1 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:06,560 Britain was once a difficult country to cross. 2 00:00:06,560 --> 00:00:10,240 Roads were few and paths obscure. 3 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:14,800 And yet our ancestors travelled. 4 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,200 For work and for pleasure. 5 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:19,600 For faith and for fortune. 6 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,240 But the routes that they followed are lost. 7 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:30,360 I'm going to rediscover them and the people who took them. 8 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,800 What they saw and why they travelled. 9 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:36,080 Who they met and where they went. 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:42,400 I'm following the forgotten routes that made this country great. 11 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,240 And today, I'm going to follow in the tracks of Queen Elizabeth I 12 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:58,440 on a great Royal progress that began here at Windsor. 13 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,240 So I'm off to the West Country, 14 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:07,880 retracing one of Good Queen Bess's huge annual processions. 15 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:10,760 She came here, made absolute mayhem. 16 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:14,640 I'll be visiting the palaces and towns of the Cotswolds. 17 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:16,680 You feel as if you've got vertigo. 18 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,560 I'll be finding out what remains of her world. 19 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,000 You can make light ale, and we will give you a licence to do that. 20 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:28,080 I'll be looking at the fun she had and havoc she wreaked as she went on her way. 21 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:29,480 Whoa! 22 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:31,440 That's it! Good. 23 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:32,920 Gah! 24 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,640 If you'd been privileged enough to be here in Windsor Castle 25 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,720 at the end of the second week in July 1574, 26 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:50,160 you'd have witnessed a sort of subdued chaos going on 27 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:54,040 as the entire court packed up to join Elizabeth I 28 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:56,880 on her grand Royal progress. 29 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,000 It was...it was part summer holiday, 30 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,440 part huge procession 31 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,640 and part rock-and-roll tour to rival the Rolling Stones. 32 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:11,760 This 1574 progress was the furthest west she was ever to go. 33 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:15,160 It was a big disruption. 34 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,000 Not everybody was overjoyed to be going. 35 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,280 There was a letter from the Earl of Arundel to Robert Dudley, 36 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:24,520 saying that everybody from the highest to the lowest 37 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:26,880 was to swear they were having a soft time, 38 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:29,760 even if they were staying in very hard lodgings. 39 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,240 In other words, nobody was allowed to complain. 40 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:35,800 Although nearly everybody did. 41 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,000 In truth, her closest advisors often did everything they could 42 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,000 to dissuade her from setting off again, 43 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:45,040 but Elizabeth was determined to make these arduous trips 44 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:48,920 and would not be stopped. Of course, if I'd been back here then, 45 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:52,560 one of the more bizarre reasons why she wanted to go fairly urgently 46 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:54,600 would have become obvious to me. 47 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:58,840 I'd have smelt it, because the moats were effectively open cesspits. 48 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:01,480 All the toilets emptied into them. 49 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,040 And by mid-July, there was a bit of a hum, 50 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:08,600 and they associated that smell with the plague. 51 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,240 The Black Death was the excuse to get going and, importantly, 52 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:16,320 the Queen intended to sign a treaty with the Spanish in Bristol. 53 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:20,080 But that doesn't explain why she loved the whole circus. 54 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:21,800 Can we find out? 55 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:25,040 I've arranged a rather glamorous way of doing so. 56 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,280 There's a crowd gathered here, 57 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,360 but it's not for me, it's actually for my car, 58 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:34,400 which is exactly the effect Elizabeth I would have liked. 59 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,600 Stuart, morning. Good morning, Griff. 60 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:38,640 How are you today? I'm very good, thanks. 61 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:40,240 May I take your bag? Thank you. 62 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:44,240 All the better for seeing this magnificent vehicle. What is it? 63 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,600 This is a 1964 Rolls-Royce Phantom V. 64 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:52,640 And the Rolls can stand in as my own royal carriage. 65 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:56,320 It's still the vehicle of choice for our current Royal Family. 66 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,200 You do notice that people pay attention to you 67 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:01,400 if you arrive in this thing. 68 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:03,360 It's a head-turner, without a doubt. 69 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,920 Elizabeth I was an early adopter of coaches in England. 70 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:10,640 Hers were possibly the first ever seen in the country. 71 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:14,280 They were vehicles for display and possibly for escape. 72 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,680 She could literally stay 73 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:22,720 one step ahead of everybody who wanted to influence her. 74 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,800 All the ambassadors and the clerics 75 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:28,200 and the bishops and the factions 76 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,480 who wanted her to do things 77 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,400 had to try and find her when she was on tour, 78 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,960 until she decided to make it obvious where she was. 79 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,000 But if some of her political luggage was abandoned, 80 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,040 she certainly took everything else she might require 81 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:45,680 in one giant baggage train. 82 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:47,920 Apparently, it was a phenomenon. 83 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:50,960 How big? I'd quite like to find out. 84 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:55,240 Good morning. Thank you so much for coming to help us here. 85 00:04:55,240 --> 00:05:01,360 We're trying to reproduce Queen Elizabeth I's baggage train. 86 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:03,760 I'm going to nominate, very unfairly, 87 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,920 four people to be the court officers... 88 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,760 'In order to stay true to court protocol, 89 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:12,880 'I'm handing out different-coloured caps to represent 90 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:16,160 'the various ranks of people in Elizabeth's court.' 91 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:20,000 Now I need to find six ladies-in-waiting... 92 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,000 'Most important are the black and dark blue. 93 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:26,520 'They're the gentlemen of the privy chamber and privy councillors. 