When Elizabeth walks to mass after Walter Raleigh lays his coat down, Bess Throckmorton is right behind the queen. In the next shot, she's at the end of the line, then behind the queen again.
When Philip walks with Isabella towards the balcony of the Escorial, then stands back, the position of Jordi Mollà's left hand changes abruptly between shots.
The real Babington Plot, to assassinate Queen Elizabeth at the altar, was thwarted in the planning stages. The dramatic confrontation shown in the film is pure fiction.
Walter Raleigh was not in the battle against the Armada. In 1588 he was in Ireland, out of favor with Elizabeth I. The movie conflates his role with that of Admiral Francis Drake who organized the fire ship attack that dispersed the Spanish Armada.
William Cecil, dismissed by Elizabeth at the end of Elizabeth (1998), actually remained a close adviser of the Queen during the events depicted in the film.
English Admiral Lord Howard said he was losing ships, and outgunned by the Spanish. However, the English ships outgunned the Spanish, and no ships were lost to either side.
Raleigh's introduction of the potato to court is pure fiction. Spanish Conquistadores learned of the potato from indigenous Peruvians who had cultivated it for millennia, and introduced the potato to Europe in 1570, while Walter Raleigh was at Oxford. Raleigh also calls the potato by its Spanish name, "patata".
Mary Stuart speaks with a Scots accent in the film. She spoke with a French accent throughout her life. In the DVD commentary, the director explains that it was a choice the actress made after discussing the options.
In the movie, Walter Raleigh says he has set up a colony in Virginia in 1585. Every American schoolchild is taught that England's first colony in Virginia was Jamestown in 1607. The land Raleigh called Virginia is actually modern-day North Carolina. After his original "Roanoke, Virginia" failed due to the Spanish embargo (resulting in the "Lost Colony" mystery which has inspired many books and movies), the names Virginia and Roanoke were transferred to new locations further north.
The trees chopped down in large numbers to build King Philip's fleet are clearly some kind of coniferous wood, which is highly unsuitable for building ships. They would have used oak instead. Numerous European oak forrests were destroyed to build ships.
However, the masts of ships in that era were made of pine, which is a conifer, and unlike oak, they creak before they break. So pine produces a recognizable sound and thus the crew of a ship is warned before a mast breaks and collapses unlike oak. Therefore, picturing a pine forrest is plausible.
However, the masts of ships in that era were made of pine, which is a conifer, and unlike oak, they creak before they break. So pine produces a recognizable sound and thus the crew of a ship is warned before a mast breaks and collapses unlike oak. Therefore, picturing a pine forrest is plausible.
Elizabeth and Mary Stuart are referred to as cousins when Elizabeth is Mary's father's cousin. In kinship terminology, a "cousin" is someone who shares a common ancestor. To be specific, Elizabeth is Mary's first cousin once removed, a term rarely used today and never used in the 16th century. Calling Mary and Elizabeth cousins is correct.
When Elizabeth is supposed to be galloping side-saddle, she is actually astride her horse. A false right leg dangles on the horse's side.
One of the most stirring lines in Elizabeth's speech to her solders on the eve of the destruction of the Spanish Armada was omitted, whether for reasons of political correctness or film timing, although the entire actual speech was quite short.
The line: "I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king - and of a King of England!"
In general, this film is far less historically accurate than its predecessor, Elizabeth (1998), also starring Cate Blanchett and directed by Shekhar Kapur.
The line: "I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king - and of a King of England!"
In general, this film is far less historically accurate than its predecessor, Elizabeth (1998), also starring Cate Blanchett and directed by Shekhar Kapur.
At 1:27:42, Elizabeth's leg armor is clearly a front plate with stretchy silver fabric underneath.
At 38:50 Elizabeth walks through a curtain, runs out of stage area, and continues to walk in the same spot.
Bess Throckmorton became pregnant in summer 1591, 3 years after the Spanish Armada. Elizabeth was unaware of the pregnancy, and didn't discover Bess and Raleigh's secret marriage until 1592, several months after their child, Damerei, was born. The infant died very soon after, during Walter Raleigh's imprisonment in the Tower of London.
Eric XIV is said to be King of Sweden in 1585. In fact he was murdered by poison in 1568, almost 20 years before the film is set. It was his half-brother Johan III who ruled Sweden from 1568 to 1592.
A prisoner is executed by the "long drop" hanging method; the length of rope, type of knot, and height of the drop are all calculated according to the victim's weight and height, so that their neck is broken instantly. That method was developed in 1872. Before that, people due to be hanged were stood upon a cart, horse, stool, ladder, or something similar, which was moved out from under them, leaving them to die by strangulation.
When the priest replies to a letter from Mary, Queen Of Scots, he uses a modern quill pen with a ball-point tip.
Several times, Elizabeth's nails are manicured in 18th-century French style.
Before each scene in Fotheringhay, where Mary, Queen of Scots, is imprisoned, the castle is surrounded by high, snow-capped Scottish mountains. Fotheringhay is in Northamptonshire, one of the flattest counties in England.
The fire ship battle took place off the coast of France, not England. No Spanish ship caught fire or was lost, but the use of fire ships caused the Spanish fleet to disperse and become disorganized prior to the final Battle of Gravelines.
Queen Elizabeth watches the Armada burn from a cliff near her camp at Tilbury. Tilbury is in the Thames Estuary, far from where the action seems to be taking place, and a long way from anywhere with the dramatic jagged rocks Elizabeth stands on.