"Despite the popularity of the Tudor century, there has been no full-scale life of its greatest figure for a generation. Neville Williams" portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, thoroughly based on contemporary scholarship and at the same time highly readable, will appeal to today"s readers as widely as Sir John Neale"s life appealed to the last generation and Bishop Creighton"s to a previous one.By taking into account recent research and new evidence, Dr Williams has produced a biography of singular depth. Here is an absorbing account of the clashes of interest between Elizabeth the woman and Elizabeth the queen, with the frankness that is now possible. The result is a real insight into the mind of this child of the English Reformation. The other great figures of the Elizabethan era - Leicester, Essex, Raleigh, the Cecils, Walsingham, Mary, Queen of Scots, and many others - are brilliantly brought alive, but throughout attention is compulsively centred on the remarkable woman who ruled England for forty-five memorable years" (Detail from back of book).This 388 page account of Queen Elizabeth also includes 24 beautiful full color pages of portraits and documents detailed in the book.