94 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:30,320 'They'll be walking close behind me at the head of the procession.' 95 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:32,840 We haven't got to the dregs yet. You're just... 96 00:05:32,840 --> 00:05:36,840 'Then all the other ranks are spread out right down the line.' 97 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:38,560 Servants! 98 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:40,960 Nobody is volunteering to be a servant. 99 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:44,280 I'm a servant! I'm a servant! I'm a maid! Here we ago. 100 00:05:44,280 --> 00:05:47,240 Let's repair to our cars. 101 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:50,160 Can I have the privy councillors up the front here, please? 102 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:52,640 You, as members of the court, 103 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:57,320 are under strict instructions never to complain. 104 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,280 LAUGHTER And it's time to go! 105 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:10,800 It's said that around 350 people from the court joined Elizabeth, 106 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:14,120 with hundreds of carts, wagons and horses in tow. 107 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:20,960 They brought everything the Queen needed. Her entire kitchen, 108 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,400 all the court documents and library, 109 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:27,840 often wrapped up in waterproof bearskins. 110 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:30,200 This is well done, my people. 111 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:32,440 Well done, my subjects! 112 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,600 At over a mile long, it must have been an astonishing sight, 113 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:39,840 snaking through Elizabethan countryside 114 00:06:39,840 --> 00:06:43,720 at any average speed of three miles an hour. 115 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,320 It's astonishing. 116 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:51,800 Until we did this, I didn't realise what an extraordinary impact 117 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:55,400 the Queen's progress must have had on the countryside. 118 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,760 It must have been one of the reasons she wanted to go, 119 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:01,320 so people knew she was coming 120 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,200 and they knew that she was the Queen. 121 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,800 Thank you very, very much, everyone, for helping. 122 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:25,960 Well, I think we're going to leave the baggage train, 123 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:30,040 all one-and-a-half miles of it, behind us now, and go on. 124 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,520 There's nothing unusual about that. That's exactly what the Queen did. 125 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:36,520 She'd ride on ahead and let everybody else catch up with her. 126 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:39,160 And ahead of her went people called the harbingers. 127 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:41,600 They would ride on to prepare the way 128 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:46,920 for this gigantic crowd of people to arrive. 129 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,560 20 miles south of Oxford on what is now the A369, 130 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:56,240 I'm heading for a roadside bikers' cafe 131 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:59,280 which I'm told is right on the Queen's route. 132 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:01,920 And the man who's worked this out for us 133 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:04,520 is historical geographer Mark Brasher. 134 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:09,800 Nice to see you. Here we are, we're going off on this tour. 135 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:13,360 What can we use to find out what route she took? 136 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,720 Well, you can start by looking at the court calendar, 137 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:19,960 which will give you the itinerary of places 138 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:22,400 and the dates that she was at those places. 139 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:25,840 So this is our very year, our very time. 140 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:27,920 That's pretty impressive. 141 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,480 Because you've got the actual date, like July 11th to 13th, 142 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:35,400 July 15th to September 25th, progress in Berkshire. 143 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:37,840 But the question remains, 144 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:41,360 what route did they take between these places? 145 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,640 It's interesting to note that in the 1570s, 146 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,560 a Yorkshire surveyor, Christopher Saxton, had got the commission 147 00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:52,720 to produce a series of county maps of the whole realm. Right. 148 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:55,400 'And there we have it. The Saxton maps don't have any roads, 149 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,960 'but they do show bridging points of the various rivers en route. 150 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,240 'This has allowed Mark to join the dots, so to speak, 151 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:05,080 'and he's drawn the route on a series of modern maps 152 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:08,480 'which are going to take me from the starting point at Windsor Castle 153 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,360 'all the way to my journey's end in Bristol.' 154 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,240 Thank you. Thank you. OK. We're on the road! 155 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:21,800 Using Mark's map, my journey from Windsor into Oxfordshire 156 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:27,800 leaves our major roads and winds through small villages and towns. 157 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:32,200 It's already giving me a sense of the England that Elizabeth would have experienced. 158 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:36,960 For Elizabeth, crossing the country 159 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:39,400 was like threading your way through a maze. 160 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:45,480 Paul Hindle is an expert on the ancient ways of Britain. 161 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:49,480 We've met up on one of the early sections of the route near Oxford. 162 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:53,400 He's going to guide me through this part of the journey. 163 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:55,240 They would set off to go somewhere, 164 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,520 but there would be no signposts, there were very few main roads. 165 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:01,960 They would have local people who knew, but there were no maps. 166 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:04,600 The first maps, county maps of Saxton, 167 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,920 don't come till the 1570s and they didn't have roads on. 168 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:11,680 The first road maps don't come till the 1690s. 169 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:13,760 And so it's every difficult to get around. 170 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:15,360 We just take maps for granted. 171 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:19,560 And in the Elizabethan period, 1,000 years after they were made, 172 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:24,320 Roman roads were still the best paved roads that they had? 173 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:27,560 They were the only paved roads running through the countryside. 174 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:28,920 Between the Romans 175 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:32,400 and the coming of the turnpikes in the 18th century 176 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,240 and then the paving of roads in the 19th, 177 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,720 there was no road-building whatsoever for 1,500 years. 178 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:43,400 Now, let's see. For us, the sort of choice 179 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:46,040 that I would've thought the Royal progress 180 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:49,080 would have come to pretty often on its way. Which way do they go? 181 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:50,800 Let's have a look at Mark's map. 182 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,640 So, here we are, we're now at the junction 183 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:57,240 and we need to turn off the tarmac track 184 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:01,280 and keep going in a straight line on the old London Road, this way. 185 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:04,520 OK. The old London Road has now completely disappeared as a road 186 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:07,840 and become what I think we might find is closer to a field. 