Elizabeth I chose to keep Drake's plundered Spanish treasure rather than return it to Spain.

6:56therefore down to Elizabeth. The big question which way will she jump? And the answer reaches Drake a few weeks after his arrival in Plymouth. And she sends him a letter and says fear not for your safety. Bring me some of the loot. And so Drake [laughter] gets a a train of pack horses and he loads them down with gold and silver that he's plundered from the Spanish and

7:19he heads for London. And when he arrives there the Queen grants him a six-hour interview and she is obviously dazzled by the treasure that he's brought back from his adventures. But I think she is also very smitten by Drake himself. She loves his stories the Straits of Magellan, New Albion, the Spice Islands. You know, she loves um a valiant chevalier. Um so she admires his boldness, his

7:43courage, his kind of sea dog swagger. >> Mhm. >> I He is Lord Flashheart in the Blackadder series. I think he makes her go a little weak at the knees. And so, she decides, I think Drake's great. He's brought me lots of treasure. I want to keep it. And I Do you know, I'm going to give Drake a massive reward. Now, obviously, this is tricky. It's a delicate

8:05tightrope to tread. If she's going to reward Drake, she wants to do it in a way that doesn't make it look obvious and offend the Spanish too much. But she pulls it off absolutely brilliantly. So, what she does, she tells Drake officially, register the treasure that you've taken and have it sent to the tower. >> Mhm. >> But unofficially, she tells him, look, siphon off 10,000 pounds of this 400,000

8:30pounds. And just to put it, you know, that is more than her entire annual income. So, 10,000 pounds is a colossal fortune. I mean, enormous. >> I mean, super rich level. You know, millions upon millions upon millions. >> And also, I think this reflects very well on both Drake and and Elizabeth. She winks at his quietly taking 14,000 pounds for his men. So, they are all going to profit massively as well.