The Lady Penelope: The Lost Tale of Love and Politics in the Court of Elizabeth I

Overview: Penelope Devereux was the brightest star who ever shone in the court of Queen Elizabeth I in sixteenth-century England. She was the most beautiful woman of her generation and muse to countless poets and musicians, yet her story ended in tragedy: she died in disgrace on 7th July 1607, a widow, outcast from court, and stripped of all her titles. Her life touched on every great event of the age – the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the arrival of King James and the Gunpowder Plot – and she knew many of the celebrated artistic figures of the day including William Shakespeare. The Lady Penelope is a dramatic, visual, emotional and ultimately tragic story set against the character of Queen Elizabeth I and the staged pageantry of her Court, and will have immediate appeal to lovers of historical biographies.