187 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:11,360 Yes. I think this is more like an Elizabethan road, 188 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,480 except there would have been no hedges on either side, 189 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:16,720 no walls buried in these hedges, either. 190 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:18,320 It would have been wide open 191 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:21,920 and people would simply have gone across the open countryside. 192 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:25,080 We have passed through the loveliest countryside. 193 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:27,640 I'm now heading for Woodstock. 194 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:29,920 This was a sort of Royal staging post 195 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:32,960 where they gathered strength for the tour proper - 196 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:36,800 Queen Elizabeth's Royal progress of 1574. 197 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:40,240 It's a few miles north of Oxford 198 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:43,920 and around 50 miles into her journey from Windsor. 199 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:49,760 Thank you very much, Stuart. That's very kind. 200 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,080 I'll be back in just a little... 201 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:54,280 'The court calendar tells me they stayed here, 202 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:56,360 'in Woodstock Manor for just over a week.' 203 00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:02,400 Well, I'm afraid this is all that remains of Woodstock. 204 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,120 It's a little bit disappointing, isn't it? 205 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,840 But apparently, it was all cleared away, knocked down 206 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:13,520 and completely destroyed because they built a new palace. 207 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:17,560 Blenheim was built for the 1st Duke of Marlborough 208 00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:19,880 in the early 1700s. 209 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:22,400 Elizabeth's Woodstock Manor was still standing 210 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:24,080 when Blenheim was completed, 211 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:27,280 but when the new duchess looked out of her window, 212 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:30,400 she though the old medieval house was a bit of an eyesore, 213 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:32,040 so she had it knocked down. 214 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:40,800 This is the best record of what it looked like. 215 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:45,680 Actually quite small by the standard of Elizabethan rambling piles. 216 00:12:45,680 --> 00:12:48,440 Quite apart from the notorious damp, 217 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:52,400 I'm not sure Queen Elizabeth would have relished staying at Woodstock 218 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:54,440 because 20 years earlier, 219 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,000 she'd been held prisoner here by Queen Mary. 220 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:00,520 Mary had seen Elizabeth as a dangerous rival 221 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:03,640 and tried to hide her from public view as much as possible. 222 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:05,920 But several times during tense moments, 223 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:08,280 Elizabeth had outfaced her half-sister 224 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:10,840 by directly courting the support of the people. 225 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:16,760 Though Woodstock was one of the Queen's own palaces, 226 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:20,240 there was no guarantee of room for the entire court to stay there. 227 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:22,880 So courtiers known as harbingers were tasked 228 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:28,360 with finding accommodation for people like me and my groom in nearby towns. 229 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,560 Oh! There's a rival, there's a Bentley over there. 230 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,480 They haven't got anything for us. We'll have to move on. 231 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:42,120 The majority of the entourage bedded down in inns or even tents. 232 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:44,800 They found whatever lodgings they could. 233 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:48,840 Everybody from the Queen's court looking for somewhere to stay. 234 00:13:57,400 --> 00:13:59,600 I think there's a place up here on the left. 235 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:03,840 No. No room. 236 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:06,440 Many of the junior functionaries 237 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:09,680 would have resorted to the most basic accommodation - 238 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:12,400 sleeping with the job, as it were. 239 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:15,640 Well, as a lowly servant of the court, 240 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:17,520 I would have obviously 241 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:21,960 had to have made by bed where I could. 242 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:26,400 And when I say make my bed, I mean literally make my bed. 243 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,560 This is what people did every night. 244 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:35,760 They made themselves... a straw pallet. 245 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:37,400 Effectively... 246 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:43,880 ..this is what everybody slept on, unless you were the Queen herself. 247 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,800 HE CHUCKLES 248 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:49,680 Ah! Good! 249 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,080 Not bad at all. 250 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:53,600 Stuart? 251 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,640 Sir. I'm sorry to have to tell you, but in Elizabethan times, 252 00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:59,120 it was nearly always two to a bed, 253 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,560 as long as a gentleman slept with a gentleman, 254 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:06,040 and a yeoman slept with a yeoman. 255 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:10,080 And I think we're two yeomen, so... 256 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:12,160 this will do for us, don't you think? 257 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:16,240 Well, I'm not going to spend the night in there. 258 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:17,480 There's only one thing for it. 259 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:26,280 Another big demand on any town when the Elizabethan court arrived 260 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:27,960 was refreshment. 261 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:32,440 For the Elizabethans, that meant beer. In huge quantities. 262 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:37,320 Keith Thomas is an historic ale expect, 263 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:41,640 and he's brought an imitation Elizabethan beer for us to taste. 264 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:47,680 So, Keith, people drank beer, or ale, in huge quantities, didn't they? 265 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,000 Yes. Yes. They had quarts, didn't they? 266 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:54,160 So it would be, really, your liquid of the day. Right. 267 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:56,880 So, the idea was that you didn't drink the water, 268 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:00,040 because the water would infect you, 269 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:04,520 but beer had effectively, sort of, pasteurised your water. 270 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:06,600 Normal bacteria would have died, 271 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:09,600 so it would have been quite clean and wholesome. Yep. 272 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,040 And people would have drunk it is a refreshment. 273 00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:15,520 'They didn't know the science, they thought it aided digestion. 274 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:18,880 'But herbs were prominent in Elizabethan ale.' 275 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:23,840 Tell me what you think, Charlie. It's a very distinctive flavour, isn't it? I mean, is this caraway? 