spoke for any cause but your own.
Stop this instantly!
Whoever makes you angry has won already, Essex.
Would you make me swallow insults from this bookkeeper...
this pen-pusher who never waved anything
more dangerous than a quill?
Well, were you not wrong at Cadiz?
That's not for you to say.
And if I go to Ireland, I'll go as lord protector and alone.
Will you?
Ll have something to say about that.
Don't you see what they're trying to do?
I see what Cecil and his friends are plainly enough...
Yellow squeaking rats
who only show their teeth when cornered.
- Essex. - Who bow and smile and scrape.
And spend their nights spying
burrowing and gnawing the chairs
and floors out from under us all.
Madam, this is fantastic!
If we're to discuss the Irish protector...
Do what you wish about Ireland.
I wash my hands of it.
That we don't doubt.
It's a difficult, dangerous job...
so how can we blame Lord Essex
for refusing to risk it?
You challenge me to go?
Give me the men I need, madam. Put me in command.
And if I fail to crush Tyrone, you may take my sword
and break it for I'll never use it again.
Oh, you fool, you fool!
Essex: They've challenged me! - It doesn't matter.
You must not go. Don't you see?
Of course I see.
I know that once I've gone,
they'll try to strip me here at home,
ruin me both ways.
And I say to them, "Try it."
I'll go and I'll return too.
More of a problem to the Raleighs
and the Cecils than before I left. Mark me.
We can hardly refuse
this gracious offer now, Your Majesty.
No.
I suppose not.
Council is dismissed.
Meet again tomorrow.
And your decision?
Decision's made. I go to Ireland.
Yes, go to Ireland.
And go to the devil too!
[dramatic music]
Well?
My court jester once said,
"All the best fools come from Ireland...
but only a greater fool would go there."
You should have my fool's brain, and he yours.
You'd profit by the exchange.
Thank you, Majesty.
Oh, you!
What malicious star rose in my sky
the day you were born?
You're a child in council.
I saw them draw you into this and tried to warn you,
but it was no use.
Why not win in Ireland?
No man wins there.
Ireland's been fatal to every commander
who risked his fortune there.
Even the cleverest of soldiers would find it difficult.
But you're so dazzled with the chance to command an army
that you'd follow the devil in an assault on heaven.
That's one thing the devil doesn't know.
Heaven's always taken by storm.
Robert...
I can't let you go.
Ll never see you again.
Ah, foolish fears, my darling.
Remember this...
that when I come back and all turns out well
you thought all would turn out badly.
Come closer and...
and tell me everything will turn out well.
And so it will. So it will.
- Do you really want to go? - Yes.
No. No.
But I've said I would, and I must.
It's not too late yet.
Remember...
if you lose, it will divide us.
If you win, that will divide us too.
I'll win, and nothing will divide us.
Is it so hard to believe in me?
No.
I'll even forgive you if you need it.
Here.
My father gave me this ring
and said if ever he lost his temper with me,
to bring it to him and he'd forgive me.
And once, long after...
when he'd forgotten and was angry...
it saved my life.
Darling, if you're ever angry, rings won't help.
Yes, this one would.
I'd think of you as you are now...
and it would.
I'll take it...
to remember you in absence.
No. Take it for a better reason.
Take it because the years are long
and full of sharp, wearing days,
that change us into people we do not know...
lest you and I, who love each other now...
should wake some morning strangers and enemies
in an alien world, far off.
You fear you'll not always love me?
No.
That you will not always let me love you.
[dramatic music]
[horses galloping]
[swords clanging]
[music continues]
Close up your ranks there.
You know what happens to stragglers.
Left flank, close in!
[instrumental music]
Our losses are growing serious, my lord.
Losses I expect and can understand.
It's this forever going on and on
after a retreating enemy
over these fever bogs,
getting further and further from our base.
One bold, swift advance now
and we'd have Tyrone in a trap.
