Episode list

Approaching middle age, Queen Elizabeth is conscious that she has never produced an heir to continue her line. Her advisers see plots and treachery all around her, most of it centered around her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots. Her advisers have a plan that they believe will secure the British throne and weaken their deadliest enemy, Spain. They propose that she marry the Duke of Anjou, brother to the King of France. This would preclude an alliance between France and Spain and drive a wedge through the Catholic world. She reluctantly agrees, even accepting the advice of the Earl of Leicester, a lover she had at one time banished from her court. The Duke's sudden death leads to the Franco-Spanish alliance they had feared. When the Spanish Armada is defeated England is safe but the Queen suffers a tragic personal loss.

Now well into middle age, there is no longer any concern about Queen Elizabeth producing an heir and the focus now shifts to deciding who will ascend to the throne when she dies. The Queen has taken a keen interest in the young and handsome Earl of Essex and is a bit jealous when it becomes apparent that one of her ladies-in-waiting also has an interest in him. Essex gains a great deal of influence with the Queen, eventually obtaining a seat on he Council. She forgives him when he oversteps the mark and has her personal physician arrested as a traitor. She is livid however when she learns that he has impregnated one of her ladies-in-waiting. When he leads a rebellion, not against the Queen but against her advisers, he goes too far and his head is put on the chopping block. Her advisers meanwhile make plans to have King James VI of Scotland succeed her.