276 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:27,080 Yes, it is. So, you've got a fresh herb, 277 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:29,320 you've got a spicy aroma on the noses, 278 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:31,200 but you haven't got the hoppiness. 279 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:34,680 This is very suitable for women. 280 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:39,760 Now, Queen Elizabeth I, she certainly liked what was known as a light ale, 281 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,960 and it was because she liked it, the whole court 282 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,960 drunk nothing but light ale, which was quite a rarity, apparently, 283 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,800 and when they arrived in a town like Woodstock, 284 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:52,040 and there wasn't enough light ale to go around, 285 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:53,880 they would issue specific licences. 286 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,520 The purveyors would go around the town and say to various households, 287 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:02,240 "You can make beer just for the period that the court is here, 288 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:05,440 "and you can make light ale, and we will give you a licence to do that." 289 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:08,960 More connections to our own era. 290 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,160 Clearly, controlling the making of alcohol goes back a long way, 291 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:15,840 at least since the time of Elizabeth's grandfather, Henry VII, 292 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:18,280 with these special provisions popping up 293 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:20,320 as a result of the progress. 294 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:24,720 Our convoluted route 295 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:28,120 now seems to be taking us deeper into the Oxfordshire countryside, 296 00:17:28,120 --> 00:17:32,280 heading for the Cotswolds and the town of Burford. 297 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:35,120 It is lovely in the back here, Stuart, really gorgeous. 298 00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:38,400 Driving Miss Griff. 299 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:42,840 As we roll back the miles in our Phantom, I wonder what other forms of transport 300 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:46,280 would have been on offer to members of the Elizabethan court, 301 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:48,760 so we've come to Sturt Farm Stables, 302 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:51,800 just a few miles outside Burford. 303 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,600 We know the Queen was a great lover of horses, 304 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:58,400 and an accomplished rider, just like our own Royal Family... 305 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:01,560 and unlike me. To me, a horse is a challenge with four legs. 306 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:05,400 But I wonder if, in order to get closer to the Royal progress experience, 307 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:07,640 I need to take one for a spin. 308 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:11,840 Left foot in the stirrup. Put your weight into your right hand 309 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:14,360 as you put your right leg over the back and sit on the horse. 310 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:17,400 Gah! Whoa, whoa, whoa. GRIFF LAUGHS 311 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:21,440 "And don't shout, Griff. For heaven's sake." Try not to shout. 312 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:25,520 I actually... I feel a little safer in the Roller. 313 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:31,480 I think it's been calculated that the actual number of horses 314 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,840 that Queen Elizabeth had runs into the thousands. 315 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:36,360 The baggage train itself, 316 00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:40,520 it was reckoned that there must have been about 1,200 horses 317 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:42,160 pulling all those carts. 318 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:45,440 But the infernal posh like to travel in a sort of box, 319 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:48,240 often strung between two horses, called a litter. 320 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:52,920 This was the form of carriage preferred by most people, 321 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:55,160 for rather obvious reasons - 322 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,480 because you didn't have to walk, 323 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:03,280 and you could effectively get through even the narrowest 324 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:06,600 and most muddy of carriageways, 325 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:08,200 whereas if you took your coach, 326 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:12,240 then you didn't have a chance of getting along most of the roads, cos they were too narrow. 327 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:16,160 Not all litters were pulled, as it were, or hung between horses. 328 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:19,520 Some were... Some were carried by people. 329 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:23,800 And I've got four energetic gentleman grooms. 330 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:25,600 And now I'm going to ride on... 331 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:29,840 ..in what I assume 332 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,840 was the only proper way to travel in the baggage train. 333 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:37,000 Contemporary records don't tell us 334 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,240 how much of her trip Queen Elizabeth spent in a litter. 335 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,080 It would appear, though, that between the major stops, 336 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:44,720 she'd have been on horseback, 337 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:47,800 very often riding separate from the main baggage train. 338 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:50,640 And then she'd have entered the various towns on the route, 339 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:54,080 like Burford, for instance, carried along in state. 340 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:58,120 There's a tantalising glimpse of Queen Elizabeth's personal taste 341 00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:01,000 in one bill that she paid, where she spent more money 342 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,240 on her old-style litter than she did on her newfangled coach. 343 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:07,480 She had it decorated with black leather, 344 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,920 silver studs and a lot of red satin cushions. 345 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:13,360 Good. OK, good. 346 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:16,000 Thank you very much. Well lifted. Good. 347 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,440 I'll tell you one thing, though. She was right about the cushions. 348 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,120 The town of Burford sits 349 00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:26,920 on the border between Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. 350 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:30,440 It's often referred to as the "gateway to the Cotswolds". 351 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:36,240 The fortunes of this handsome town in the Elizabethan era 352 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,760 were founded almost entirely on sheep. 353 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:42,000 The wool trade was hugely important throughout the Cotswolds. 354 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,640 It was the basis of England's wealth. 355 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:48,320 A popular medieval saying was that in Europe, the best wool is English, 356 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,760 and in England, the best wool is Cotswold. 357 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:57,600 I think this must be the bridge across the Windrush, 358 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:00,280 where the entire corporation of Burford came out 359 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:02,720 in order to welcome Elizabeth I. 360 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,880 They were led by somebody called Simon Wisdom, 361 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:08,880 and she...she liked to visit towns. 362 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:11,800 And they liked to see her. 363 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,640 Burford was an ancient free town. 364 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:16,760 No local bigwig ruled here. 365 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:19,000 Towns like this looked to the Queen to protect them, 366 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,400 and in return, she got their support and their money. 