This is a very “female” history; fitting I suppose for a female monarch. Hilton spends a lot of words on how Elizabeth dressed and behaved. The central theme being that she was both a woman, but also a prince in the masculine sense of the renaissance era in which she lived. Very interesting on the iconography and propaganda of her reign, and very good on her relationships with her various advisors and courtiers, and how she indulged handsome and charming young men with few other talents, the prime example being Lord Essex. I would have liked to have learnt more about historical era; the society and economics of Elizabethan England, and especially about the beginnings of English sea power, but all that is barely mentioned. The Armada is delt with in a couple of paragraphs. So not the most engaging history book I’ve read, but it kept me engaged until the end and I’m glad I persevered.