The Tudor Society

  • November 30 – Elizabeth I’s Golden Speech

    1 year ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Portrait of Elizabeth I of England in Parliament Robes, British School, from Helmingham Hall, Stowmarket.

    On this day in Tudor history, 30th November 1601, Queen Elizabeth I gave her famous Golden Speech.

    She addressed it to the House of Commons, and it was her final speech to Parliament.

    In her speech, the sixty-eight-year-old Elizabeth I spoke of her position as queen and her love and respect for her realm, her people, and for her members of Parliament. It was a speech that brought many of the men present to tears. It was a heartfelt speech by a queen who truly loved her people.

    Let me share Elizabeth I’s Golden Speech with you…

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  • 9 August – Elizabeth I’s Tilbury Speech

    4 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    On this day in Tudor history, 9th August 1588, Queen Elizabeth I gave her famous Tilbury Speech to the forces gathered at Tilbury Fort.

    It is a speech that has been immortalised on screen by the likes of Glenda Jackson and Cate Blanchett, and is famous for the line “I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too”, but what words did Elizabeth really speak that day?

    In today’s talk,I share three versions of Elizabeth I’s Tilbury Speech.

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  • Elizabeth I’s Golden Speech – 30 November 1601

    6 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    On 30th November 1601, Queen Elizabeth I delivered her famous Golden Speech to the House of Commons. She gave this speech to address their concerns over England’s economic state of affairs. It was the last speech that she gave to Parliament, and in it, she spoke of her position as queen and her love and respect for her realm and for her members of Parliament.

    There are various versions of this speech, but the following version is taken from diarist and MP Hayward Townshend’s Commons Journal, printed in Historical Collections: Or, An Exact Account of the Proceedings of the Four Last Parliaments of Q. Elizabeth:

    “In the Afternoon, the Commons Attended the Queen at White-Hall, about Three of the Clock, to the Number of One Hundred, and Forty.

    The Commons attend the Queen in the Council-Chamber.

    At length, the Queen came into the Council-Chamber; where sitting under the Cloth of State, at the Upper End, the Speaker, with all the Commons came in: And after Three low Reverences made, he spake to this Effect:

    The Speaker’s Speech to Her Majesty.

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