367 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:28,320 On the Royal progress, the entourage often got hopelessly lost, 368 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,440 and as Stuart and I pick our way through the Cotswolds 369 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:33,640 and try to stay true to Mark's route, 370 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:36,440 we, too, are facing the odd challenge. 371 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:38,880 Is it right? 372 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:43,320 Or is it left? 373 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,800 But there are benefits to getting lost every now and again. 374 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:49,480 I think we should go up that way. 375 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:54,760 We're seeing more and more of this superb landscape. 376 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:58,160 Is this the same England, though, 377 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,000 that a contemporary German tourist in the 1500s wrote about 378 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:03,480 with an appreciative eye, 379 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:05,880 praising the short, tender grass of the uplands 380 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:09,960 and the huge numbers of sheep, and calling it the "true golden fleece"? 381 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:13,400 To give me an idea, I'm meeting landscape historian, 382 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:15,440 Dr Amanda Richardson. 383 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:20,720 Now, it's quite probable, isn't it, Mandy, that Elizabeth 384 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:22,960 and her retinue, is it were, 385 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:27,640 would have travelled along the top of hills as they went on their tour? 386 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,920 Oh, yes, definitely, because once you come off the tops of the hills 387 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:32,800 and you go down into the valleys, 388 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:36,800 then you're more likely to encounter impassable roads, flooding. 389 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:40,400 So they would continuously get, one assumes, on their journey, 390 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,440 these incredible vistas of the Kingdom of England? 391 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,200 Certainly by the Elizabethan period, you would get something 392 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:50,000 approximating to the landscape that we're looking out on here. 393 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:55,080 But we've got to remember that the landscape has been constantly changing through history. 394 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:58,520 And also, today, there's quite a lot of woodland out there. 395 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,280 But actually, it's probably quite recent, quite a lot of that. 396 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:03,480 Yeah, at the turn of the 16th and 17th century, 397 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,760 it's estimated that only about 6 or 7% of England was wooded. 398 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:09,040 So this whole idea we've got about all of England, 399 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:12,560 a squirrel going from one end of England to the other in trees 400 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:14,600 is just a false one. 401 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:18,000 But the biggest impact on the landscape from the Elizabethan time 402 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:19,520 was caused by sheep farming. 403 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:21,560 Now, we can see some tops out there 404 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,680 which have been used probably for summer pasture and all that, 405 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,680 but when they came down into the valley, 406 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:31,760 what makes this different is that they needed to make fields, 407 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:33,240 and they did that with hedges. 408 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:34,720 So they did. 409 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,200 And you've got a pattern here of quite irregular fields, 410 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:39,680 so these fields are probably quite early, 411 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:41,960 possibly dating from the Elizabethan period. 412 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:45,880 So that's another thing that we associate with the English landscape. 413 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:52,120 Visitors to the country felt that the English landscape was one of the finest they'd ever seen. 414 00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:56,800 A Venetian visitor in 1596 declared that the country 415 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,440 was the most lovely you can imagine in all the world. 416 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:03,080 It's still pretty magnificent. 417 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:08,600 Moving on from the Burford area, our progress is taking us 418 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:12,640 even further west on the modern A40, 419 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:15,560 shifting from Oxfordshire into Gloucestershire. 420 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:18,320 We then follow the route to the town of Winchcombe. 421 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:23,000 Now, although having the Queen of England, 422 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,160 several hundred members of her court 423 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:29,080 and an enormous baggage train turning up at your front door 424 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:31,080 may have seemed rather daunting, 425 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:33,160 most of the important lords and ladies of the realm 426 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,800 really wanted the Queen to pay them a visit. 427 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:41,760 This was an ideal place for the Royal progress to halt. 428 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:46,640 It's Sudeley Castle in Winchcombe, in the heart of the Cotswolds. 429 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,440 Elizabeth had partly gone on her progress 430 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,720 to keep an eye on her nobles. 431 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:58,320 England was still a country divided on religious grounds, 432 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,880 and many of the old aristocracy had Catholic leanings, 433 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:05,440 potentially rebels. 434 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:07,360 So she went where she was welcome, 435 00:25:07,360 --> 00:25:10,320 to acknowledge friends whom she could support 436 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,800 and to enhance their status in the locality. 437 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:24,840 And her host at Sudeley was Lady Chandos. She would have to entertain lavishly. 438 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:28,880 Sometimes whole houses were built and special lakes were constructed. 439 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:33,760 Most of all, they ate massive feasts. 440 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:39,760 Joining me on my visit is Alison Sim, 441 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:41,840 who's going to teach me and some interested locals 442 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:43,880 about Tudor table manners. 443 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:48,600 Ladies and gentlemen, could you stand up? The Queen hasn't arrived. 444 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:50,600 Goodness me, no manners at all. 445 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:55,840 Er, madam. Madam. I so apologise that you have been placed here. 446 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:58,720 I am sorry, I am sorry. Now, I know you're only a merchant, 447 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:00,880 I don't know what you told the steward, 448 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:02,920 but could you move down, please? Really. 449 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,160 Yes, I think that's more fitting. 450 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:07,800 The nearer you are to the Queen, the more important you are. 451 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:09,840 The further away, the less important you are. 452 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,080 Having establish my own position 453 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:15,480 well down the table, 454 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:19,400 I can address myself to the huge number of different dishes that might be on offer. 