Lord Robert: Remember who you are. Do not be afraid of them.
Sussex: Princess Elizabeth. You are accused of conspiring with Sir Thomas Wyatt and others against Her Sovereign Majesty, and are arrested for treason. I have been commanded to take you hence from this place... to the Tower.
[Offering Elizabeth his coat before putting her in the tower]

Arundel: Madam, you are cold.

Elizabeth: I do not need your pity.

Arundel: Accept it, then, for my sake.

Elizabeth: Thank you. I shall not forget this kindness.
Queen Mary: Why will you not confess your crimes against me?

Elizabeth: Because, Your Majesty, I have committed none.

Queen Mary: You speak with such sincerity. I see you are still a consummate actress. My husband is gone. They have poisoned my child. They say it is a tumor.

[Moans in pain]

Elizabeth: Madam, you are not well.

Queen Mary: They say this cancer will make you queen, but they are wrong. Look there, it is your death warrant. All I need do is sign it.

Elizabeth: Mary, if you sign that paper, you will be murdering your own sister.
Queen Mary: When I look at you I see nothing of the king, only that whore, your mother. My father never did anything so well as to cut off her head.

Elizabeth: Your Majesty forgets he was also my father.
Sir Francis Walsingham: All Norfolk need do is sign this paper and treason will have been committed.

Elizabeth: Then let him sign it, and let it all be done.
Elizabeth: I have rid England of her enemies. What do I do now? Am I to be made of stone? Must I be touched by nothing?
Elizabeth: Aye, but marry who, Your Grace? Would you give me some suggestion? For some say France and others Spain, and some cannot abide foreigners at all. So I am not sure how best to please you unless I married one of each.

[laughter]

Noble: Now Your Majesty does make fun of the sanctity of marriage.

Elizabeth: I do not think *you* should lecture me on that, my lord, since you yourself have been *twice divorced*... and are now upon your third wife!

[laughter]
Elizabeth: This is the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes.
Elizabeth: When I am queen, I promise... to act as my conscience dictates.

Queen Mary: Well do not think to be queen at all!
Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley: Forgive me, Madam, but you are only a woman...

Elizabeth: [cuts him off firmly] I may be a woman, Sir William, but if I choose I have the heart of a man! I am my father's daughter. I am not afraid of anything.
Elizabeth: Kat... I have become a virgin.
De la Quadra: [to Dudley] My lord, what will a man not do for love?
Elizabeth: Tonight I think I die.
[last lines]

Elizabeth: Observe, Lord Burghley, I am married. To England.
Lord Robert: Marry me.

Elizabeth: On a night such as this, could any woman say no?

Lord Robert: On a night such as this, could a queen say no?

Elizabeth: Does not a queen sit under the same stars as any other woman?
Norfolk: So cut off my head, and make me a martyr. The people will always remember it.

Walsingham: No... they will forget.
Walsingham: You were the most powerful man in England. And you could have been greater still, but you had not the courage to be loyal, only the conviction of your own vanity.
Sir Francis Walsingham: There is so little beauty in this world, and so much suffering. Do you suppose that is what God had in mind? That is to say if there is a god at all. Perhaps there is nothing in this universe but ourselves. And our thoughts.
[speaking to a priest he is having tortured]

Sir Francis Walsingham: Tell me, what is God to you? Has he abandoned you? Is he such a worldly god that he must play at politics in the filth of conspiracy? Is he not divine? Tell me the truth, as if you were face to face with him now. I'm a patient man, Father.
Elizabeth: [referring to Dudley] He shall be kept alive to always remind me of how close I came to danger.
Walsingham: All men need something greater than themselves to look up to and worship. They must be able to touch the divine here on earth.
Elizabeth: There will be no more talk of marriage.
Elizabeth: Just tell me why.

Lord Robert: Why? Madam, is it not plain enough to you? 'Tis no easy thing to be loved by the queen. It would corrupt the soul of any man.
[on the Virgin Mary]

Elizabeth: She had such power over men's hearts. They died for her.

Sir Francis Walsingham: They have found nothing to replace her.
Sir Francis Walsingham: Madam, if I may. A prince should never flinch from being blamed for acts of ruthlessness which are necessary for safeguarding the state and their own person. You must take these things so much to heart that you do not fear to strike. Even the very nearest that you have if they be implicated.
Elizabeth: I do not like wars. They have uncertain outcomes.
Elizabeth: Invite the Duke of Anjou. We shall see him in flesh.

