History Buffs: Elizabeth

[Music] this episode's sponsored by curiosity stream hello and welcome history buffs my name is Nick Hodges and for the next couple of videos I'll be doing two reviews back-to-back Elizabeth and its sequel Elizabeth the Golden Age it's been a while since I've done a historically inaccurate film but by god this is one of the worst it seems to me that the filmmakers were more interested in making a period drama rather than an actual representation of history like a block of Swiss cheese you're gonna find holes in it everywhere from ridiculous time jumps to characters behaving in ways they never did to events that never happened at all and the worst part is they're all wedged in together with real history giving the illusion of authenticity but what really worries me is the idea that somewhere in the world there's a misinformed teacher showing these movies in the classroom whose students are gonna walk out thinking this is what it was like during Queen Elizabeth's reign and as I go step by step in this episode pointing out all the inaccuracies and all the impossibilities you're gonna see why they shouldn't as well my fellow history buffs here is part one of my double feature review this is Elizabeth so the movie begins during the reign of Queen Mary the first it is a time religious strife and division as the followers of two faiths Protestants and Catholics are locked in a bitter struggle for the soul of England Queen Mary is a Catholic herself as was the entire country when she was born that all changed when her father King Henry the eighth broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in 1533 his reason for doing so was his divorced his first wife the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon apart from Mary none of the children she born Henry had lived and the one thing he desired above all else was a son and heir but once his wife reached menopause that became in a possibility Henry knew that he was to continue having children he would have to marry another wife easier said than done because the Pope had forbidden any discussion of divorce nevertheless he got the Archbishop of Canterbury to declare his marriage to Catherine null and void thereby de legitimizing Mary's claim to the throne and making her a bastard or really pushed him to do this but because he had gotten his mistress and billon pregnant and secretly married her so in the off chance that the child was a boy it wouldn't become a bastard either however the child turned out to be a girl that they called Elizabeth needless to say this scandal rocked the Catholic world but there wasn't much the Pope could do about it because elsewhere in the European continent a new religious and political movement was making waves it was called the Protestant Reformation and its followers fervently believed that the Holy Catholic Church was a corrupt and decadent system that the path to true salvation wasn't through ancient rituals but by Scripture these Protestants were immediately denounced by their fellow Catholics as heretics as with all great movements it started at small but a gained traction over time Henry himself had been a devout Catholic all his life but that was to change when he learned that his precious and Berlin was also a Protestant at first he cornered her and demanded to know what she was doing with a heretic or buck in her bed chambers but his demeanor changed when she explained what the book was about it was called to the obedience of a Christian man and it was written by an English Protestant called William Tyndale who promoted this idea that the head of a country's church shouldn't be a pope but the king unsurprisingly this book spoke to Henry on a personal level and suddenly Protestantism didn't seem like such a bad thing after all in 1534 England officially broke away from Rome's Authority when its parliament passed through the act of Supremacy which established Henry as the head of the Church of England not only that but they also passed the treasons Acts that same year which meant that anyone who complained about these religious reforms or the legitimacy of Henry second marriage would lose their heads which many people did then in 1536 came the dissolution of the monasteries where England's nunneries friar E's and monasteries were disbanded looted and the land sold to the highest bidder before Henry they used to be over 800 of these holy shrines throughout England by the time he died in 1547 there were none left now let's jump forward to Queen Mary's reign when she came to power in 1553 the Protestant faith had been growing mostly unchallenged for nearly twenty years and as a fanatical Catholic she would try to undo everything her father had started the most infamous act was to try and purge a country of Protestants through mass burnings where nearly 300 people died in a short five year reign of the one true Catholic Church and of His Holiness the Pope now the movie Elizabeth begins with one of these burnings not just any burning but a very important one but before the opening credits even finish we get our first inaccuracy the movie states that it takes place in 1554 but the burning of Protestants didn't begin until February 1555 and the one we see on the screen are of Anglican bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley it happened in Oxford on the 16th of October 1555 you can clearly hear Riklis name being called out in the crowd now I can't tell you who this random woman is being burnt with them because there is any mention of her in