How can we advance lacking arms,
ammunition, necessities even?
The queen seems to have forgotten us.
She's worse than forgotten us.
[dramatic music]
There's a courier from London, milord.
At last. Where is he? Fetch him here.
Even the water's rotten.
Come.
- Well, is this all? - Yes, milord.
No letter from Her Majesty?
No, milord. That's all Lord Cecil gave me.
You lie. You lie!
- Who tampered with you? Quick... - No, milord, I swear...
- Wait, man. Don't. - He lies, I tell you!
She wouldn't leave us here all these weeks
without one single word from her except bare dispatches.
How the devil am I gonna beat these Irish
when she denies me men and food and arms...
and doesn't even bother to answer my pleas for them?
And not a single word from her except these.
- But you haven't read it yet. - What?
Perhaps she...
Oh, yes. Perhaps.
Essex, what is it? Does she...
I've endured much, but this caps all.
Listen.
“Lord Essex will disperse his army...
and return immediately to London to give himself up."
I'm to return to London to give myself up.
Do you hear that?
- To give myself up! - But why?
Why? Well, you may well ask.
Is she in league with Tyrone?
She defeats and obstructs my campaign in every way possible
and now, when I'm about to finish him up
I'm to return to London to give myself up.
- She's the queen. - And I'm her subject.
But I'm a man too, which she seems to have forgotten.
Knollys.
- Milord? - Rouse the camp.
Have every man fall in. We march tonight.
- Tonight? - At once.
- To return to London? - No. To smash Tyrone!
Bugler! Sound the call to arms.
[bugle call]
Penelope: Remember, my lords, I'm not alone in this.
Walter: Your proof, My Lady, let me remind you.
The queen gave you letters to be forwarded.
If Lord Essex did not receive them...
well, Her Majesty knows your feelings for him
and naturally, would conclude that your jealousy
has destroyed them. Or am I wrong?
Penelope: Why did I ever trust you?
You used me.
Tricked me for your own ends.
Well, I won't stand it. I won't!
I'll tell the queen.
No matter what happens, I'll tell her the truth.
That we've intercepted her letters to Essex
and his letters to her!
You've a lovely head and neck, My Lady.
It would be a pity to separate them,
but where would you find that pity,
in the heart of a jealous queen?
Sir Francis.
You're going to the queen?
Her Majesty has been good enough to send for me.
I'll speak with you first.
If it's to tell me what I already know...
What do you know?
Everything about the suppression of letters
written by Essex to the queen
and sent by the queen to Essex.
And what do you intend to do?
Ll let the queen question me. And I'm late already.
If you make accusations you can't prove
you'll argue yourself very neatly
under the headsman's ax.
And what if the queen learns nothing from me?
With our help, there's no position
at court you can't fill.
If you need an excuse, this Essex
is not only a danger to the state...
Ll find my own excuses.
Because I know the queen loves her kingdom
and people above all men and always will.
That is the rock on which Essex's ship will founder.
You need not trouble about what! shall say.
You're quite a weather vane, Bacon,
always riding whatever wind is fairest.
I am a man of sense.
Elizabeth: Penelope!
Where is Master Bacon? I summoned him half an hour ago.
Is this a promenade, gentlemen?
Am I never to look out of my room without seeing you?
Your pardon, Your Grace, I...
I'm weary of your faces. Get out.
Come with me.
Caution.
Once again, you force me to wait for you, Master Bacon.
Your pardon, madam. I was detained by Sir Robert Cecil.
- Are you Cecil's friend? - I have never been.
He is a shrewd man. He is a good man to follow.
- He'd stand in well at court. Bacon: That may be.
Why are you not his friend, then?
We're not on the same side.
Are you still Essex's friend?
Yes, madam.
He is a dangerous man to follow.
- Dangerous? - He is no longer in my favor.
- Forget him. - But, Your Majesty...
All friends of Essex are going straightaway to the tower.
