RIVAL TO THE QUEEN begins during the bloody reign of Queen
Mary I. Lettice Knollys and her family must leave England
when the fervent Catholic queen begins executing
Protestants. But when Mary's sister, Elizabeth, ascends the
throne, Lettice and her family return to England. Lettice's
father quickly arranges marriage for both of his daughters.
Lettice and her sister, Cecilia, are honored as cousins of
the queen by receiving posts of maids of honor at court.
However, Lettice finds little to admire in the cranky and
paranoid queen. The danger has passed for Protestant
Elizabeth, but her reign confronts her with a new
challenge: She must marry, but the man she loves is the
only man she can never have. Although Lettice is a married
woman, she is soon repulsed by her husband and begins to
find comfort in the arms of the queen's favorite, Robert
Dudley.
Once Queen Mary is dead, the war against Protestants is
over. But England faces a new danger -- King Philip of
Spain. Philip's ambitions have turned to England.
Threatened by the possibility of invading Spanish forces,
Elizabeth is urged to marry and produce an heir. The queen,
however, only has eyes for her handsome Master of the
Horse, Robert Dudley. When Lettice accidentally discovers the
queen's diary, she discovers that the queen and Dudley are
lovers. When Dudley's wife is found dead, rumors begin to
circulate that her death was orchestrated by Robert Dudley
in order to marry the queen and have himself crowned king.
The rumors about Robert's involvement in his wife's death
leave little chance that he can marry the queen. But the
queen will not have any other man besides Robert Dudley.
She will also not allow any other woman to have him either.
Lettice's unhappy marriage leads to daydreams about the
royal favorite. Much to Lettice's surprise she soon
discovers that she has caught Robert Dudley's eye. When
Lettice's husband dies and Robert professes his love for
her, the queen discovers that she has found a dangerous
rival in her own cousin.
RIVAL TO THE QUEEN presents Elizabeth at her most powerful.
The author did an excellent job at writing Elizabeth as a
warrior queen ready to defend her kingdom from the Spanish.
Elizabeth's relationship with Robert Dudley, however,
strayed from historical facts. Carolly Erickson exaggerated
the intensity of the well known quarrels between the queen
and Dudley. While Elizabeth Tudor often did display the
violent Tudor temper inherited from her father, King Henry
VIII, I felt Erickson wrote Elizabeth too harshly,
especially after the deaths of Robert Dudley and his
stepson, the Earl of Essex. It is well known that Elizabeth
was inconsolable after their deaths. But Elizabeth displays
no emotion upon hearing of their deaths in the novel. I
loved how Elizabeth's devotion to protecting England from
Spain was written and how the author treated the death of
Amy Dudley, but the queen's relationship with Robert Dudley
and Robert Devereux were far from accurate.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Wife
of Henry VIII comes a novel about the bitter rivalry between
Queen Elizabeth I and her fascinating cousin, Lettice
Knollys, for the love of one extraordinary man. Powerful and
dramatic, this is the story of the only woman to ever stand
up to the Virgin Queen—her own cousin, Lettice Knollys. Far
more attractive than the queen, Lettice soon won the
attention of the handsome and ambitious Robert Dudley, a man
so enamored of the queen and determined to share her throne
that it was rumored he had murdered his own wife in order to
become her royal consort. The enigmatic Elizabeth allowed
Dudley into her heart, and relied on his devoted service,
but shied away from the personal and political risks of
marriage. When Elizabeth discovered that he had married her
cousin Lettice in secret, Lettice would pay a terrible
price, fighting to keep her husband’s love and ultimately
losing her beloved son to the queen’s headsman. This is the
unforgettable story of two women related by blood, yet
destined to clash over one of Tudor England’s most
charismatic men.
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