the historical records there's his famous book called The Book of Martyrs that was written by an English Protestant historian called John Fox in 1563 and he covered this burning in great detail there's even a picture of it if you look closely you could see Latimer on the left and Ridley on the right but there's no one else with them so you might be asking yourself if the burnings didn't happen until a year later then why did they set the movie in 1554 because that was when Mary crushed a Protestant rebellion led by Sir Thomas Wyatt in February 1554 and he wanted to overthrow Queen Mary and replace her with a Protestant half-sister Elizabeth now I understand that sometimes films do need to condense historical events for the purpose of pacing except in their circumstance you get this false impression that the rebellion was a reaction to Mary's policy of burning Protestants but that wasn't the case Sir Thomas Wyatt was rebelling because Mary wanted to marry Prince Philip of Spain which was widely unpopular people didn't want to be ruled by a Spanish King and have their country turned into another satellite state of the Spanish Empire that was what the rebellion was really about but there's no mention of this in the movie because they also get the timeline wrong what we see Mary is already married to Phillip even though that didn't happen until months after Wyatt's rebellion they hadn't even met each other by this point what they do get right in this scene is Mary's paranoia but a sister's potential involvement to overthrow her your grace we'll find some proof of her treachery I am most sure of it so the next scene we see Mary's guards ride out to rest Elizabeth in a country estate in Hatfield at least that's what the movie wants us to believe because I can assure you that ugly medieval looking castle is not Hatfield house this is Hatfield house glorious elegant and much more fitting for a Renaissance princess wouldn't you say and yet this movie keeps using buildings to the wrong time period as the locations like I love how old the palace sequence is a shot in the 11th century Durham Cathedral which was built by the bloody Normans I mean look at this place it's depressing the Tudors didn't want to live in the stone halls of their Norman ancestors they wanted to bling things up in style like in Hampton Court Palace where Henry they spend more money pimping out the place than anything you'll find on MTV Cribs yeah bland scape gardens hunting ground beautiful wooden paneled walls gold fitted ceilings and indoor tennis court and fountains that in flow with water but red wine if you look at this painting rice here you can see people drinking from it getting absolutely plastered there's even a guy vomiting in the corner honestly the only norman building you'd find any Tudor living in would be the dreaded Tower of London and there was only when they didn't have a choice Elizabeth certainly didn't anyway when she was locked up there on the 18th of March 15:54 in the movie she's interrogated upon her arrival even though in real life that happened early and Whitehall in fairness this is an understandable inaccuracy because they're just trying to condense stuff down what isn't though is when the question of Elizabeth's religion pops up and Bishop Stephen Gardiner says this small question though it killed your mother what does religion have to do with amber Lynn's death whether it's true or not she was charged and beheaded for adultery by a husband Henry the eighth he most likely killed her because she wasn't producing any sons and he took advantage of the rumors to make way for his third wife Jane Seymour being Protestant had nothing to do with it anyway Elizabeth stayed in the tower as a sisters prisoner for the next two months fearing each day would be her last however we don't get any impression of how much time has passed in the film because in the very next scene Mary summons Elizabeth in real life this didn't happen until nearly a year later on the 17th of April 1555 prior to that Elizabeth was released from a tower on the 22nd of May 15:54 because there wasn't enough evidence to execute her for treason so instead Mary placed her under house arrest in Woodstock Palace near Oxford the reason Elizabeth was called to court was because Mary was pregnant and wanted her sister to be there for the christening at least that's what Mary believed her first symptoms of pregnancy begins far back as September the previous year but apart from gaining little weight and no longer menstruating there was no real indication that she was with child there were even rumors circulating in the court how this is even possible because there's no see Chris that a husband Phillip found his devoted wife repulsive Majesties this is most wondrous news indeed we do thank God for this our most happy condition we must also thank his Majesty for this blessed event which is nothing short of a miracle this of course turned out to be a phantom pregnancy as may came and went followed by June then July and still no baby insights finally on the 4th of August 1555 after eleven months of waiting Mary admitted defeat and a husband Philip abandoned her and left England in the film we see Mary explained as much to Elizabeth as well as the suspicion on what caused the phantom pregnancy they say it's a tumor it is your death warrant all I need do is sign it okay just give me a minute here because there's a lot to unpack despite how crazy Mary was she didn't believe that her baby had been poisoned by Protestant heretics more