Are you still his friend?
Yes, madam. Is that all?
- Sit down. - But, Your Majesty...
Sit down!
You don't believe me.
Why?
If you intended to imprison me in the tower,
I'd be there now and no talk about it.
You're shrewd. Perhaps too shrewd.
If honesty were shrewd, madam, it would enjoy greater favor.
Honesty.
If I could only be sure of one honest voice.
Tell me...
He wouldn't, couldn't fail me, could he?
- No, Your Grace. - Then why hasn't he written me?
I've written him my love time and time again.
Tell me truly, bitter or not.
Why hasn't he answered?
Have you angered him, sent him unwelcome orders?
He's very proud, you know.
I've cut off all revenue and supplies,
ordered him to disband his forces and return.
But Your Majesty, to send a great leader out with an army
and then to desert him heap disgrace upon him.
But before that I wrote him lovingly
many times.
- And he answered? - Nothing!
Well, that, frankly, madam,
as Essex's friend, that can hardly be tolerated.
Nor will it be.
But I don't wish to turn you against him.
Perhaps there was some misunderstanding.
Misunderstanding?
He had my letters, didn't he? Didn't he?
If you sent them, Your Grace, he should have received them.
He'd tell you if they didn't arrive.
You've had word from him, haven't you?
- Yes, but I... - Yes!
He wrote you, but not me!
Or are you lying?
I think you are.
I think you lie to me.
That's it!
Lies, lies, lies!
Trapped and strangling
in a jungle of lies and deceit.
You! You, too, at the first,
making me believe you wouldn't betray him.
No.
No. I've gone mad.
Night after night, pacing my room.
Sleepless, tortured...
saying, "He loves me, he loves me not."
He loves me not and has never loved me.
He thought he'd break me by not writing.
Break me till I'd say, “I'm yours.
“All that I am and have is yours.
Body, soul and throne."
That's it. He never wanted me.
He wanted my kingdom.
But... am queen still,
and that he shall never take from me.
I'm not broken yet...
am I, Bacon?
No, Your Majesty, nor ever will be.
No, no.
No, we must follow him no longer.
See him no more, my friend.
He walks on quicksand. Avoid him.
- Yes, Your Majesty. - And go now.
You have done well. I trust you.
Your Grace.
[instrumental music]
[dramatic music]
[gunfire]
[music continues]
[gunfire continues]
- What is it? - A truce party, milord.
Fetch them here.
Sound the cease-fire.
[trumpet music]
[firing stops]
[instrumental music]
- You be Lord of Essex? - I am. What is it?
I have a message from our general, Tyrone.
Well?
He has a wish for to talk submission.
Submission?
Very well, but on one condition.
That all resistance ends immediately.
It's already ceased, worst luck.
Lead the way.
[instrumental music]
[horses trotting]
So, you're the Earl of Tyrone, eh?
If you like. Plain Hugh O'Neill will do.
- You're Essex, I take it? - I am.
Plain Robert Devereux will do.
Well, you've a sense of humor, man,
which you'll be needing after we're finished talking.
- Submission? - Aye, submission.
You're a great fighter, Tyrone.
It's a pleasure to meet you at last.
Now, let's get down to it.
- My terms... - Your terms?
You have a sense of humor, man.
It is me that's granting terms this day
or maybe you misunderstood what I meant by submission.
I meant yours, certainly not mine.
Come now, man. I've no time for jests.
- You're on the run. - Oh, are we now?
Why, the boys are just skipping over the bogs
for a bit of exercise, showing you the way like.
- To where? - Into the very heart of Ulster.
- I suppose? - Huh! No, that won't do.
- You're beaten. - Sure.
You've the whole of Ireland before you now, but...
Take a squint at the sky.
The smoke you see, me friend, is the smoke of your burning camp.
Your ordinance, your food and precious little you had
and your supplies is making the place to warm
the hearts of all Ireland.
