"In this intimate account of a remarkable national transformation, Susan Watkins relates the extraordinary tale of how Queen Elizabeth I set out to capture the hearts of her people. In plays and pageants, in cameos and medallions and portraits, in the great country houses, their interior furnishings and their gardens, the royal image was specifically tailored to evoke devotion. To love Elizabeth was to love England, and the Queen personified both an era and a national style.". "The author skillfully recreates court life, in the palaces along the Thames from Greenwich to Windsor, and in the nearly sixty royal houses that were Elizabeth's inheritance."--BOOK JACKET.