Episode list

The fragile succession heralds dangerous times for the young Princess Elizabeth. Having narrowly avoided implication in Sir Thomas Seymour's attempted abduction of her sickly half-brother, the boy King Edward VI, she becomes an unintentional figurehead for a Protestant rebellion led by Thomas Wyatt the Younger when her half-sister Queen Mary I of England, a devout Roman Catholic, succeeds to the throne.

The new Queen Elizabeth I is 25 years old - and unmarried. Her council - particularly the man she trusts most, Sir William Cecil - urges her to marry quickly (to ensure the succession, among other valid reasons). Only Lord Robert Dudley, at first her Master of the Horse, and eventually the Earl of Leicester, seems to interest the queen.

Elizabeth meets her most eligible suitor yet: François, Duke of Alençon, the younger brother of the French king. A marriage will cement France's sought-for alliance with England. Despite the Puritans' rousing opposition in the country (of which her zealously anti-Catholic councillor Sir Francis Walsingham secretly approves), Elizabeth seems taken with the witty and flower-tongued François. As her duties as queen clash with her feelings as a woman, Elizabeth faces her toughest decision.

It is 1586 and Mary Queen of Scots has been imprisoned in England for nearly 20 years, Walsingham is determined to strike Mary and the catholic faction down. Elizabeth tries to protect her doomed fellow Queen,but is slowly drawn into Mary's tragedy.

The infirm King Philip II of Spain is eager to avenge the death of Mary, Queen of Scots and incidentally, make good on his inheritance from Mary as the Catholic claimant to the English throne - which Mary bequeathed to him. Philip urges an unprepared fleet, commanded by the incompetent Duke of Medina Sidonia, to sail on England. Even as Elizabeth rebukes the hawks (privateers) in her council (both Walsingham and Sir Francis Drake), with hopes of peace, the Spanish Armada appears on the horizons of England. Her fate and the future of the country now lie in the hands of Drake, and the Navy.

It is 1600 and Elizabeth is now an old woman yet she is still a match for the young, handsome, and dashing Earl of Essex. The Irish troubles and crushing the rebellious Essex rob an aged and weary Queen of the will to live.