455 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:26,240 Alison, a lot of my idea of how they ate comes from watching movies 456 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,760 of one kind or another, and Charles Laughton in The Private Life Of Henry VIII, 457 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,000 he would sort of chew on his chicken bone, 458 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,960 slinging them over his... Was that right? Absolutely not. 459 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:39,280 When you think of the amount of money you've paid for your clothes, you're actually very, very delicate. 460 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,120 But we actually ate with our hands? 461 00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:45,800 That's right. So the meat actually comes to your plate cut up, 462 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:47,840 and then you can just pick it up. 463 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:51,720 And you might have little bowls on the table, called saucers, 464 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:53,440 and you just dip your meat in. 465 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:57,560 And don't want to see any sauce above that knuckle there. 466 00:26:57,560 --> 00:26:59,360 And then you just pop that in your mouth 467 00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:02,840 and wipe your hand on your napkin, which is over your shoulder here. 468 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:04,920 Saucers? Saucers, yes. 469 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:08,760 So a saucer is for having a sauce in? Absolutely. 470 00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:10,520 OK. Of course. 471 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,040 What other manners should I be applying here when I'm eating? 472 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,400 Well, most of the rules are pretty much the way they are today, 473 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,840 in that you mustn't talk with your mouth full. 474 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:21,760 But there are a few that are different. 475 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:23,800 You're not allowed to scratch at the table, 476 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:25,960 and that must have been pretty tempting. 477 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,880 I was just about to scratch as well! The days when you had fleas, it must've been difficult. 478 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:32,280 Could you scratch yourself or other people? 479 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:36,160 It doesn't say about other people, but you certainly shouldn't scratch yourself! 480 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:41,040 For Elizabeth, a host would commonly have to provide lavish gifts. 481 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,920 Jewelled dresses were a popular choice. 482 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:46,720 She might even take a fancy to some ornament in the house 483 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:48,560 and expect to be given it. 484 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:50,120 And alongside musicians, 485 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:53,000 dancing and elaborately staged entertainments, 486 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,840 there would have to be opportunities for her to indulge 487 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,320 in her favourite sports, one of which was hawking. 488 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:03,600 Today, we'd refer to it as falconry. 489 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:06,200 In Elizabethan times, birds of prey 490 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,080 were used exclusively for hunting. 491 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:11,320 Here to introduce me to his birds 492 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,440 at the castle is falconer Tony Bryant. 493 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:16,200 BELL RINGS 494 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,080 The hood just pops her in the dark. 495 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:25,920 The action of putting the hood on hoodwinks her 496 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,360 into thinking it's night-time. Hoodwinks her? Hoodwink. 497 00:28:28,360 --> 00:28:30,600 That's where we get the phrase hoodwink from? Yeah. 498 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:34,120 A phrase from falconry. To hoodwink. 499 00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:36,280 Would you like to hold her? Yes, I would. 500 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:37,920 She doesn't mind me holding her? 501 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:43,680 No problem at all, especially with the hood on. All right. A glove. 502 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,680 OK. Well, that's obvious because it's a left-hand glove! Absolutely. GRIFF LAUGHS 503 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,920 If you were a left-handed falconer, you would have a right-hand glove. 504 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:55,480 You need your free hand, the good hand, for doing the fiddly bits. 505 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,960 The jesses, the leather straps, go under your thumb, 506 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:02,480 so you've got control of the bird. Having somebody under your thumb. Ah. 507 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,680 Once Tony had dealt with some of the preliminaries, 508 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,000 he brought out another bird. 509 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:10,840 This is a Harris hawk, 510 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:14,600 and it's my turn to try to bond with a bird of prey. 511 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:18,360 Oh... 512 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,920 Turn to face me, Griff. How incred... I will in just a second, 513 00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:25,840 I'm just getting over the fact that a bird has landed on my... 514 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:27,280 Too late. 515 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,760 It's coming, quick. Quick. Whoa! 516 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,400 All right. Here he comes. Whoa. 517 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:39,880 He took me by surprise. Now go on, back you go. 518 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,560 See, that's two things I have to get now. 519 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:48,600 A Harris hawk and the Phantom V. 520 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,040 Spectacular. 521 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:07,080 In 1574, Queen Elizabeth was 40 years old. 522 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:09,880 She'd been on the throne for 15 years, 523 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:12,400 and had managed to deftly sidestep 524 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:15,440 the tricky question of whom she would marry. 525 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:18,920 But it was the way that she'd handled the religious divisions in the country 526 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,320 where she really excelled. 527 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,960 She'd successfully steered a middle ground between Protestant zealots 528 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:26,840 and rebellious Catholics. 529 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:31,240 She had asserted the right of the monarch as head of the Church in England. 530 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:37,360 Her progresses of the 1570s were generally considered a huge success. 531 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:40,160 And here at Sudeley Castle, in the private apartments, 532 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:42,520 there's a striking memorial to her visits. 533 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:48,760 This is a stained-glass window of the time, 534 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:54,640 and it shows her in all her glory, in one of those great stately galleons of a dress 535 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:58,320 with the orb and the sceptre. 536 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,720 And it represents peace propaganda, because it shows her 537 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:07,840 as a virgin queen, and she was at great pains to emphasise 538 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:14,960 that her chastity brought peace and prosperity to the realm as a result. 539 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:19,320 This was the sort of image that these progresses 540 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:21,040 were about promoting. 541 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,520 Sudeley Castle entertained Elizabeth royally. 