Elizabeth pursued the Duke of Anjou as a diplomatic tool to replace Spanish rule in the Low Countries, not out of romantic interest.
Elizabeth used her courtship of the French Catholic duke as leverage to install him as Lord of the Netherlands, which would remove Spanish forces, restore trade, and protect Protestant worship. ✦ AI generated
Tom Holland · The Rest Is History · 2026-08-06 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 28:44
It has to be emphasized all of this is nonsense. The fact that Elizabeth is ready to accept Anjou's blandishments owes nothing to lust, nor even to her undoubted fondness for him. Because at stake are the needs of her kingdom as Elizabeth understands them. She is using her her her virginity as a diplomatic tool. And if Elizabeth is facing a showdown with Spain, such a menacing enemy, then Elizabeth thinks, I might as well try and do all that I can to build bridges with the other great Catholic superpower, namely France. But, even having said that, France isn't really the focus of her calculations. The real focus of her calculations is what's going on in the Low Countries, which by this point is it's an absolute dumpster fire.
verbatim transcript · starts at 28:44
28:32subvert Elizabeth's regime, kind of Elizabeth's greatest enemy among the English emigres, he thinks it's monstrous as well. And he explains it in terms of what he sees as the monstrousness of Elizabeth's depravity. So he writes a pamphlet in which he goes all in that Elizabeth is the the little the daughter of the great Anne Boleyn. And he he said that he claimed that her desire for Anjou was to
28:57the disgrace of princely majesty and the whole nation's reproach by unspeakable and incredible variety of lust. But, it has to be emphasized all of this is nonsense. The fact that Elizabeth is ready to accept Anjou's blandishments owes nothing to lust, nor even to her undoubted fondness for him. Because at stake are the needs of her kingdom as Elizabeth understands them. She is using her her her virginity as a
29:26diplomatic tool. And if Elizabeth is facing a showdown with Spain, such a menacing enemy, then Elizabeth thinks, I might as well try and do all that I can to build bridges with the other great Catholic superpower, namely France. But, even having said that, France isn't really the focus of her calculations. The real focus of her calculations is what's going on in the Low Countries, which by this point is it's an absolute
29:56dumpster fire. And why is it such a nightmare? What does the Duke of Anjou have to do with it? In what way might Anjou be a solution to the problem? Well, we need to just have again move from France to the Low Countries and see what the state of play is there. So, first of all, there is very good reason why ideological reason, religious reason, why Elizabeth and Protestants in England
30:19more generally should be alarmed by events in the Netherlands. We kind of compared it to um >> Yeah. >> It's the Protestant Gaza. It's it's something that's calculated to alarm co-religionists in England. >> To remind people, this is where the local Protestants are in revolt against their Spanish overlords. Yeah. And this war has been raging, fought very brutally. And you you the comparison with Gaza it's become this kind of international