than anything she thought it was a punishment from God for being too lenient with them which made her even more aggressive in their persecutions also her doctors didn't diagnose a false pregnancy as a tumor it's not a tumor it's not a tumor at all this is more of a theory held by contemporary historians truth is we don't know if it was a tumor or a cyst or just as likely the whole thing could have been made up in her head the mind is a powerful thing after all and Mary was so desperate to have a child that she had not one phantom pregnancy but two and each time the doctors diagnosed the symptoms of being with child also by this point in their relationship Mary didn't threaten Elizabeth was signing her death warrant they had moved past the whole Wyatt rebellion thing and Elizabeth stayed with her sister until October 1555 before returning to Hatfield no longer as mary's prisoner the next thing that happens in the movie is the duke of norfolk ins and catholic courtiers voiced their concerns about exiled Protestant Nobles returning to England your grace Protestants are already returned from abroad yes and have made plans to Massacre every Catholic in England okay this is just bollocks why would they return now just because Mary didn't have a baby and she's feeling sick she's still alive she's still in power and she continued to burn Protestants as far ahead as 1558 it would be pretty bad timing to come back now don't you think anyway there's a huge time jump by about three years but this doesn't get mentioned in the movie as far as the audience is concerned it's still 1554 by this point Mary is lying in her bed sick and dying and the Duke of Norfolk is trying to get at a sign Elizabeth's death warrant which of course didn't happen nor did the Spanish ambassador offer Elizabeth King Philip's hand in marriage my sister is not yet dead her bed is still warm His Majesty finds it already cold the only thing Philip tried to do when Mary was alive was to offer Elizabeth his cousin's hand in marriage that Jukka Savoy which she refused outright it was only when his wife died did Philip proposed to Elizabeth but was also refused and so on the 17th of November 1558 Queen Mary wrote to be remembered by history as Bloody Mary died in her sleep and a Protestant half-sister Elizabeth succeeded in her name as the new Queen of England Elizabeth's coronation took place on the 15th of January 1559 at Westminster Abbey and for the most part it is very well portrayed in the movie the only thing that doesn't make sense is the Duke of Norfolk's role in this since he's not an ordained member of the church so there really is no reason for him to be there however I would like to credit the movie for having the bishops say this line you might think calling her the Queen of France is a bit of an empty title since England no longer had any possessions their reason why is because her sister Mary lost Calais to the French a year before this is a huge humiliation to the English because they had ruled it for over 200 years and the last piece of territory mainland Europe was gone having said that it is true that Elizabeth still claim to the crown of France it's a very small line that most people won't notice but I'm very happy to see it there following the coronation we have a little scene where Elizabeth's advisors tell her that she's an inherited a bankrupt Kingdom are surrounded by enemies mainly France and Spain which is all true but then William sessile her Secretary of State says this to her part from abroad here at home there are those who wish your majesty Hill Mary of Scots has already laid claim to your throne and Norfolk Norfolk covets it relentlessly madam until you marry and produce an heir you will find no security now it is true that Mary of Scots laid claim to the English throne she was next in line after all but what isn't true is the remark of the Duke of Norfolk coveting it by this point and the reason why is because he didn't consider overthrowing Elizabeth until 10 years later in the film he's portrayed to be a fanatical Catholic who until very recently was openly hostile towards Elizabeth even begs Mary to signed her death warrant so by the movie's own logic what is he still doing there I mean it's a bit dumb to keep a man like that in court don't you think in real life one of the first things Elizabeth did when she came to power was to kick out most of the Catholics from the old regime she didn't to do that with the Duke of Norfolk since he was actually a Protestant but apart from that it is true their Lisbeth's advisors were constantly nagging her to marry him produce in there which was a little difficult since most of Europe's royalty were Catholic everyone had seen how badly things to turn out for Mary when she married Philip and Elizabeth did want to make the same mistakes she did alternatively Elizabeth could have married Protestant European or an English noble but I won't mean having to share power which didn't sound appealing either so what she did instead was procrastinate on the issue she would lead men on who all thought they might have a chance and then she would pull back just as suddenly this is politically advantageous throughout her reign because it played everybody against each other I suppose the French to offer some suitor to her naturally everything that depends upon the husband that woman takes but out of all the potential suitors there was one man who tempted her the most Lord Robert Dudley the Earl of Leicester they were both roughly the same age at which childhood