This volume takes us to the heart of one of history's most abiding love stories: in plays and pageants, cameos and medallions and portraits, in the great country houses, their interior furnishings and their gardens, the royal image of Elizabeth I evoked a devoted passion, for to love Elizabeth was to love England. Elizabeth not only personified an era, but also a national style. This text focuses on Elizabeth I's precarious early life in England, and on her efforts to deal with the twin problems of invasion and plots by fostering a deeply romantic view of herself. The romance was expressed in Court life and festivities, the physical environment of the great houses and palaces and in her personal relationships with her subjects - all recreated and illustrated in this book.