Beautifully written and researched at times this excellent book reads like fiction, and brings new light to my knowledge of Elizabeth. Full of intrigue and suspicion. How the Author keeps track of the numerous never ending cast of characters over four hundred pages is beyond me.
A few weeks before I chose to read this book from my ever expanding to be read pile of books, I watched the BBC's Elizabeth R tv series featuring the incomparable Glenda Jackson, and there were numerous references that I recalled as if this was the screenplay.
Recommended. ( )

The forgotten years according to John Guy are from 1584 until the Tudor Queen’s death in 1603. He claims that during these years Elizabeth’s reputation as Good Queen Bess was cemented by the opinion makers, after all she repelled the Spanish Armadas and kept England at peace during this period. Guy says he wants to get closer to the truth about the ageing Elizabeth and so makes his book both a history and a character study of the Queen. He puts some popular beliefs to bed, especially those promulgated by the Tudor propagandists and their Victorian followers by looking more closely at Elizabeth’s letters and other original documents from the period: some of which have come to light only in more recent times. Elizabeth emerges as an avaricious, spiteful, proud, vain, autocratic woman who only thought of the welfare of her country in conjunction with her own prosperity, but of course she was hardly any different from the men and women who surrounded her at court. She overcame her personal vulnerability and fear to rule very much as she saw fit and compared with her predecessors Queen Mary and Henry VIII, then she was certainly no worse then them. She ruled for 44 years in a man’s world keeping her country united and free from invasions, which was an achievement in itself and despite not having an heir to the throne, anarchy and civil war were avoided at her death.

Guy writes his history largely chronologically after having provided a brief introduction to the early part of Elizabeth’s reign. His writing style although rich in detail would appeal to the more casual reader; his explanations are clear and he provides additional detail where necessary and his use of letters and other personal documents provide the reader with a chance to see more rounded characters. Not only does he leave us with a vivid impression of the elderly queen, but also Robert Devereux the earl of Essex, William Cecil, and Francis Walsingham emerge from the shadows. He is able to give his readers an impression of how Elizabeth ran her government with some idea of the day to day workings of her court.

Although this is mainly a political/biographical history, there are snapshots of social conditions as they affected the politics for example the soldiers returning to England from the continent, who Elizabeth refused to pay; they formed gangs and social disturbances that needed to be controlled to prevent insurrections. There is also references to the theatres of London none more so than when players and playmakers at the Globe theatre were suspected of aiding and abetting the Earl of Essex when he challenged Elizabeth and her government (Essex was executed for treason).

In my opinion this is a lively and good historical account of the last Tudor government and its ageing Queen and it leaves me with the impression that I probably do not need to read another one and so a four star book. ( )

John Guy’s “Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years” is a dense biography about a very specific time period in Elizabeth’s reign—the post-menopausal war years when she reinvented herself as The Virgin Queen. As soon as I started reading the introduction, I immediately found myself taking notes in the margin, and I continued doing this throughout the book. It’s not necessarily a page-turner, but it is quite thought-provoking for anyone interested in this monarch and the politics of Europe during this time. I enjoyed it but, like I said before, it is rather dense with information. I would not recommend this to readers who are not already familiar with Tudor England. If you’re into this time period, then this is a great book for you. ( )

3.5 stars ( )