France we are first introduced to Robert Dudley at the beginning of the movie when Elizabeth is in Hatfield and the way he sort of Swagger's in with his open frilled shirt instantly reminds me there's awful romantic novels from the 90s with Fabio in the front cover these seas are certainly heaving well no more than your bountiful bosom milady later we see them dancing brushing the cheeks together cuddling and being very intimate with each other this all happens of course right before Elizabeth is arrested and taken to the tower and before she leaves he whispers this in her ear do not be afraid of them it's a very touching moments but unfortunately it isn't true Dudley didn't visit her in Hatfield during Mary's reign because he had been arrested for treason and sent to the tower himself a year before this is because he and his father were involved in a coup to place Lady Jane Grey as the Queen of England in 1553 when that failed Dudley saw his father his brother and his sister-in-law executed it was during his time in the tower that he and Elizabeth were reunited and developed an unbreakable bond so you might be asking yourself if they really were in love then why didn't they just get married when Elizabeth became Queen well because Robert Dudley still had the stigma of being a traitor which made him one of the most unpopular men in England there's of course an even bigger reason why they couldn't get married I'll get more into that later now as to the possibility of them being secretly lovers has intrigued historians for centuries they've obsessed over little details like how Elizabeth seemed to favor Dudley by appointing him master of horse whose duties required regular meetings for the Queen this and among other things sparks gossip in the court and every interaction they had came under heavy scrutiny so if they really were lovers then they had to have been subtle about it but there's nothing subtle about the way they're dancing here especially when he kisses her on the cheek in front of everybody but that's not even the worst part of it because later on we see them bump uglies in front of an actual audience I wish you to show me how Majesty sheets every morning I must know all her proper functions proper functions indeed the Majesty's body and person longer her own property honestly guys would you trust your deepest darkest secrets these giggling idiots obviously these girls never covered up any affair in fact cab Ashley Elizabeth's favorite lady in waiting begged her to stop seeing Dudley when rumors of an affair started to circulate anyway after that little Peep Show we see Elizabeth summoned by the Duke of Norfolk to the war council where he presses her to send an army into Scotland Mary of geese has increased the French garrison in Scotland by 4,000 men perhaps more madam I'm afraid the French mean to attack while we are still weak and while your Majesty's reign is still answer this is not true at all the French sent reinforcements to Scotland because they wanted to crush a Protestant rebellion taking place much like England Scotland was heavily divided by Protestants and Catholic factions Mary of geese was a French noblewoman who ruled Scotland as Queen regent and a daughter's name Mary Queen of Scots who was still living in France at the time and because of Miriam qisas ante Protestant policies the Scottish Lords had taken up arms against her and called on England to send military aides which Elizabeth did in 1560 and what we see in the film is the aftermath of the English and Scots defeat at the siege of Leith Castle now this was a battle that the French won fair and square but the movie would have us believe that the reason why the English lost was because his army was made up of young boys instead of highly trained fighting men he does attend but then freeze away it is all for this false narrative is pushed even further by Elizabeth when she hears the news because the bishops would not let them they spoke against it in the pulpits oh shut up movie you and I both know that the bishops weren't in a position to do anything about Scotland basically the film is trying to link two different events that have nothing to do with each other and swapping them around in the timeline according to the film's plot the bishops interference for the army or what provoked Elizabeth to pass two acts through Parliament the act of Supremacy and the actor uniformity they're blended together in the movie it's just one act but basically the restored England's independence from Rome that made Elizabeth the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and they reality the Common Prayer book to both Catholics and Protestants could participate in communion when both acts were voted in through Parliament it became law for anyone holding public or Church office to swear allegiance to Elizabeth as the head of the new church and all but one of the Catholic Bishops refused to do so in response she had them arrested thrown into the tower and replaced with Protestants the arresting of the bishops began in April 1550 nine months before Elizabeth's army fought in Scotland in fifth in 60 basically these two events you see in the films timeline should be switched but we're not quite done there my fellow history buffs because following the defeat in Scotland Mary Abdi since an offer of peace to Elizabeth under one condition what condition that your majesty considers the proposal of her nephew the duke of anjou Elizabeth reluctantly accepts as long as on Reed the Duke of Anjou comes to England