542 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:31,280 But not everyone could afford to do the same. 543 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:35,040 Some people did write to special advisers to the Queen asking, 544 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:37,680 begging to be left off the list, because they knew that 545 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:40,160 the arrival of the court would completely ruin them. 546 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:45,160 It was actually more expensive for an individual to play host to Elizabeth than it was for a town. 547 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:50,080 In towns, the court paid some of their expenses themselves. 548 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:53,760 But even for the citizens of Gloucester, where we're going next, 549 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:56,440 hot on her trail, the Queen was an expensive guest. 550 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:02,680 She arrived here on August 10 1574, and in the local archives, 551 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,920 there's a revealing record of her visit. 552 00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:11,240 And it begins with the gift given to the Queen's Majesty, 553 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,040 and that came to £67. 554 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:19,120 That would have been somewhere in the region of £100,000, 555 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:21,960 just as a sort of welcoming gift. 556 00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:26,400 The rest of it here is a list of the other expenditure that they made. 557 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:31,320 They paid to the musicians who... for playing about the city 558 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:35,280 every morning, as long as the Queen's Grace was here. 559 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,040 You get some idea of the incredible amount of money 560 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,440 they had to just give to the court to keep them happy. 561 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:42,560 But the rest of this document 562 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:45,160 is about the preparations that they also made to the town. 563 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:48,960 They spruced up the place. They put gravel out on all the roads. 564 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,200 They got sand to clear things up, 565 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:55,480 and they painted quite a lot of houses to make it look smart. 566 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:57,880 And that's not particularly different 567 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:02,480 from what any town would do if the Queen were due to visit. 568 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,600 'During her time in places such as Gloucester, 569 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:09,480 'Elizabeth was always stopping to say hello to the local people, 570 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:11,960 'and she encouraged passers-by to speak to her. 571 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,440 'She effectively invented the Royal walkabout. 572 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:22,520 'The Spanish ambassador commented that she always went where the crowd was thickest. 573 00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:25,760 'I've been told to seek out a pub called the Dick Whittington, 574 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,520 'where Elizabeth is rumoured to have stayed. 575 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:31,440 'It's known locally as St Nicholas House.' 576 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,000 You go down there, and it's supposed to have a ghost. 577 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:39,760 Right down the bottom. How far down is it? 578 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:42,040 Just down the road. Is it? 579 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:46,280 I'm stopping to think now whether it's beyond the church. No, it wouldn't be. 580 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:48,680 St Nicolas House is down on the left there. 581 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:50,920 It's before you get to that, on the right. 582 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:54,320 Which way am I going to get to the Whittington? Cheers! Down here? 583 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:55,800 Whittington pub? Down here? 584 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:02,120 Well, despite the apparent confusion, 585 00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:05,920 I did eventually track down St Nicholas House. 586 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:08,240 To be honest, it's not very likely that she stayed here, 587 00:34:08,240 --> 00:34:14,240 and not just because this is a pub, but because this just happens 588 00:34:14,240 --> 00:34:16,880 to be one of the oldest houses in Gloucester, 589 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:19,600 and associated with the Dick Whittington family, 590 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:21,760 so people have put two and two together. 591 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:24,800 It's much, much more likely that she stayed near the cathedral 592 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,560 in the dean's house, because she needed a lot of space. 593 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:31,760 But it is a measure of how important to her it was 594 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:33,400 that she stayed in Gloucester. 595 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:37,920 She was here for three days. No hunting, just duties. 596 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:42,160 As well as that Dick Whittington pub, 597 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:46,400 there's actually a fair amount of Elizabeth and mediaeval Gloucester 598 00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:49,960 that still survives, and that Elizabeth would have seen. 599 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:56,560 But perhaps the most astonishing relic of her time is also one of the town's best-kept secrets. 600 00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,680 I have been given a set of keys to allow us to have a look 601 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:06,440 at something that apparently most of the residents of Gloucester never get to see. 602 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,680 How incredible. 603 00:35:19,720 --> 00:35:24,840 It makes you feel as if you've got vertigo. It's huge! 604 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:34,040 It's reckoned to be the largest timber-framed building in Britain. 605 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:39,200 And it was built in 1560. 606 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:43,400 So it would have been brand-new when she arrived. 607 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:48,600 It's spectacular. 608 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:51,120 Originally a magnificent merchant's house, 609 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:55,560 modern Gloucester has grown up and closed it in, 610 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:59,600 to leave it forgotten and unnoticed by the crowds in the high street. 611 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:09,280 One of the great joys for Good Queen Bess on her Royal progress 612 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:11,840 seems to have been the freedom to be capricious. 613 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:14,360 Although detailed plans were drawn up in advance, 614 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:18,200 it wasn't uncommon for her to change her mind en route. 615 00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:20,800 Wherever she went was subject to her whim. 616 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:26,480 She could be a Queen and decide whatever she wanted to do, 617 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:28,360 and I think, when she was at London, 618 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:31,120 she was a lot more under other people's control. 619 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:33,480 And a month into her trip, 620 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,880 she made one of these unscheduled stops in the town of Berkeley, 621 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:41,600 17 miles southwest of Gloucester on the banks of the River Severn. 622 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:47,040 She came to the magnificent Berkeley Castle, owned by Lord Henry Berkeley. 623 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:49,800 And there are significant undercurrents to this visit. 624 00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:54,160 This is another side to the protocol of house-calling - 625 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:58,400 because this powerful aristocrat and local landowner was not there. 626 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:04,720 What's extraordinary about this castle is that it is still owned by the very same family 627 00:37:04,720 --> 00:37:07,600 that occupied it when Queen Elizabeth came here. 628 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:09,960 This is Berkeley Castle. This is, yes. 629 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:12,440 You've got the keep here, the oldest, impressive... 630 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:14,240 These early walls, 12th century. 