A four-part series on the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, tracing her path from a precarious, illegitimate-declared princess under threat of execution to one of England's longest-reigning monarchs. The episodes move through the major crises of her rule: the religious turmoil left by her father Henry VIII and half-sister Mary, the question of marriage and succession that dominated her early reign, the plots against her throne, the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and the confrontation with the Spanish Armada. Historians and biographers appear throughout to weigh in on her political choices, her carefully constructed public image as the Virgin Queen, and how she held power in a court built to be run by men. Reenactments and location filming at English castles and palaces fill out the narration, giving the series the scale of a grand costume drama while keeping its account grounded in the historical record of one of England's most consequential rulers.