Elizabeth: The Golden Age Page #4

Where have you been?

I met up

with some old friends.

From Paris, no doubt.

We haven't

seen you for days.

Yes.

Now you're back.

Do you know, I can still

remember the day you were born.

I was 11 years old.

And you,

this helpless bundle.

I looked at you

in your crib,

with your little,

wrinkled face,

and I loved you

from the first.

I've failed you,

haven't I?

Forgive me if I haven't

loved you enough.

Did you imagine

I wouldn't know?

Your blessing,

Majesty. My little one.

Your blessing?

Walk on.

The Queen is at her prayers.

Go!

Elizabeth is a whore! Mary

Stuart is our true queen!

Elizabeth!

Whore!

You bring news?

The Queen

has been attacked.

The assassin seized.

The Queen

unarmed.

Unarmed?

And you, ma'am, are to

be tried for treason.

Me?

What has any of this

to do with me?

That's the trouble

with intrigues, isn't it?

With so many secrets,

you can never quite be sure who's

on whose side till the game ends.

Walsingham has every

letter you've written.

Traitor.

Traitors!

Ready to die,

I see, Jesuit.

I have done what

I was sent to do.

Why was the gun

not loaded?

I need your help.

I, too,

have failed, brother.

What was the Jesuit

sent to do?

I told you everything I know.

So kill me.

There's a better world

waiting for me.

We'll all be judged

in the end, brother.

Even you.

William, you're

not a martyr.

You werert even

much of a murderer.

I'm going to have you

taken to France.

No one will know.

You must never let me

hear of you again.

Francis.

Francis!

Francis.

I've never seen her

so distressed.

She's been alone in her room

since morning. She'll see no one.

Has she asked for me?

No.

But she needs you.

I know she does.

Go to her.

Please.

Are you here to tell me

I must murder a queen?

I would never presume to

tell my Queen what to do.

Only you know

where your duty lies.

Was it my father's duty

to murder my mother?

She was a queen

for a time.

Oh, I would be loath to

die so bloody a death.

Since when were you

so afraid?

I'm always afraid.

Kill a queen,

and all queens are mortal.

We mortals have

many weaknesses.

We feel too much.

Hurt too much.

All too soon we die.

But we do have

the chance of love.

Do we?

I have given

England my life.

Must she also

have my soul?

WALSINGHAM.

Mary Stuart must die!

Must? Mary Stuart must die?

Where is it written? Who

says so? Have I ordered it?

Majesty, this is

no time for mercy.

Don't preach at me,

old man!

Look at you.

You can hardly stand.

Go home to your wife

and your bed.

The law must

have its way.

By whose authority

do you condemn me?

God is my only judge.

The law is for common

men. Not for princes.

The law, Your Majesty, is for

the protection of your people.

Leave me.

Your Majesty.

Your Majesty.

MARY STUART. You know neither

who you are or what you do.

I know who I am.

And if I die, it shall

be as I have lived.

As a queen,

trusting in the mercy

of God, my Father.

At which hour?

At 8:
00.

Tomorrow morning.

It must be stopped!

I want it stopped!

I forgive you

with all my heart.

WALSINGHAM.

Forgive me, Majesty.

I have failed you.

How have you failed me?

What am I

to forgive you for?

Philip of Spain

is a God-fearing man

who cannot declare war

without a just cause.

I intercepted every letter

Mary Stuart secretly dispatched,

but failed to see that Spain

knew I was reading them.

They waited for her

to write the words

that would, in my eyes,

confirm her treason.

Forgive me.

I am trapped

in my own web.

And I ordered

Mary's execution.

I murdered God's

anointed Queen.

And now God's most dutiful son

makes holy war to punish me.

We are at war.

Who knows when

we will meet again?

If we will meet again.

If England falls, my last days

will be in a Spanish prison.

To die far from home.

That is the

Ioneliest death.

Never.

My thoughts

turn dark.

What do you do

in a storm

when you're facing

your death?

The closer

I come to death,

the more

I want to live,

the hungrier

I am for life.

Yes. To live

right to the end.

Why be afraid of tomorrow

when today is all we have?

I wish...

I have never known

a woman like you.

In some other world,

in some other time,

could you have

loved me?

I know only

one world.

And in this world,

I have loved you.

There's something

you could do for me,

something I have not

known for a very long time.

If you felt

so inclined.

But it's not to be

spoken of afterward.

It must be forgotten.

But just for now...

A kiss?

I die.

I've given

Drake the orders

to prepare the fleet

to defend the Channel.

How soon can you

join him?

We're waiting for supplies. We can

move as soon as we're ready and armed.

Good.

Bess.

I have something

to tell you.

I ask for nothing.

Is that understood?

Your life is your own.

Nothing will change.

What is this?

I am...

You're with child.

No one knows.

My plans are made.

I shall ask the Queen for

permission to leave court.

Where will you go?

To my

mother's house.

I'm a ward of the Queen. I can't

court a man without her permission.

I can't marry

without her permission.

As for having a child,

your child...

All I know

is nothing's as it should be.

Please, listen.

You once said to me, "Whatever I

have to give, ask and it's yours."

Do you remember?

Of course, I remember.

I ask that you

forget me.

Go to your ship.

Do your duty.

Forget me.

Bess!

We're summoned.

Coming.

This Spanish Armada is at sea

with an army of 10,000 men?

And Philip's friend,

the Duke of Parma,

has 15,000 men

on the French coast.

They plan to cross the Channel in

barges and sail into the Thames.

They don't have enough barges

yet. We have a little time.

And our forces defend the mouth

of the Thames at Tilbury with...

What? How...

Four thousand men?

Three thousand.

Possibly.

If the Spanish fleet

unites the barges,

their combined strength

will overwhelm us.

Then we shall

engage them at sea,

before they have

the chance to unite.

Your Majesty,

this vast Armada will surely

smash through our naval defenses

and overrun

us on land.

We must prepare

for the worst.

I need air.

SIR WALTER. With this ring, I thee wed.

BESS. With this ring,

I thee wed.

With my body,

I thee worship.

With my body,

I thee worship.

And with all my worldly

goods, I thee endow.

And with all my worldly

goods, I thee endow.

In the name

of the Father

and of the Son, and of

the Holy Ghost, amen.

Bess!

Bess!

Bess Throckmorton!

Here, my lady.

Tell me,

is it true?

Are you with child?

Are you with child?

Yes, my lady.

You traitress.

You dare to keep

secrets from me?

You ask my permission

before you rut!

Before you breed!

My b*tches wear my

collars! Do you hear me?

Do you hear me?

Majesty! Please,

dignity. Mercy.

This is no time

for mercy, Walsingham.

You go to your

traitor brother

and leave me

to my business.

Is it his?

Tell me. Say it. Is the

child his? Is it his?

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