himself but when the two finally meet in person let's just say she's less than a press for the French suitor oh yeah mozu yes oh no the Jew by this point in the review would she be surprised to find out this is also [ __ ] somehow I doubt it anyway where do I start Mary of geese wasn't the arts of Honor II the Duke of Anjou and didn't offer him as a suitor to Elizabeth nor does she have an implied sexual relationship with him the reason why is because their families were from rival houses and were sworn enemies so it really wouldn't do Mary any favors if Omri became the King of England also it was a non reside heir to initiate marriage talks but Elizabeth's in 1570 ten years after the battle in Scotland in the end this brief courtship sin lead anywhere but not for the reason the movie says what what do what what what do you mean what is this movie taking the piss oh yes I am wearing a dress yes yes and we there is no evidence to support that honoree was a crossdresser no is he bisexuals implied this little harem honoree had many famous mistresses but historians have been unable to name a single man he could have slept with they think it's more likely that these rumours started because honoree didn't like war and he didn't like hunting which was considered very effeminate in those days and this was used by his political enemies to turn the people of France against him but you know what even if he was a crossdresser this still could have happened because Elizabeth and honoré never met in person not that this particularly matters to Elizabeth in the move since she never shows any interest in marrying honoree not even for appearances sake remember that the reason is characters even there is so England could avoid a war with France but instead of playing the game like the real Elizabeth would have she and Dudley flaunt their fair in front of everybody from their little love boat so William Cecil is understandably angry with his behavior and scolds Elizabeth like a child and then the movie drops this historically inaccurate bombshell on us I do not understand how so bad a judgment has been formed of me madam you you cannot marry Lord Robert he's already married true Elizabethan history buffs will no doubt hate this scene because it makes the Virgin Queen look like an idiot it was no secret that Lord Robert was Mary's pretty much everyone in Europe knew about it in fact it was so well known that some kings didn't even want to marry off their sons to Elizabeth in the first place this was another big reason why Elizabeth of Roberts relationship was so scandalous even if they weren't actual lovers it certainly appeared that way in course gossip but this idea that Queen Elizabeth this highly intelligent woman one of the greatest monarchs in English history didn't know her boy-toy was married is ridiculous of course she knew about it she just didn't care and that's what really piss people off because Elizabeth it was supposed to be looking for a husband and instead she was faffing about with someone who was already married but whatever their relationship was it took a major hit on the 8th of September 1560 when Lord Robert's wife Amy Robb sauce was found dead with her neck broken at the bottom of flight of stairs officially it was ruled as an accident but rumors quickly circulated that she may have been murdered instead amy sudden death now freed Lord Robert to marry Elizabeth which people found extremely suspicious with Elizabeth's reputation at stake there was no way she could possibly marry Lord Robert from that moment on now the possibility of Amy Rob's hearts murder has seen some renewed interest over the years there's this great documentary called Elizabeth killer queen where they go over all the suggests foul play including the recently rediscovered coroner's inquest that describes short puncture wounds to Amy's skull there were somehow left out of the original court records if Amy had a 2-inch deep wound to the top of a head I'd be looking for some sort of mace ball on the end of a chain with spikes on it some sort of halberd or spear something of that sort of nature I think I'd be saying to the officer investigating two tomato full-scale murder inquiry it's definitely worth checking out if you're into this sort of thing and if you are you could find this documentary and thousands like it's on curiosity stream it's a subscription streaming service has nothing on it but documentaries including history and it can watch them all for just $2.99 a month but the best part is that fans of history buffs can get their first 30 days for free and what's more is that with curiosity stream you also be getting nebula for free another streaming service the host content for many creators including history buffs it's a platform without the restrictions of advertiser friendly policies you'd find elsewhere so basically any video survived there needs to be heavily edited or go missing will have no problem being uploaded to nebula the way they were meant to be seen to get started all you have to do is enter the promo code kurosu see stream comm forward slash history buffs so in the movie the relationship between Elizabeth and Roberts ends when she finds out about his marriage and screams at him in a very public setting this of course didn't happen with Roberts first wife but it did with the second wife lettuce Knollys she used to be one of Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting and secretly married Roberts in 1578 over 20 years after the movie is set and Elizabeth was so