The road's tore up behind you
and your guides came have back to me.
- My guides? - Well, they are me own men.
I was glad to lend them to you.
Moreover, me whole army's drawn up betwixt you and the sea.
In short, milord of Lord Essex, you're trapped.
And now maybe you understand what I meant
by the word "submission."
ll not do it not while I have an army.
I'll fight. - Without food or munitions?
Why, man, you'd only get yourselves
butchered or drowned to the last man in the bog.
Oh, come now, throw down your arms
and save your lives the whilst you can.
If I'm trapped, why do you wish to spare us?
Am I such a fool as to believe that if I destroyed you,
I'd destroy England? No, man.
If we fought it out now, I'd finish you alright,
to the last man, but I'd lose men too...
men that I need to fight your successor
when he comes out of England in the spring.
Oh, come now. Throw down your arms
and I'll lend you the guides to take you
and your army safe to the coast.
And if 1 refuse?
Then it'll be your pride
against the life of every last one of your men.
Come now, Essex. What do you say?
Will you not disarm?
Between you here and betrayal at Whitehall...
it seems I've no choice.
Then here's me hand on it...
and a message to the queen
thanking her for me victory
for you're the most dangerous foe I've ever had to face.
And if she'd given you the support your campaign deserved,
without the word of a lie, man...
it'd be me and not you
that would be surrendering this day.
I'll give her your message...
with my whole army.
[dramatic music]
The mob does nothing but cry the name of Essex.
Well, Cecil, it was your intellect
that got us into this. We are truly grateful.
Don't be a fool.
How did I know that Essex would rise and revolt
against the queen and march on London?
I thought he'd be killed in Ireland.
And instead of that, he lands in Wales
rearms his men, and even now,
marches through London on the palace.
That means we're in grave trouble.
Which means, my friends that you pulled down
more upon your ears than you bargained for.
One, if Essex prevails, you're lost.
Two, if he becomes reconciled to her
and there are explanations about their intercepted letters,
then you're doubly lost.
I'll see her. She'll listen to me.
We've got to keep them apart.
Make this a war between them whether she wants it or not.
Absolutely. Bacon is right.
If Essex is allowed to speak to her,
it's our end.
Guard, right wheel.
What is this, Armand?
Her Majesty ordered a guard for the throne, milord.
Does that mean she's holding court at this hour of night?
- It seems so. - She is mad!
This is no time for assembly,
with Essex leading an army on the palace.
Can't you order troops out without her sanction?
Well, there's no precedent for it,
but this is an emergency without precedent.
- It is. - I'll try.
[dramatic music]
[tapping]
[trumpet music]
[instrumental music]
I show myself for the first time for days
and meet nothing but glum faces.
Burghley, you at least should be merry.
I hear you've been attending the theater.
No, madam.
But you did forbid the performance of Richard II
by Master Shakespeare and his players
without consulting me. Why?
The... the play is treasonous, Your Majesty.
It shows the dethronement of a king.
What then? Are my people
so easily led that they would run from the theater
to pull their queen out of her chair?
Who is there here fears a rebellion against me?
Not myself, certainly.
But there are mutterings, Your Grace.
Let them mutter. Let them cry out.
When they've worn themselves weary,
they'll get drunk and go to bed,
sleep soundly, wake up the wiser.
Your Majesty, I beg you
to speak with me alone a moment.
I answered your request earlier in the day.
But if Your Majesty knew what it was about...
I do know.
Lord Essex is on his way here. Let him come.
I should be glad to see him.
Let him bring his revolution with him.
How long do you think it will last...
when I have looked on it?
Madam, please.
There are plenty of troops available. Let me post...
With your gracious permission, I will not.
Burghley, stay where you are, all of you.
This court wriggles like a mess of eels.
There will be no troops posted, no guard,
no defense steps taken, none.
But Your Grace, there's a mob rising in the city.
It's true, I've just come from there.
