All the Queen's Men
The Competition to Marry Elizabeth I
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to basket failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.
All the Queen's Men
Pre-order Now for £10.59
-
Narrated by:
-
By:
-
Sophie Shorland
The throne of England hung in the balance, and every prince in Europe wanted to claim it.
When Elizabeth I ascended the throne in 1558 she became the most eligible woman in Europe. All saw the same prize: marry Elizabeth, rule England. Ambassadors flooded her court, armed with portraits, jewels and marriage proposals from princes, archdukes and kings. Sweden promised mountains of silver. Spain offered imperial protection. Austria pledged powerful alliances. Even Ivan the Terrible - already twice married - sent envoys bearing gifts and threats in equal measure.
For nearly five decades, Elizabeth kept them all waiting. She contrived to play each suitor against the other to her own end. A persistent Erik XIV wrote love letters for a decade, convinced he could win her hand. She strung along the charming French Duke of Alençon, exchanging rings before wriggling free with an alliance secured. Meanwhile, Robert Dudley, never far from Elizabeth's side, became the favourite who made foreign ambassadors tremble with envy.
Written with historian Sophie Shorland's unique eye for a gossipy aside, morbid titbit and acerbic wit, and drawing on ambassadorial dispatches, secret intelligence reports and Elizabeth's own letters, All the Queen's Men reveals how Elizabeth I turned the competition for her hand into foreign policy - using courtship as diplomacy, flirtation as statecraft, and her perpetually single status as the key to England's survival in the tangled web of European politics.©2026 Sophie Shorland
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet