Details

Release year: 1998

Storyline

The early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch.

Top credits

Directors

Shekhar Kapur

Writers

Michael Hirst

Cast

Cate Blanchett — Elizabeth I
Liz Giles — Female Martyr
Rod Culbertson — Master Ridley
Paul Fox — Male Martyr

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Awards

1 win & 6 nominations

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Did you know

• 1998 was the only year that two performers were nominated for Academy Awards for playing the same character in two different films: Judi Dench was nominated (and won) for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for playing Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Cate Blanchett was nominated for Best Actress for portraying Elizabeth I in this film. Joseph Fiennes and Geoffrey Rush appeared in both films as well.

• Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley, served Elizabeth for most of her reign as Secretary of State and Lord Treasurer. He continued to advise her up until his death in 1598. He was only 38 years old when Elizabeth I was crowned, not the old man depicted in the movie.

• Robert Dudley (later made the Earl of Leicester) and Elizabeth were childhood friends. The film suggests Elizabeth did not know he was married. However, he was married twice. His first wife, Amy Robsart, fell down a tall flight of stairs the year after Elizabeth became Queen. (Rumors suggested he may have been trying to free himself to marry Elizabeth, but the inquest deemed it an accident.) His second marriage to Lettice Knollys in 1578 - twenty years into Elizabeth's reign - did infuriate the Queen. She banished Lettice Knollys from court, but remained friends with Robert Dudley.