[She runs after Lord Robert, who is not happy with the news]

Monsieur de Foix: The Duke will not take kindly to a rival for his suit.

Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley: He is a traitor and his father before him. Lord Robert's head will end up on a spike, not on the pillow of a Queen.
[about Elizabeth]

Norfolk: She is just a child and yet still you piss yourselves!
[regarding Elizabeth's impending reign]

Unseen Gentleman: Your Grace, Protestants are already returning from abroad.

Norfolk: Yes. And have made plans to massacre every Catholic in England. There would be butchery indeed if such a plan were even conceivable.

Norfolk's Man: They say Walsingham will return from France.

Norfolk: Walsingham is nothing!

[aside to Norfolk's Man as he is leaving the room]

Norfolk: Be sure he does not.
[Mary, on her deathbed, is refusing to sign a warrant for Elizabeth's execution]

Norfolk: Will you leave your kingdom to a heretic?
Arundel: War is a sin, but sometimes, a necessary one.
Lord Robert: When you are Queen...

Elizabeth: I am not...

[whispering]

Elizabeth: I am not Queen yet!

Lord Robert: You will be. Elizabeth, Queen of England. A court to worship you, a country to obey you, poems written celebrating your beauty, music composed in your honor, and they will mean nothing to you. I will mean nothing to you.

Elizabeth: [laughs gaily] How could you ever be nothing to me? Robert, you know you are everything to me.
Lord Robert: You blush, Lady Knollys. Are you in love?

Isabel Knollys: No, my lord.

Lord Robert: Then you should be, or waste all that beauty.

[the ladies-in-waiting giggle]
Duc d'Anjou: [in French] Elizabeth is a witch... a witch... and her servant is the devil!
Queen Mary: [shouting] My sister was born of that whore, Anne Boleyn! She was born a bastard! She will never rule England!
[to a wounded boy, handing him a handkerchief stained with his blood]

Mary of Guise: Go back to England, and take this to your Queen. Hm?

Mary of Guise: [in French, to herself] English blood on French colors.

[turns to her officer]

Mary of Guise: Send him back to his Queen, and make sure he remains alive. Tell that bastard Queen not to send children to fight Mary of Guise!
Sir Francis Walsingham: [referring to Elizabeth] Her Majesty rules with the heart... not with the head.

Mary of Guise: [smiles] Hm, I understand. It is hard for a woman to forget her heart.
Monsieur de Foix: [in French] She is a woman, Sire. They say one thing but mean another. No one can unlock their secrets.

Duc d'Anjou: [also in French] Unless they have... a very big key!

[laughs loudly]

Duc d'Anjou: Yes! A *very* big key!
Sir Francis Walsingham: [how a wise man would change allegiance] There are but two choices: he would get into bed with either Spain or France.

Mary of Guise: [laughs, then smiles wickedly] And... whose bed would you prefer?
Duc d'Anjou: [as he stands before Elizabeth and entourage in a dress, speaking in a heavy French accent] What? Huh? What? Wha-do, what? You stare, Madame.

[snorts]

Duc d'Anjou: What is it, do you see... somesthings... strange perhaps? Heh-heh... Hmm?

Elizabeth: You are wearing a dress, Your Grace.

Duc d'Anjou: Oh, yes, I am wearing a dress! Yes, yes, I'm wearing a dress! Wha- I wear a dress like this, my mother, and you... Hm-hm. But I only dress like this-a, when I'm alone, in private, with my friends... Hmm?

Elizabeth: Your Grace.

[approaches and offers her hand for him to kiss, which he reluctantly does]

Elizabeth: Although my affection for you is undiminished, I have, after an agonizing struggle, determined to sacrifice my own happiness for the welfare of my people.

Duc d'Anjou: [sarcastically, fully expecting her rejection] Oh! My God, ha-ha...
Lord Robert: Monsignor Alvaro! Monsignor Alvaro! Monsignor Alvaro, tell me. As well as ambassador, are you not also a bishop?

De la Quadra: I am, my lord.

Lord Robert: [referring to himself and Elizabeth] Then you can marry us!

De la Quadra: Marry *you*?

Elizabeth: [laughing] Perhaps he does not know enough English to perform the ceremony!
[Elizabeth presents her ideas of religious reform to Parliament; the bishops are outraged and begin to argue]

First Bishop: Madam, by this act... by this act, you force us to relinquish our allegiance to the Holy Father.