They've stormed through Fleet Street, sacked the provisioner
and broken into a wine merchant's cellar.
It's said they'll attack the Fleet Prison
and set free the prisoners.
[scoffs]
They've broken into a wine cellar.
They'll go no farther.
[laughs] We're a marvelous people, we English...
but we cannot hold our liquor.
Burghley: But, Your Majesty...
What do they say, these, uh, wine drinkers?
- "Up Essex, down Elizabeth?" Burghley: Yes, Your Majesty.
Of course. What else would they be crying?
"Up Essex. Viva!
"Down Elizabeth. En bas.
The queen is dead. Long live the king."
If I were there, I'd be crying it myself.
It has a wonderful ring.
"Up Essex, down Elizabeth."
[indistinct chatter]
- Your Majesty. - Well?
Lord Essex has entered the palace.
He's on his way here now.
I've ordered Your Majesty's guard to hold the stair.
You ordered the guard against my wishes?
I had to, Your Grace.
They only wait for a signal from you...
Which I'll never give.
Cecil: Madam, this is madness. The whole town's behind him.
So I've been told.
What are you considering, me or your hide?
Your Majesty, if we do nothing,
both you and your kingdom
are at the mercy of Essex.
Little man, little man, leave me alone.
[swords clanging]
[dramatic music]
Stand back, milords!
Stand back, I tell you!
Let him enter.
[music continues]
You come with armed men at your back
into my throne room, my lord of Essex?
- Do I need them, Your Majesty? - You do not.
That we shall see.
They told me you wouldn't see me.
They were wrong.
I will see you.
State your grievance if you have any.
Myself, I have a great affection for rebels...
being frequently one myself.
Your Majesty thinks me a rebel? Why, no.
I'm but newly come from Ireland bringing you news
of your loyal subjects there.
But you have your army here with you.
I but bring my men home to London.
Elizabeth: Didn't you receive my orders
directing you to disband?
Is Your Majesty not aware
that an army turned loose becomes a mob?
Your revenues were suspended.
- Who is paying them? - I am.
Elizabeth: They're in your service now?
In my service.
Well, an honest answer at any rate.
Why should I lie?
And Ireland. What of Ireland?
I left it worse than I found it,
for which Tyrone sends you his thanks.
- If you'd supported my plans... - Plans? What plans?
Am Ia mind reader to know what goes on across the sea?
Why else do you think I ordered you home?
- I wrote you. - Yes, masterly letters.
Brief, to the point, wasting no words.
In short, nothing!
That's not true.
I wrote you many times, giving you all details...
asking your aid and trust,
and in reply, I got nothing.
No men, no arms, no food. Nothing.
If you'd but given me the support,
I'd have beaten Tyrone
and forced peace in Ireland in a month.
You wrote me letters?
Essex: Not once but many times.
And received no letters from me?
None.
Before heaven...
if our letters have been tampered with...
there will be heads lopped off aplenty here.
I wish to speak to my lord of Essex alone.
Your Majesty, do you think it's safe?
Leave us, all of you!
[dramatic music]
Take your men and wait outside.
Post guards in all the corridors.
See that no one enters or leaves the palace.
Yes, my lord.
Follow me.
Robert, what did you write to me?
At first, I wrote my love.
And then when I didn't hear from you, I wrote angrily...
but always I ended by telling you the same.
That I love you.
- And you? - I, too, wrote my love.
And God keep you safe.
Then when II received no answer...
I wrote you heaven knows what madness...
because I thought you faithless.
I should have known. I was tormented. Forgive me.
You never should have gone.
I hated you...
planned to put you to the torture.
Darling, I've been tortured enough
when I didn't hear from you.
I can't think yet.
Can't breathe.
Put your arms around me.
Can we ever believe again?
Can it ever be as it used to be?
- Do you love me still? - I'll love you always.
Yes.
Yes, if this were false, then I would know it now...
and truly I should die.
You see...
