The Word of a Prince - by Maria Perry (Paperback)

About the Book

She gives the general reader fresh access to Elizabeth's mind and ideas, her wit, verve, eloquence, circumlocution, and formidable learning. OBSERVER

Book Synopsis

She gives the general reader fresh access to Elizabeth's mind and ideas, her wit, verve, eloquence, circumlocution, and formidable learning. OBSERVER

A new approach to historical biography - she has studied both the original sources and recent works of scholarship and has a thorough understanding of the period. SUNDAY TIMES

Until Maria Perry began her exploration of Elizabeth's papers, this vivid raw material had only been partially studied. From it, a fresh portrait of Elizabeth emerges, one which is often more cohesive and less baffling than some offered by her biographers. The dangers and insecurities of her early life, her sense of divine protection, her formidable education, all stand out as crucial elements in the formation of her character; but behind the acquired circumspection lies a personality of great warmth and spirit. On the teasing questions of love, marriage and virginity, the letters and speeches offer oblique comment; it seems certain that Robert Dudley was her one true love, and that she felt his second marriage to Lettice Knollys as a bitter betrayal.

MARIA PERRY is a graduate of Somerville College, Oxford, where she read history.

From the Back Cover

'A compelling portrait...the Elizabeth whom Perry presents is not the enigma of myth, triumphant but unfathomable. Rather she is a clever but very human woman, who came to know the extent of her assets and liabilities.' -English History Review

Review Quotes

'A compelling portrait... the Elizabeth whom Perry presents is not the enigma of myth, triumphant but unfathomable. Rather she is a clever but very human woman, who came to know the extent of her assets and liabilities.' ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW