Elizabeth I Page #4

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or with whom I would rather

spend the days of my life.

"I grieve and dare not

show my discontent.

I love and yet I'm forced

to seem to hate.

I do yet dare not say

I ever meant.

I seem stark mute,

yet inwardly do prate.

I am and I'm not.

I freeze yet am burned.

Since from myself

another self I turn.

My care is like

my shadow in the sun.

It follows me flying,

flies when I pursue it,

stands and lies by me,

does what I have done.

Or let me live

with some more sweet content,

or die.

And so forget

what love ere meant."

Well England,

the Queen is all yours.

Seven years later

Ah, Francis.

Your Queen has been

on progress, good people,

but she is glad

to be again home.

She should be kept

from the people.

Should she be?

Has she not need

of their love?

- I mean, with Leicester gone...

- Intelligence from Rome.

Not half as glad, it may be said,

as the lords who entertained her,

since they are relieved of the expense

of her entertainments.

She must be told.

But when?

And which of us

should tell her?

I'll tell her

straight, my lord.

I have the right face

for bad news.

...While people feast at

the expense of the nobility,

then there is hope

for England yet, eh?

- Your Majesty?

- Sir Francis.

News from Rome, madam.

No good news then.

His holiness...

declares you a heretic,

excommunicates you

and says that for all good Catholics

killing you

would be no murder.

Your Majesty! Your Majesty!

Your Majesty!

- Make way... make way.

- Get back.

- Make way, I say.

- Make way!

Let Her Majesty pass!

And am I supposed to return

the compliment

and slaughter them

where I find them?

It means His Holiness

intends

to put a Catholic

upon the English throne.

He'll have to push

me off it first.

There are those who

would help him, madam.

Philip of Spain was ever anxious

to do the Pope's bidding.

He does not lace his shoes

without a Papal dispensation.

So we may expect him,

gentlemen.

Or he may work through

loyal friends closer to home.

- Your cousin Mary...

- And you would have me act?

Strike, strike and strike again,

eh, Francis?

When the occasion

calls for it, Francis,

I will strike.

My lord... you may

remember this gentlemen.

He made the attempt

on Her Majesty's life.

He's a Catholic

and he's known to those

who know the so-called

Scottish Queen.

He will now help us

lead that devilish...

corrupt

scheming woman

to betray herself in a way that Her Majesty

will not be able to ignore.

So...

you will reveal to us

the conspiracies

in the mind

of this evil woman?

What if Her Majesty

Queen Mary

has no thoughts of conspiracy

in her head?

She will have them.

I am lately come

from the Presence.

I was within a sword's length of her

on two occasions.

Sir Anthony, speak lower

I beseech you.

What, Father Ballard?

Would not half this place

applaud our design?

To kill Elizabeth will be no murder.

- We will...

- What we will

is not yet decided,

Sir Anthony.

As I take it, you seek

to approach the Queen of Scotland.

Mary, the rightful Queen of England,

should I say, sir?

It seems you know everything.

And you also know I now

have the Pope's authority.

And there are plans

for the Spanish King

to invade England

on Queen Mary's behalf.

- When the occasion is right.

- Now is the occasion.

I have gathered about me

a group of Catholic gentlemen

who have sworn to free Mary

and take Queen Elizabeth's life.

No, we will slay her,

and then when

the King of Spain invades

we will place her cousin Mary of Scots

on the English throne.

Master Gifford tells me

you will approach

our Spanish friends.

Yes.

I will let them know

of your design.

Good day, Babington.

The Duke of Anjou

is dead, Your Majesty.

Well...

we are sorry

to hear of it.

And so it seems the French

have made their peace with Spain.

King Philip has sent the Duke

of Parma against the Dutch.

His plan will be

to finish them,

then move against England.

To which end King Philip

builds an armada...

a fleet,

the largest ever seen.

Is there any good news?

I feel a knife

at my neck once more.

Our intelligences have revealed

a new conspiracy here in England.

- Sir Anthony Babington.

- Babington?

He may have ties not only

with the Spanish, but also with...

Your cousin Mary,

so-called Queen of Scots.

All I require, madam,

is the evidence.

These are hard times.

And no one to talk to,

no one in whom I can confide.

We have recalled

the Earl of Leicester.

Oh gentlemen,

these long faces you put on.

Is it any wonder

I crave amusement?

I have sent for the Earl of Leicester,

and he will come to court

no matter how long

your faces grow.

Faster, faster,

Thomas.

Good.

Excellent.

Oh!

Tell me the difference

between love and friendship.

- There is none.

- How do you reckon that, my lord?

Well, we are here

walking arm in arm.

My marriage was forced on me, Bess.

Since I could not

marry you.

But what I felt

for you then,

I still feel.

And the case is not altered

with me, my lord.

I married to have

an heir, Bess.

And we had but one child.

A son.

He was but seven years old

when God took him from us...

even this year.

Oh, Robin...

what is it

the world does to us?

I have his things still...

his clothes,

his little suit of armor.

I can't seem to...

Forgive me, Your Majesty.

Well, Brother Leicester,

you must continue

to be my eyes,

for you see things

so clearly.

Here too, children is all.

For I have none

and therefore no successor,

and the vultures gather.

Mary of Scots...

or...

Mary of France or Mary

of whoever will have her.

If I kill my cousin Mary then

the Spanish will declare war.

But if I leave her alive...

She will be obliged

to kill you...

to save her soul

and free her body.

So says Francis Walsingham.

He sifts the evidence and draws

the trap ever tighter round her.

- Her own son has betrayed her.

- How so?

King James VI of Scotland is now

a pensioner of the English crown.

England pays the wages

of the King of Scotland.

Bess, you are formidable.

The Scottish Queen

is little pleased by it.

Oh, I missed

Court intrigues.

I did hear you were

planning to help the Dutch

with military aid

against the Spanish.

You know, I've longed

to serve you.

- If the Netherlands fall...

- No no no. You are not to go, Robin.

I have not had you

with me these seven years.

I need you here by my side,

alive if possible.

Years ago there was a plan

that Mary and I should meet.

It was years and years ago.

It came to nothing.

And you wish

to revive it.

If I were to visit her,

it would have to be in secret,

for all at court

would argue against it.

- But it could be done, I imagine.

- Mm-hmm.

All these conspiracies

have her at the center.

Why should I not reason

with her, my lord?

If I cannot dissuade her

from the courses she is on

what else can I do

but seek her death,

upon which the whole world

will break about my ears?

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