In a kingdom ill-used to queens, Elizabeth I needed a very particular image to hold her divided country together.

The ‘Cult of Gloriana’ was a movement in which authors, musicians, and artists – among them Spenser, Shakespeare, Tallis and Byrd – elevated the queen to the status of a virgin goddess. Her image was widely owned and distributed, thanks to the expansion of printing, and the English came to surpass their European counterparts in miniature painting, allowing courtiers to carry a likeness of their sovereign close to their hearts.

Sumptuously illustrated, Gloriana tells the story of Elizabethan art as a powerful device for royal magnificence and propaganda. By illuminating several key artworks of Elizabeth’s reign, Linda Collins and Siobhan Clarke create a unique portrait of the Tudor monarch as she has never been seen before.