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The Virgin’s Lover

by Philippa Gregory Book 14 in the The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels series.

First published 2004

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4.3(4,112)

Elizabeth I inherits a divided kingdom in 1558 and relies on William Cecil while restoring Protestant government. Her intimacy with Robert Dudley creates pressure for marriage, even though Dudley’s wife Amy Robsart remains alive.

Amy’s isolation and unexplained death make the queen’s private attachment a national political crisis. The novel follows the competing ambitions of Elizabeth, Dudley and Cecil as personal desire becomes inseparable from legitimacy, religion and foreign policy.

Historical Periods

Elizabethan Religious Settlement1559–1563 CE

Genres

Biographical Fiction Court & Political Fiction Romance

Historical people

Elizabeth I1533–1603 Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester1532–1588 William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley1520–1598 Amy Robsart1532–1560

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