jealous and so angry that she banished less Knollys from courts now there isn't a lettuce Knollys in the film but there is an Isabel nollies who a character is clearly inspired by we see Robert and Isabel have an affair but instead of the marrying in secret she dies after wearing a poisoned dress meant to kill Elizabeth which of course didn't happen nor does Elizabeth nearly get shot in the face by an assailant arm to the crossbow these failed assassination attempts are pondered by Elizabeth's famous spy master Francis Walsingham now I must stress that although Walsingham played a major role in Elizabeth's reign he didn't become a principal secretary until 15 years later in 1573 nevertheless he concludes that the crossbow attack was from the Duke of Norfolk and the poisoned dress was sent by Mary of keys to Elizabeth for a fusing to marry that you can Jew Francis Walsingham then heads to Scotland to have dinner with Mary of geese and pretends to switch size all so he could seduce and kill Mary in her sleep which is ridiculous because Francis Walsingham wouldn't be dumb enough to murder the Queen regent of Scotland as her guest because it would only serve to implicate him and Elizabeth also he didn't need to kill Mary of geese because she died of dropsy a month after the siege of leaf as for the Duke of Norfolk's crossbow attack although that hadn't happened the movie does tie it to a real plot is involved in against the Queen His Majesty has also had a rule the world is for his rudeness Monsignor that your grace has no contact with Mary of Scots to promote your ambitions even let you move Molly on basically what happened was that Mary Queen of Scots the daughter of Mary of geese fled to England in 1568 after being forced to abdicate her throne she was given safe refuge by Elizabeth but for all intents and purposes she was her prisoner this was mainly for two reasons since Mary was Elizabeth's cousin she did have a claim to the English throne which she had pressed in the past but what made her especially dangerous was the fact that she was a Catholic and many of England's Catholics especially the northern Earl's wish to see Mary as the queen of England not Elizabeth not wishing to live the rest of her life as a prisoner Mary reached out to Norfolk and proposed marriage this is an ideal match for Mary because not only was he the richest man in England he was also Elizabeth's cousin and had two claims to the throne himself as for Norfolk he was ambitious and opportunistic he agreed to Mary's proposal now in the movie they take this real plot that actually happens and they link it to another historical plot called the Babington plot trouble is neither of them have anything to do with each other the duke of norfolk first rebelled against elizabeth in 1569 was the Babington plot took place in 1586 17 years apart but you want to know what's really funny when they made the sequel Elizabeth the Golden Age which is even worse by the way they used the Babington plot again because they ran out of stuff to talk about that's what happens when he tried to cram most of the biggest events in Elizabeth's life into the first few months of her reign you probably want to know what the Babington plot was about but I don't like to repeat myself I like these movies so what I'm gonna do is cover that in the next review in the meantime let's finish things off with the duke of norfolk now what the movie doesn't mention is that norfolk was involved in two plots against the queen but they have condensed both into one which is fair enough in my opinion for the purpose of pacing but here is basically what happens in 1569 the Catholic northerners rebelled against Elizabeth with the support of the Duke of Norfolk although just before it started he tried calling it off because he had lost his nerve but by then it was too late the plan had already been set in motion to raise an army large enough to march south and liberate Mary of Scots from her prison but the rebellion soon collapsed when it failed to gather the populace port it needed to succeed the rebel leaders were quickly executed and the Duke of Norfolk was arrested and thrown into the tower for nine months he remained confined there but escaped the chopping block by confessing to his part in the northern uprising and begged for mercy Elizabeth granted it and placed him under house arrest now you'd think that Norfolk would be thanking his lucky stars and give up any idea of overthrowing Elizabeth but you'd be wrong on the 25th of February 1570 pope pius v issued a papal bull against Elizabeth that excommunicated her and forbade all of England's Catholics to obey her this historic moment is shown in the movie even though the timeline is 12 years off and Daniel Craig's character John Ballard wasn't involved however this next little bit is true is always also decrees that any man which standard take an assassination will be welcomed by angels into the kingdom of heaven if these letters of blessing and hope to our friends in England this new plot was led by an Italian banker named Roberto D Ridolfi and he not only had the Pope's blessing but also King Philip of Spain the plan was similar to the one before that after Elizabeth's assassination to place Mary of Scots on the English throne and have her married the Duke of Norfolk however the conspiracy was discovered when Charles Baillie one of Mary's followers was arrested in Dover carrying incriminating letters under torture he confessed everything including that Norfolk had been funding the conspirators