I thought...
because I was older...
there might be someone else.
No one. Ever.
- You were not changed? - No.
- No? - No.
Yes, a little.
I think they've changed us a little.
Not I, sweet.
In spite of all those horrible months
and though I've come back to you in defiance...
I really came back to find you, who had been lost to me.
And found again.
Sweet, these few years we have left...
let's never distrust each other again.
Never.
Take me, my life, my world,
my present and future in your dear hands.
You shall stand behind my throne
and together we shall build up an England
that will make the old world wonder.
What's the matter, my darling?
I must be honest with you.
I brought my army here partly from anger,
mostly from love.
But what really made me do it was something else,
something within myself.
Something I can't explain.
If you had shown anger, I could have spoken easily.
It's not easy now.
Perhaps you have no need to tell me.
Loving you so well, I Know you better than yourself.
This thing. Isn't it ambition...
a thirst for power?
Yes, that's stronger than myself.
And deeper than love?
It's true.
The throne's yours by descent and by possession...
but if this had been a freer time,
if people could elect,
I'd have swept the country before me.
And since we're equal in love,
why can't we be equal in power as well?
But we are equal. I have made you so.
No. It's still all yours to grant me
or take away as you see fit.
Can it be otherwise?
I ask you this in all devotion.
Am I not as worthy to be king as you to be queen?
Must you rule alone?
Darling.
You're So young in policy.
If I granted you this request
do you know what my people would say?
That you had forced it on me by revolution...
and all the security and the safety...
which I have built up for them
through years of careful planning
would be blown away.
Is that your real reason,
or is it that you wouldn't trust me as king?
No, I would not trust you. No.
You're jealous of your rights, your throne.
Yes.
So now, when the court's in my hands,
the country mine, you my prisoner
I must disband my army,
give your kingdom back to you?
I... your prisoner?
Of course. The throne's mine for the taking.
So, this is your loyalty?
This is your love?
Well...
at least I know now what it was you wanted.
You shall have it.
- Your throne? - Yes, and make the best of it.
So shall I.
What are your plans?
- I have none. - The tower? The block?
Having been a queen, I realize how useful
they are to consolidate power.
You could hardly take a queen prisoner
and have no thought of her destiny.
My mother walked that path.
I can walk it too.
You know, you're as free as air.
Lam your prisoner.
My dear prisoner still.
Let's finish with pretending.
You neither love me nor want me.
I do love you, and I want you.
Yes, and I want power too.
- But not without you. - No...
If you wanted me, would you rise
and strike at me with an army?
No. You'd have come to me quietly...
and talked to me as lovers should
at the proper time.
But now, no.
What you really wanted, you've taken.
This is your throne now...
but I am not yours.
So, put me where I'll do the least harm.
That you know I'll never do.
Promise me but this one thing
that you'll share your throne with me
and I'll disband my army, and you shall be free.
I promised.
You shall share my realm with me.
As I am queen, I promise it.
[instrumental music]
Here's the answer then, my queen.
[music continues]
Mountjoy.
Dismiss the troops.
Return the palace into the queen's hand,
release all prisoners and the queen's guard,
and send them to their posts.
But Essex, are you certain?
All is well, Knollys.
[instrumental music]
Darling...
forgive me now
and let this be our last quarrel.
Yes, our last.
Here's heaven risen out of suffering and pain.
My sweet.
No more talk of kingdoms and thrones.
Let's talk only of you and me.
Yes.
Yes, let us forget the other.
But have you kept your word?
My word?
I mean, if I were to clap my hands now...
whose guard would come...
mine or yours?
[laughing] Yours only, sweet. Shall I call?
No. Wait.
I will.
[claps]
[instrumental music]
- See? - Your Majesty.
Captain Armand...
is the palace again in our hands?
Yes, Your Majesty.
And my lord of Essex's men?
They have gone, Your Majesty.
