Book Descriptions:

Mary and Elizabeth: cousins, rivals, queens. This thrilling history from bestselling historian and broadcaster, Kate Williams tells the story of Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I – of Mary’s eventual betrayal, by forces around her, by herself and by her ‘cousin’. At the end of the Tudor era, two queens ruled one island. But sixteenth-century Europe was a man’s world and powerful voices believed that no woman could govern. All around Mary and Elizabeth were sycophants, spies and detractors who wanted their dominion, their favour and their bodies. Elizabeth and Mary shared the struggle to be both woman and queen. But the forces rising against the two regnants, and the conflicts of love and dynasty, drove them apart. For Mary, Elizabeth was a fellow queen with whom she dreamed of a lasting friendship. For Elizabeth, Mary was a threat. It was a schism that would end in secret assassination plots, devastating betrayal and, eventually, a terrible final act. Mary is often seen as a defeated or tragic sovereign, but Rival Queens argues against this, showing instead how she attempted to reinvent queenship and the monarchy – in one of the hardest fights in royal history. Where the Queen of Scots failed, Elizabeth, as Gloriana, would succeed. Yet in doing so, she would lose a part of herself and her power. Kate Williams has examined letters and archives to create an electrifying new perspective on Mary and on Elizabeth and, ultimately, on the great sacrifices a woman must make to be a queen.




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