This is the Tudors Dynasty podcast.

And now, A Brief History with Christine Morgan.

Hi, I'm Christine Morgan, and welcome to A Brief History.

On this episode, we continue with Sir Walter Besant's account, London in the time of the Tudors.

We begin our journey through the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, starting with the events immediately following

her half-sister, the Queen Mary's death.

After Queen Mary's reign, the common people had one thought, relief.

The people celebrated this new monarch and her potential as a ruler.

So let's get back into our story.

My Lady Elizabeth, the Venetian ambassador, writes in the lifetime of Queen Mary,

she is the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was born in 1533 in the month of September, so that she is at present 23 years of age.

She is a lady of great elegance, both of body and mind, although her face may be called

rather pleasing than beautiful. She is tall and well made, her complexion fine, though rather sallow. Her eyes, but above all,

her hands, which she takes care not to conceal, are of superior beauty. In her knowledge of the

Greek and Italian languages, she surpasses the Queen. She excels the Queen in the

knowledge of languages, for in addition to Latin, she has acquired no small acquaintance with Greek.

She speaks Italian, which the Queen does not. In this language, she takes such delight that in the presence of Italians it is her ambition

not to converse in any other language. Her spirits and understanding are admirable, as she has

proved by her conduct in the midst of suspicion and danger when she concealed her religion and comported herself like a good Catholic.

She is proud and dignified in her manners, for though her mother's condition is well known to her,

she is also aware that this mother of hers was united to the king in wedlock with the sanction of the Holy Church

and the concurrence of the primate of the realm.

...