It has taken me many years of ruling England, my Essex,
to discover that a ruler must be without friendship,
without mercy, and without love.
Arrest my lord of Essex.
Captain Armand: Arrest? - Arrest him.
Take him to the tower.
Is this a jest?
I never jest when I play for kingdoms, my lord of Essex.
And I trusted you.
And learned from you that no one can be trusted,
a lover least of all.
I will remember that.
Take care, Your Majesty.
Lest that be all you ever have to remember.
I will take care.
[dramatic music]
[instrumental music]
[thunder rumbling]
[dramatic music]
[indistinct chatter]
- Ls Her Majesty in the tower? - Yes, milord.
She took residence in her apartment above two nights ago.
- No... no word for me? Guard: No, milord.
It's almost dawn, Your Majesty. And you've had no sleep.
I beg you, retire to your chamber for a little rest.
I beg Your Majesty's pardon.
[instrumental music]
[bell tolling]
Yes, Your Majesty. It was I who intercepted your letters.
They never could have done it without my help.
And the Essex, thinking himself forgotten and disgraced
turned against you, but it wasn't his fault.
He didn't know. It was mine.
You tell me this because you want to save him?
Yes, yes, I do. But also, it's true.
You must believe me. Send for him.
If it is true,
do you realize you've spoken your own death warrant?
Yes, I know, but it doesn't matter.
Nothing, nothing matters but him.
Penelope, come closer.
You love him greatly, don't you?
Oh, yes, Your Majesty.
I, too, but he has never loved me.
But he does love you.
I was jealous of you. That's why...
Jealous?
You poor child.
Because he loved you and me not at all.
He told me so.
What did he say?
He said, "I love her more than life."
And then I warned him against you,
but he laughed and went in to you.
Perhaps, I should have trusted him more...
but it's too late now.
No one dies happily, queen or no.
Will he send me the ring, do you think?
There is still time.
No, not now.
This is the end.
On, no, no. You must send for him.
He's as proud as you are. He'll say nothing.
You must send for him. Bring him here.
No.
I shall live and he shall die.
Oh, I shall walk about and give orders
a horrible while.
But even though my heart goes into his grave along with him
I will never send for him.
He must ask to come to me.
He will ask. He will.
[knock on door]
I told you.
He has sent someone to plead.
Enter.
[crowd yelling]
- By your leave, Your Grace. - Well?
All London's outside the tower
protesting the execution of Essex.
Well, haven't I ears? Can't I hear them? What of it?
The captain of the guard begs permission
to use force to scatter them.
Oh.
So that's what you came to see me about?
I thought you brought word.
Milord of Essex would hardly condescend
to plead through me, Your Majesty.
And for an excellent reason.
He could never be sure of the form in which you'd deliver it.
This is your day, Cecil.
The snake in the grass endures.
Yes, the snake's mind is best.
To the end of time it will be so.
The snakes and the rats, they shall flourish
and those who are noble and free of soul go down.
But, madam, if you'll pardon me, the crowd is dangerous.
- If I may order the guard... - You may not.
But I will give you a task less to your liking.
Go to my lord of Essex in his cell and send him here.
Well, are you struck dumb?
But, Your Grace, Lord Essex is preparing for execution.
- Even now, a priest... - Go, I tell you.
[intense music]
Oh, Your Majesty.
Penelope.
Look on my face.
What you see here, he will also see.
Oh, but, Your Majesty, you're tired and worn,
and your beauty...
Has gone.
And left a bitter, aging mask.
I need no mirror to tell me now.
And you are young and lovely still.
And he, too, is young and beautiful.
And if he looks at you, and then at me...
Penelope. Do you mind?
You must not be here when he comes.
[somber music]
[intense music]
You sent for me.
Yes.
You spoil me for death.
Wouldn't it have been kinder to have left me with my thoughts?
Are you so set on dying?
I can't say I care for it, but if it's to come,
why, then, it's best I go forward quickly and meet.
