1 Elizabeth was certainly no feminist
lthough she is often hailed as a feminist icon, Elizabeth I was deeply conventional in her views of the female sex. In the most famous of her speeches, delivered as the Armada threatened England’s shores, she regretfully observed: “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman.” She made many similar remarks during the course of her long reign and constantly referred to herself in masculine terms to assert her authority. For her contemporaries, this neatly explained the otherwise nonsensical idea that a woman was ruling over them – and doing a damned fine job of it: Elizabeth must have the body