Elizabeth: How can I force you, Your Grace? I am a woman.

[Bishops laugh]

Elizabeth: I have no desire to make windows into men's souls. I simply ask, can any man, in truth, serve two masters, and be faithful to both?

[Bishops start to argue again]

Bishop #2: Madam, this-this is heresy!

Elizabeth: No, Your Grace, this is... common sense.

[Bishops murmur in semi-agreement]

Elizabeth: Which is a most English virtue.

[Bishops laugh]
Sir Francis Walsingham: Your Grace is arrested. You must go with these men to the Tower.

Norfolk: I must do nothing by your orders. I am Norfolk!

Sir Francis Walsingham: You were Norfolk.

Sir Francis Walsingham: [shows him his own signature on the treasonous letter from Rome]

Sir Francis Walsingham: The dead have no titles.
Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley: Now, I really must...

Elizabeth: The word "must" is not used to princes!
Bishop Gardiner: [Walsingham comes down the stairs into the holding area where the Catholic bishops are being held] Walsingham! I would know by what authority you have kept us locked up here!

Sir Francis Walsingham: Your Graces must forgive me, but you are now free to go.

Bishop Gardiner: I am sure this infernal work has not saved your bastard queen.

Sir Francis Walsingham: Her Majesty has won the argument.

Bishop Gardiner: By what count?

Sir Francis Walsingham: By five, Your Grace.

[Looks up at the six bishops standing behind Gardiner]

Sir Francis Walsingham: Five.

[turns to leave]

Bishop Gardiner: You will be damned for this! And I pray God your wretched soul will burn in hell!
Lord Robert: For God's sake, you are still my Elizabeth.

Elizabeth: I am not your Elizabeth. I am no man's Elizabeth. And if you think to rule, you are mistaken.

Elizabeth: [to all]

Elizabeth: I will have one mistress here... and no master.
The Pope: Is it not truly written that the righteous shall inherit the Earth?
Norfolk: The Queen!
Norfolk: [Removes Mary's Signet Ring] Give it to her.
Norfolk: To the North, I present Elizabeth, your undoubted Queen!
Elizabeth: A man will confess to anything - under torture.
Norfolk: In the future...
Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley: Please examine her Lady's sheets and keep me informed of all her proper functions.

Kat Ashley: Proper functions?

Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley: Indeed. Her Lady's body and person are no longer her own. They belong to the State.
Waad, Chancellor of the Eschequer: My Lady, your Kingdom is Bankrupt!
Elizabeth: [reaches out, a steward brings her wine]
Bishop Gardiner: By order of their gracious majesties Queen Mary and King Philip, we are come to witness the burning of these protestant heretics, who have denied the authority of the One, true catholic Church and of His Holiness, the Pope. Let them burn for all eternity in the flames of hell!
Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley: But you cannot marry Sir Robert! He's already married!

Elizabeth Quotes

Extended Reading

Elizabeth short comments

Demario 2022-03-22 09:01:51

I watched it when I was chasing CE movies, and now I know more about the historical background and then look at it, and the evaluation of the script is even lower. Because with a little knowledge I'm looking forward to seeing how Elizabeth gets her Catholic and Protestant subjects to recognize her, and then makes England abandon religious strife and embark on a path to prosperity. The film mainly only talks about her disappointment with her lover when she was considering a political marriage, and then decided not to get married. Actually I think the logic of the script is very unclear. The Pope supports Norfolk as king, the Spanish ambassador says that the Spanish king wants to marry Elizabeth (and asks Robert to convince the queen), while colluding with Norfolk to murder the queen. Then I can understand the final execution of Norfolk and the ambassador. And the advisor also suggested to kill Robert? I don't understand this logic. The screenwriter is a Tudor screenwriter. JRM said in an interview that people think that historical dramas should be played at a slow pace, but they are not. This movie is a typical slow-paced performance, and it feels very procrastinating to watch now. (The key purpose of rewatching is to see new and old love on the same stage orz
Maverick 2021-12-09 08:01:33

I remembered that I was obsessed with what I learned in the UK, and I was holding a map to study it. The costumes and scenes are beautiful. Cate's Elizabeth is very persuasive, pale, tough, and atmospheric. He'll be kept alive, to always remind me, how close I came to danger. 2010.4.20