You must have known I never meant you to die.
I've been found guilty of treason.
And treason is punishable with death.
Robert, be kind to me just this once.
Lam proud, too...
and bitter with much cause.
But I did speak first. I sent for you.
Are you going to degrade me further?
Make me tell you how I have longed for you?
You can tell me that
because you've nothing to gain or lose by it.
But if I were to tell you that I love you,
you might suppose I'd do it to save my life.
You love me still?
No, you have never loved me. I loved you.
And that was your nearest way to power.
This is the hour for truth, so let me speak.
Lam older than you, but a queen,
so perhaps it was natural that you should flatter me
and I believe you.
Why, yes, yes. That's true, if you wish.
And now, may I go?
This dying sticks in my mind and makes me poor company.
But remember this, I did love you.
- And still do? - Yes.
Then why didn't you send me the ring?
I'd have forgiven you everything at any hour of the day or night.
I waited, thinking of course, it would come.
And the nights went by, somehow, like the days,
and it never came.
And here it is, the last morning, the last quarter-hour.
Even if I believed you, I couldn't have sent it.
Why not?
Because if I'd tried to hold you to your promise,
and you'd broken it,
I'd have died more unhappy than I am.
Oh, but I'd have kept my promise.
I'd keep it now.
And if I were to offer you this ring now, you'd pardon me?
- Love me as before? - Oh, yes.
Everything as before.
And what would happen to your throne?
My throne?
- Why, nothing. - Now, there you're wrong.
For I'd try to take it from you.
I played for power once and I lost, but if...
[crowd yelling]
Listen.
Do you hear that, Elizabeth?
The people are all with me.
And if I had another chance, I'd win.
Why do you tell me this? Don't you know it means...
My death? Yes, I know.
I only tell you because I've loved you... love you still.
And I can never accept pardon from you
without you knowing the truth and facing it.
So... it's best I leave.
Robert, you can't.
You can't go like this. I won't let you.
I love you.
Then, are you ready to give up your throne?
- No, no, no. I cannot. - And you talk of love.
A love that clings to a tinsel throne.
Robert, wait. Listen.
I do love you. I'll always love you.
Till life is drained from me,
no matter how long and lonely the after years may be.
But there is another love,
greater even than that I have for you.
What's this greater love that lets the lesser go to its death?
England.
That is my greatest and most enduring love.
And when I think what you would
do to my country if you were king...
I will see you dead, yes,
and your soul condemned to eternity forever
before I'd let you do it.
You think I don't love England?
You do.
But your love does not match your lust for power.
For the greater glory of Essex,
you would make war upon the world,
drag your country down and drown her in a sea of debts and blood.
I had hoped, in prison,
you would lose conceit of yourself a little,
for prison's very quiet.
Be content to reign with me
so that we could leave behind us a legacy,
to our people, of peace and happiness.
But no.
You stayed crazed with ambition
and faithless to England, as well as to me, to the end.
Perhaps you're right...
and I'd have made a sorry king.
So then, it's better this way.
But this I'd have you know.
If things had been different,
you simply a woman, not a queen,
and I a man, with no crown between us,
we could've searched heaven and earth for two perfect lovers
and ended the search with ourselves.
Of all the things on this earth that I'm now to leave
I care about leaving none of them but you.
Robert. Stay with me. Share with me.
Give me the ring. Give me the ring.
No. For if I did, I'd be your death or you'd be mine,
and you and England must live.
- Isn't that true? - Yes.
So then, goodbye, my love.
No.
I'm old. I'm old.
With you, I could've been young again.
Why can't you love me enough,
to give me your love and keep me as I was?
I don't know. I only know I cannot.
[intense music]
Robert...
Take my throne! Take England! It's yours!
[music continues]
[drums beating]
[drum beating continues]
Pray, loosen my hands.
[music continues]
I'm ready.
[drumroll]
[intense music]
[instrumental music]
[music continues]