himself now what Elizabeth finds out about the plot in the movie it leads to this big climax where she orders the arrest and execution of all the conspirators in a single day and let's just say it looks really similar to the ending of The Godfather here I'll show you do you renounce [Music] renounce and all this works but maybe it's just me anyway I'm sorry to say but the real events were nowhere near as climactic as what we see in the film for example when the Duke of Norfolk was arrested he didn't get executed right away after he was found guilty Norfolk spent five months locked up in the tower because Elizabeth kept signing his death warrant and then changing her mind at the last minute he was a cousin after all and she must have felt guilty for what she was being advised to do eventually Elizabeth yielded to pressure from Parliament and on the 2nd of June 1570 to Norfolk was beheaded on Tower Hill at least that part is correctly portrayed unlike the rest of the movies conspirators who most of them are executed as well even though in real life they weren't for example Bishop Stephen Gardiner died in 1555 three years before Elizabeth became Queen the Earl of Sussex was never involved in any plots against Elizabeth and was a well-respected politician in her court the Spanish ambassador also couldn't have been killed by Elizabeth as he died of plague after being recalled to Spain as for the Earl of arendelle he had some minor involvement in the few pots against Elizabeth but not enough to lose his head the worst he ever got was being placed under house arrest and six months after Norfolk's execution he was released that just leaves us with Lord Robert Dudley Elizabethan history buffs will find this to be the hardest pill to swallow in the movie after the Queen dumps him in public the Spanish ambassador approaches Lord Roberts and proposes that he convert to Catholicism and join the conspirators to overthrow Elizabeth but when his treasonous eventually found out Elizabeth decides to spare his life he shall be kept alive to always remind me how close I came to danger as with the rest the entire effing movie this is completely inaccurate Lord Roberts never betrayed Elizabeth president's higher life he was hopelessly in love with her and remained her most faithful subject even when she pushed him away after his marriage to lesss Knollys the two eventually made up and remains close until his death their relationship is one of the most enduring love stories in history and the only thing that kept number part was Elizabeth's title as Queen whereas at the end of the movie it's not only Lord Roberts fault that they're not together but his betrayal indirectly inspires Elizabeth to reinvent herself as Gloriana as she cut off her hair in a ritual like manner and turned celibate because then we see her paints her face white and a lips red to symbolize her transformation as England Saints like Virgin Queen if only in with that poetic the only reason Elizabeth started a cake on the heavy makeup was to cover up her smallpox cast as she got back in 1562 whereas in the movie we see it happen after the failed northern uprising of 1569 and she also didn't cut off her hair so she could wear wigs she wore wigs Vic she was losing her hair the reason for this is most likely due to the skin whiteness she used call Phoenicians ceruse it was made up of vinegar and white LED which damaged her skin and slowly poisoned her over time and her makeup remover was even worse as it had a mixture of rose water honey eggshells and mercury as her skin wasted away over the years she was forced to slather on more and more makeup to cover up the damage sadly by the end of her life she looked like a clown and that's about all the inaccuracies I could stomach for this review no doubt some of you who point out that menu I missed out in the comment section but this vide has gone on long enough for me to make my point the 1998 movie elizabeth is one of the most historically inaccurate films I have ever covered on this channel I know there are many of you out there who enjoy watching Elizabeth but as a historical film it is terrible the only thing I liked about it with the performances especially Cate Blanchett as she was a perfect casting choice for the Virgin Queen I understand that sometimes it's necessary to take creative liberties but at some point you've got to draw the line on how many can take otherwise you might as well make a fantasy film at least that way you could do whatever you want but as historically inaccurate Elizabeth is it is nowhere near as bad as Elizabeth the Golden Age which I'll be covering in my next review well that about wraps it up my name is Nick Hodges and thanks for watching history buffs and remember if you like the show help the channel grow if you wish to support history buffs then you can now do so at patreon and as always let me know in the comments section what you thought about Elizabeth and of course what historical movie should I review next in the meantime check out the history buffs Twitter and Facebook page for new updates until then I'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: undefined

Views: 942,212

Rating: 4.9407134 out of 5

Keywords: History Buffs, Nick Hodges, Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth, Tudor, Elizabeth (film), historical accuracies, historical inaccuracies, Cate Blanchett, joseph fiennes, renaissance, mary queen of scots

Id: Ttt2jJhQyhU

Length: 39min 25sec (2365 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 07 2019