“Princes,” the Queen pronounced, “have no need of money,” for it was in the true allegiance of her subjects that the real Treasury was to be found. “Her most dutiful city” of Norwich presented her with a silver-gilt cup overflowing with gold worth £100. Neighbouring Norfolk outdid him by mustering 2,500 horsemen. During the same 1578 progress, the sheriff of Suffolk saw fit to accompany Elizabeth through the county with some 2,000 neatly apparelled escorts. Whole towns and cities shouldered equally prodigious cost and effort. Accommodation for an Elizabethian progress Little wonder that a number of prospective hosts cried off, claiming an illness in the house or sudden landslides blocking the road. A not inconsiderable £120 went to the purchase of a jewel for Her Majesty, who always expected gifts. “Supper and tarrying” for three days in September set him back more than £762, much of it spent on food, including an ornithological catalogue of 23 different species of bird from dotterels to peewit. Her rapturously received progress through East Anglia in 1578 took her to Lord North at Kirtling five miles from Newmarket. Emblems of Elizabeth’s ill-fated mother decorate the ceiling, believed to be a record of further half-forgotten but significant Tudor connections.Įlizabeth I, though she came in peace, unsteadied the finances of many a noble host.

Guests at this stately home-turned-hotel may also be intrigued by the remarkable ceiling in the Anne Boleyn Room, dating from the 1600s. Both she and her father, Henry VIII, used it as a hunting lodge, and Elizabeth’s 1598 crest over the main porch indicates serious royal connections. We’ve no reason to believe the Queen harboured misgivings about another Surrey house, Great Fosters at Egham. Each time he was advised to lay straw on the manor drive to prevent the royal carriage from jolting its precious passenger, and he was also told to clean his house better. She stayed with her trusted adviser Sir William More at Loseley House, near Guildford, on four separate occasions during her southern progresses. If the sovereign had found a place wanting in some detail of comfort during an earlier visit, she didn’t hesitate to upbraid her host-to-be. In this way, writer Thomas Churchyard noted, she could “draw the hearts of the people after hyr wheresoever she travels.” A resting place fit for a queenīefore Elizabeth arrived at her destination, the Royal Harbinger would have checked its suitability. She left sides of the vehicle open so spectators could see their auburn-headed Queen, and sometimes she waved or spoke a kindly word to even the humblest yokel. They immediately recognized Elizabeth riding on her white mount, or sometimes in a coach drawn by Pomeranian horses with tails and manes dyed orange. Victorian black and white engraving of Queen Elizabeth I being carried through the street surrounded by her courtiers 16th century Royal family The Quiver 1888 Taken from the Quiver 1888Īs the train of 2,000-plus animals, nobles, and liveried servants travelled up to 12 miles a day, crowds en route hallooed in wonder. At least 300 carts conveyed the provisions and finery that Gloriana required to look her best, not to mention her personal hip-bath and walnut state bed decorated with gold-bespangled ostrich feathers. Even better, we can occasionally follow the Queen right into the bed chamber because some of her destinations are now historic hotels.Īn enormous effort went into transporting Elizabeth and some 1,500 members of her Court across the country. The claim “Elizabeth I slept here” abounds among castles and manors, and many of them welcome visitors. Few could resist her charm, and even fewer have been able to match her brilliant sense of public relations. But she also genuinely wished to meet her people. She did so partly to escape the diseases that could descend on London in the heat of summer. Despite various political crises and dangers, she travelled nearly every summer of her 44-year reign, staying at some 241 different places from Hampshire to the Midlands. Monarchs before and since have paid official visits to almost every corner of Britain, yet Elizabeth I remains the greatest exponent of the royal tour.

Taditional hunting quiver