| Summary: | From front flap of dust jacket: In 1558, a twenty-five-year-old girl succeeded to the throne of England. Despite general rejoicing no one could disguise the magnitude of the problems which Elizabeth faced, for not only was she 'but a woman' in a hard and uncompromising age, but her kingdom had been torn by religious strife for more than ten years. Yet Elizabeth was to rise triumphant over all her difficulties, and become the first England monarch to give her name to an era. Her reign was to be one of the most glorious in English history, when the country successfully defied the mightiest powers of Europe. The Queen gathered about her at Court all the most powerful, ambitious and flamboyant characters of the age, and there was a flowering of literature and the arts which has never been surpassed. Above all, Elizabeth's contemporaries could never forget that she was a woman. She played on all their chivalrous instincts to ensure their loyalty and devotion. The greatest men in the kingdom competed for her favour, and the greatest princes in Europe vied for her hand. Throughout her reign she used her sex as a source of strength not weakness, and she was to leave behind her a truly united nation, and the legend of a truly golden age.
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