LETTERS

INCOMPETENT OR INSPIRING?

Having read the recent Essential Guide to Elizabethan England (March 2022), I regret that you chose to accept, without question, the self-promotion of Elizabeth I and perpetuate the mythologising of an incompetent leader whose only achievements were in spite of her rather than of her own making – Shakespeare’s dramas being a notable example.

The Spanish invaded because the defence of the realm (unlike during her father’s reign) was not a priority and even something as significant as gunpowder was in short supply.