The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

There he is!

How nobly he bears himself.

Oh, it must be wonderful

to be a man and a hero.

- He carries himself like a king.

- His eyes constantly look up...

...searching for the queen.

Isn't he wonderful?

Yes, love too has its victories.

And this, I think, belongs to Her Majesty.

An easy victory if one

is a queen and may command it.

What if Her Majesty

should overhear you?

The day when Essex returns...

...every petticoat is chosen

with an eye to pleasing him.

Come along, my son,

into the presence chamber.

You may do as you please, Father.

I'll have no part.

Don't be a fool, Cecil. Elizabeth

is difficult, even on good days.

Good or bad, we'll see

little of her with Essex home.

Something's got to be done to tarnish

him or he'll share England's throne.

Then where shall we be?

I'll be hanged if I welcome him.

You may be hanged

if you do not, my son.

You know Her Majesty's

infatuation for him.

But, Your Majesty,

I beg you to reconsider.

Essex is a proud man.

You must not do this thing to him.

Bacon, this will not be easy for me.

Whatever he has done, he is the man

of all men closest to my heart.

Whatever he suffers,

I suffer a thousand times more intently.

- Then why, Your Majesty, why?

- Because the necessities of a queen...

...must transcend those of a woman.

His ambition has jeopardized

the prosperity of the English people.

It may endanger the very peace

and stability of England.

Your Majesty, forgive this frankness,

but your love jeopardizes the situation.

A situation fraught with gravest

consequence for my subjects, Bacon.

My personal feelings

must not enter into this.

God help me.

Go now. Let me alone.

Your Majesty.

My fan. Hurry.

- Present arms!

- Up!

Robert Devereux...

...by grace of Her Majesty...

...Earl of Essex, general of the horse

and knight of the Garter.

Charles, Baron Howard of Effingham,

Lord High Admiral of England.

Walter Raleigh, knight, vice admiral of

the fleets, and warden of the stannary.

Do you kneel in homage,

my Lord Essex...

...or in shame?

Shame, Your Majesty?

Have you lost your hearing

as well as your military skill?

Stand up.

I believe my military skill was well

demonstrated at Cdiz, madam.

Has our commissioner

not brought you news of my victory?

Your victory!

For three years, the rains of England

have rotted our harvest to the ground.

Three years of famine

and a depleted treasury.

But my Lord of Essex

had the cure for that.

Yes, indeed.

"Raise me but 50,000, madam,"

says he...

..." and I'll sail for Cdiz and fetch you

such a Spanish treasure fleet...

...as will make England rich again."

So I did.

I taxed my already

overburdened people.

Got him his 50,000.

Now, where is

my Spanish treasure fleet?

Look!

He can't answer.

He daren't answer.

- Lf Your Majesty will let me tell you.

- Go on, then.

Unfortunately, it was you

who called the fleet back...

...before my plans

had been carried out.

Unfortunately, the Spanish

treasure fleet, with 12 million ducats...

...lies beneath the waters of Cdiz Harbor,

sunk by the Spaniards themselves.

While Essex, against the advice

of Howard and Raleigh...

...gathered fame for himself

by storming the town.

There was naught else to be done.

- It was for the glory of England.

- For the glory of Essex!

Will that put food into the mouths

of my starving people?

Can they subsist upon laurel wreaths

from your heroic brow?

You think they're displeased with

what I did at Cdiz, madam? Listen.

The English people are more

readily pleased than their queen.

They cry your name, but what will

they say when I must tax them again...

...to pay off the soldiers and the fleet?

Is it nothing that 1200 pieces of Spanish

ordnance were sunk in my hollow victory?

And the Spanish fleet

totally destroyed?

Thanks to my Lord Howard

and Sir Raleigh.

It seems you've no reward

for me as a soldier, madam.

That the soldier can endure.

But the man had hoped

for a different kind of reception.

You meant well, perhaps...

...but my rewards are for unselfish effort,

not for things half or meanly done.

Sir Walter Raleigh.

From today, you take rank

as commander of our guard.

My Lord Howard.

Your Majesty.

In grateful return for what

you tried to do at Cdiz...

...without thought of self

and only for your country's honor...

...I appoint you lord lieutenant,

general of all England...

...commander of my army and my fleet,

and name you Earl of Nottingham.

Your Majesty.

- That's impossible.

- Keep silent.

I will not. Do you intend this Earl of

Nottingham to take precedence over me?

He'll take precedence over you

as he did in wisdom at Cdiz.

You were in command and abused it,

with Essex first and England second.

Think that if you will, but it's

an injustice you place Howard before me.

- I feel you have no right.

- I have... I have no right?

As a queen, yes. But as a woman,

do I mean nothing to you?

Nothing.

Lord Essex!

Do you dare turn your back

on Elizabeth of England?

You dare?

I would not have taken that

from the king, your father.

Much less will I accept it

from a king in petticoats.

If the courier comes,

send him to me at once.

You may go.

I said, that's all.

- Well?

- With Your Grace's indulgence...

...there's another matter.

- Well, what is it? What's it about?

Essex.

Did I not forbid his name

to be spoken at court?

But Sir Thomas Egerton received a letter

from him from his manor at Wanstead.

I knew he'd come to it, Cecil.

Begging Egerton to intercede

for him, of course.

Well, perhaps I was a little harsh.

What did the letter say?

- When is he coming home?

- I have it here.

Let me see.

He says, " I owe to Her Majesty

a duty of allegiance...

...in which I never can,

never will fail."

Poor darling.

Of course he's sorry.

But a little apprehensive perhaps.

Go on. Go on.

"But I do not owe her the duty

of attendance upon her.

And had I that duty,

Her Majesty's conduct has canceled it.

As for asking her pardon, why should

I ask pardon for receiving an insult?"

Stop it!

No.

No, go on. I'll hear it.

"When the vilest of indignities is done to

me, not even religion enforces me to sue.

I have received the wrong.

Let her seek pardon of me."

"And if she refuses...

...all her power can show

no more strength in oppressing me...

...than I can summon to resist it."

Cecil, this is intolerable!

Are you sure Essex wrote this?

- Not you or your friends?

- Your Majesty...

Don't "Your Majesty" me!

You slimy toad. I know human nature.

Nothing would suit you so well as to see

Essex saying farewell to his head.

Will Your Grace examine

the letter more closely?

Rumor hath it you are not unacquainted

with Milord of Essex's writing.

And rumor hath it

I have a heavy hand for insolence.

Have you forgotten it? Now, get out.

- But, madam...

- Get out, I say!

Robert...

Robert, I don't know

which I hate the most...

...you for making me love you...

...or myself for needing you so.

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