1.  starter activity
If you were Queen Elizabeth, which of these two portraits would you want people to see? Why?

2. How did Elizabeth use propaganda?
The secret language of Elizabethan portraits

3. How did Elizabeth communicate with her people?
Church – sermons every Sunday
Royal progresses
Ceremonies – Accession Day
Pamphlets
Holding court – banquets, jousts
Portraits
What problems might Elizabeth encounter with some of the ways of communicating listed above?

4. What was Elizabeth actually like?
Height: approx 5’ 4’’
Skin blemished by small pox & burned by lead oxide make-up
Teeth blackened by decay
Halitosis
Alopecia

5. Can you put the portraits in order?

6. Can you put the portraits in order?1
c. 1546, Elizabeth still a princess 4
Armada Portrait,1588 2
Coronation Portrait, 1559 3
Elizabeth as a 25 year old queen, 1560

7. The Armada Portrait What is happening in these corners?
Why is there a crown?
Why is she wearing so many pearls?
Why does she have her hand on the globe?

8. High status, symbol of purity.
The Armada Portrait
Ships on left are the English, those on the right the Spanish being dashed on the rocks and dispersed.
Symbol of royalty
High status, symbol of purity.
Imperial ambitions – her hand is on South America, source of Spain’s gold.

9. What do all the symbols mean?
Meaning
Pearls
Serpent
Ermine
Sieve
Pelican
Olive branch / Rainbow
Ruby

10. What do all the symbols mean?
Meaning
Pearls
Purity
Serpent
Cunning & wisdom
Ermine
Royalty
Sieve
Virginity (classical mythology vestal virgins could carry a sieve without allowing water to spill to the ground)
Pelican
Charity & selflessness (in mythology the pelican pecks itself to feed its young)
Olive branch / Rainbow
Peace & prosperity
Ruby
Love

11.  Your task
Answer the questions relating to this portrait of Elizabeth.
The original is kept at Hatfield House, nr. London. Imagine you are a tour guide at Hatfield. Prepare a short speech describing what you can see in the picture.
Task sheet

12.  Extension task
Visit this website to see other portraits of Elizabeth. Use the skills you now have to write a short piece about one of these.