Elizabeth Throckmorton

Elizabeth Throckmorton or Bess was Queen Elizabeth I 's most favorite lady in waiting. In the movie Elizabeth the Golden Age, the role of Elizabeth Throckmorton (also Elizabeth Throgmorton) or Bess was played by pretty Australian actress Abbie Cornish. Pictures of Elizabeth Throckmorton from the movie Elizabeth the Golden Age are copyrights of Universal Studios Pictures.

Elizabeth Throckmorton (Bess), Sir Walter Raleigh, and the Queen

Since the first time Queen Elizabeth I met Mr. Walter Raleigh, Bess was with her. The Queen ordered Bess to get to know him which she complied. Mr. Walter Raleigh then persuaded Bess to tell him how to gain favor with the Queen so that she would fund his mission at sea to the New World. Because Walter Raleigh was such as refreshing character, so different and so exciting, both Bess and even the Queen herself fell for him.

Bess and her cousin Francis

One night her cousin, Francis, sent her a letter begging her to come to meet him. When she came, he begged her to ask Queen Elizabeth a favor because he and his father did not want to hide anymore. They wanted to gain favor with the Queen again. However, Bess did not want to help. She said it was impossible since they were Papists. Francis told Bess that if she did not help him and his father, they would kill them. Bess left without agreeing to help them.

Soon Sir Francis Walsingham had Francis and his father arrested. Sir Francis Walsingham tortured them to find out the threat to England and the Queen. Francis said nothing but that The Enterprise had begun. Queen Elizabeth I described the Enterprise as two armies landing on the coasts of Sussex and Norfolk. Mary Stuart was to be set free and placed on the English throne and Queen Elizabeth was to be assassinated. The Queen referred to this plan as the Enterprise of England or rather la Empresa de Inglaterra in Spanish.

Francis was executed. Bess cried and prayed when she learned of her cousin 's execution. Sir Walter Raleigh came to comfort Bess. They ended up having an affair without the Queen 's consent which was forbidden at the time.

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