Unique collection of Queen Elizabeth the First's possessions go on display

(30 Apr 2003) SHOTLIST

1. Various ext Maritime Museum, Greenwich
2. Exterior with guest curator walking past giant poster
3. SOUNDBITE (English) David Starkey, Guest Curator and Historian:
"This is an exhibition that contains, I think, practically everything that is important about Queen Elizabeth I who died 400 years ago this year. There are the letters she wrote, there are the jewels she wore. There are the pictures that show exactly what she looked like. And it is all here."
4. Various paintings of Elizabeth
5. Mid shot saddle
6, Painting of Elizabeth
7. SOUNDBITE (English) David Starkey, Guest Curator and Historian:
"I think Elizabeth is important really in two ways. She is important as a myth, the myth of the virgin queen, and the myth of the young woman that emerges from the tower from nowhere to become England's greatest monarch. But she is historically tremendously important. Because she is really why we are England. If it hadn't had been for Elizabeth we would have gone, I think into one of two extremes, a kind of rabid Catholicism or an equally extreme Protestantism. Elizabeth instead holds the ring, she is responsible you know, for the fact that we have still got cathedrals. If Elizabeth hadn't been there and extreme Protestantism had won, all the beauty, the interiors, the stained glass would have vanished. She preserves the choirs. So those things that we regard absolutely essentially English, like cathedrals and their music, the very nature of the religious service itself, Elizabeth is responsible for preserving that. "
8. Armoured horse and rider
9. Various silverware
10. SOUNDBITE (English) David Starkey, Guest Curator and Historian:
"They come from everywhere really. There is stuff from the Kremlin. Astonishingly the best silver, the best royal silver went off to the Kremlin immediately after Elizabeth's death. It was sold by the Stuarts and it has been got back. There is a jug there that weighs 30 kilos of solid silver. We have got wonderful armours that were worn by the kind of boss figures, because England was run for a bit like the mafia, the boss figures that dominate the politics of her youth under her father. And the first thing you see as you go into the exhibition is the astonishing armour for a man and a horse, and it is coming back home."
11. Various embroidered fabrics
12. Various silverware
13. SOUNDBITE (English) David Starkey, Guest Curator and Historian:
"The most stunning physical objects are the armour of the Earl of Pembroke. This huge mounted armour that gives you a sense of the vicious thuggery of the world that Elizabeth has to control as a woman. And how does a woman control this kind of brutal masculine environment. And the silver that comes from the Kremlin. It is opulent, it is barbaric, and it gives you a sense of the splendor of Elizabeth's court."
14. Various body armour

A UNIQUE LOOK AT THE ENGLAND'S VIRGIN QUEEN

The greatest collection of personal items, paintings, fine art objects and manuscripts relating to Queen Elizabeth I is to go on display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.

The exhibition opens on May 1st and will commemorate the 400th anniversary of her death.

The show's star exhibit is Elizabeth's first speech as Queen, addressed to her secretary Sir William Cecil and the Lord's of Mary's Council, three days after the death of her sister.

Elizabeth was born in Greenwich and spent her first months at Greenwich Palace, birthplace of Henry VIII, on the site of what is now the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.





'Elizabeth' runs until 14th September 2003.

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