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In the world of the Tudors perhaps the only person who can compete with Anne Boleyn regarding the number of books written about them is her daughter, Elizabeth. While many focus on the years of her reign, Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne focuses on her childhood and teenage years. This is not a look at Queen Elizabeth but rather at Elizabeth the girl/young woman – the experiences that shaped her early life and would undoubtedly influence her far into adulthood.


The ease with which Starkey tells Elizabeth’s story means that he never has to tell you how she might have been feeling, especially during the years her sister Mary was queen. From the descriptions of the events and circumstances that surrounded her, I could easily imagine how terrified Elizabeth must have been much of the time. During her various forms of imprisonment, Elizabeth often outsmarted and outmaneuvered her jailers – they usually didn’t stand a chance against the witty and bold young woman.

In the last chapter Starkey gives an overview of Elizabeth’s reign and points to various things in her early life that may have impacted the decisions she made. He also discusses two promises she made to her people: to take counsel and to never lose their love and provoke them to rebellion. For the first an important distinction is made between being “ruled by counsel” and being “ruled by councilors”, the later something Elizabeth would never do. The second promise is basically one to be popular and if push came to shove, popularity would win every time.

This is the first book by Starkey that I have read. Although I have read some criticisms of his ego, attitude and biases, I thought this was written in an easy to read style and I enjoyed reading more detail about Elizabeth’s early life. I plan to read more of his books in the future.

Like father, like daughter? “Fortunately for her country, she would emulate only the form and not the substance; like her father, she would bite men’s heads off; unlike him, she would rarely cut them off.” Discussing Elizabeth’s attitude towards her father as a formidable ruler.

I did not have sex with that man: “Perhaps a Clintonesque formula will square the circle: Dudley had sex with her but she did not have it with him.” On whether or not the rumors about Elizabeth and Dudley were true. (I thought this was particuarly funny!)



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