Elizabeth I's Ladies, Gentlewomen and Maids

'What do you think of my ladies?' Queen Elizabeth I is said to have asked a visitor to her court. Thevisitor, an experienced courtier, is said to have given the perfect answer: 'It is hard to judge of starsin the presence of the sun'. Although overlooked for centuries, as the eye of history has been on the chivalrous and stately menwho surrounded the Virgin Queen, the women of the Queen's world, who attended upon her inpublic and in private, were of no less influence and sway than the more famous men around her. Indeed, the women of the Queen's inner circle were far more than just attendants. They were theQueen's friends and confidantes, her all-important support network in a treacherous political world,and by blood or by bond they were her 'family'. This book tells their stories, the stories of theQueen's ladies, gentlewomen and maids who, between them, served her from the cradle to thegrave. From governesses to laundresses, this book features them all, with a comprehensive overview of themain positions of attendance accompanied by a biographical index of all the women known to haveserved the Queen over the course of her life and reign, from the matronly ladies who headed hernursery to the vivacious maids who dazzled her court with their wit and beauty.