631 00:37:14,240 --> 00:37:18,160 Curtain wall. The great hall in the middle here. 632 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:22,240 And this wonderful 1920s addition, the porch entrance. 633 00:37:22,240 --> 00:37:25,400 And then you've got my parents' section along here. 634 00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:27,880 Shall I show you around? Yes, please do, please do. 635 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:31,080 Greeting me is one of the current Berkeleys, Charles. 636 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:35,120 Continuously occupied by the same family since the 12th century, 637 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:37,240 it's the oldest building in the country 638 00:37:37,240 --> 00:37:40,200 still inhabited by the family who built it. 639 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:45,280 In 1574, when Elizabeth arrived, despite the absence, 640 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:48,200 or perhaps because of the absence of the then owner, 641 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:50,480 a figure not wholly in favour, 642 00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:54,080 the Queen and her entourage made themselves completely at home. 643 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:59,560 Once the Queen had settled in, had her dinner, she was off to bed. 644 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:05,400 But the bedroom was something that each host had to provide, 645 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:12,120 and was a huge problem, because she demanded a presence room which was 40 foot long, 646 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:17,200 a little privy chamber, a wardrobe and also a private bedroom. 647 00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:21,720 Hello, Charles. Hello. 648 00:38:21,720 --> 00:38:25,560 Charles Kightly is an expert on Elizabethan interiors, and he's here 649 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:28,920 to show me what needed to be done to prepare for the Queen's bedtime. 650 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:33,400 She brings with her the actual bed? Oh, yes, sometimes. 651 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:35,520 Certainly the hangings. 652 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:39,200 Everything she needs, because she likes to have her things round her. 653 00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:42,240 There would be a bit of urgency here, wouldn't there? 654 00:38:42,240 --> 00:38:45,520 Well, they would be, because we've got to have everything ready. 655 00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:49,760 'Soft upholstery was a relatively new addition to 16th-century interiors, 656 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:55,840 'and it's no surprise that the Queen would have had the ultimate comfort available at the time. 657 00:38:55,840 --> 00:39:00,720 'For her mattress, the down was pushed through a very narrow sieve 658 00:39:00,720 --> 00:39:03,960 'until it was as fine as the driven snow. 659 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:08,040 'Her hangings, meanwhile, though lavish, had a practical purpose.' 660 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:10,240 So if you pull him through there... 661 00:39:10,240 --> 00:39:16,600 Was the function of that merely insulatory, or was it also private? 662 00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:20,280 Well, the idea of having a room all to yourself, which we think is just great, 663 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:23,440 in those days I think would have been the very opposite. 664 00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:27,160 "We don't want privacy. What happens if I need something in the night? 665 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:28,760 "I need a servant there." 666 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:32,600 If I get up... 667 00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:35,840 You need someone to hold the other end, I think. 668 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:37,240 Whoa! It's all right. 669 00:39:37,240 --> 00:39:39,280 We've got it. OK. 670 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,360 You need to take up the slack. That's it, good. There's one. 671 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:44,960 You're very good at this. OK. 672 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:53,000 There we are. Now, that seems like a bed fit for a queen. 673 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,520 And the Queen wouldn't have just had one mattress. No? 674 00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:58,240 She'd have had about four. Right. 675 00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:02,480 So, like the princess, literally the princess and the pea, 676 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:06,720 she was sort of lying on quite a supply? 677 00:40:06,720 --> 00:40:08,480 What were the mattresses made of? 678 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:12,920 Will, the bottom mattress for the Queen would probably be either full of wool or flocks, 679 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:16,040 which is a kind of wool which is combed and then washed. 680 00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:20,880 And then on top of that, feathers, feathers with their quills on. On top of that, down. 681 00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:26,400 She'd get into her bed, and she'd be privy, meaning "private", 682 00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:29,880 and toasty, meaning "warm". 683 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:34,320 She had an eventful morning ahead, and I'm meeting with David Smith, 684 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:38,400 the keeper of the family records, to find out about it. 685 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:42,080 And David, these are the Berkeley Castle archives, are they? 686 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:43,360 Yes, they are. 687 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:46,720 But we tend to call them the Berkeley Castle muniments, 688 00:40:46,720 --> 00:40:50,480 which is really just something you keep in a very strong place. 689 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:56,320 The archives record Queen Elizabeth's unscheduled visit 690 00:40:56,320 --> 00:41:00,800 to Berkeley in August 1574, and the deeply political motives behind it. 691 00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:10,280 So, this is the story of Queen Elizabeth coming here? Yes. In 1574. 692 00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:12,880 "What time this Lord Henry 693 00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:18,040 "had a stately game of red deer in the park adjoining, 694 00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:24,960 "during which time of her being there, much slaughter was made. 695 00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:32,680 "As seven and twenty stags were slain in the toils in one day." 696 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:37,720 So what was going on here? A-ha! 697 00:41:37,720 --> 00:41:41,880 Well, what happened was that the Queen was, as we know, 698 00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:43,400 on her southern progress, 699 00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:46,160 and she was originally intended to come to Berkeley, 700 00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:50,400 but the Earl of Leicester persuaded her to change her itinerary. 701 00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:54,560 The Earl of Leicester was her favourite, and some people said her boyfriend, 702 00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:56,920 and he was generally an influence at court. 703 00:41:56,920 --> 00:42:01,000 And he had had his eye on the Berkeley estates for several years, 704 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:04,000 so he deliberately persuaded the Queen to come, 705 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:06,400 knowing that Henry, Lord Berkeley, was away. 706 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:08,960 He was at his other castle, near Coventry. 707 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:13,040 So she came here, and of course made absolute mayhem. 708 00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:16,360 27 red deer were killed in one go, 709 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:20,640 and many, many other deer also slaughtered. 710 00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:23,920 And Henry was absolutely livid. 711 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:29,720 Leicester, I think, had engineered the whole business to make sure that Henry, Lord Berkeley, was upset. 712 00:42:29,720 --> 00:42:35,520 Henry dismantles the deer park, and this gets back to the Queen, 713 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,240 who will not accept any form of insult. 714 00:42:38,240 --> 00:42:42,120 From Henry's point of view, it's a seriously dangerous thing to do, 715 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:47,480 and friends at court tell him that he is in serious trouble about this, 716 00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:51,440 and he wants to watch out, because his brother-in-law's already been executed, 717 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:53,280 and he might be on the list. 718 00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:57,280 So this story is sort of also showing that 719 00:42:57,280 --> 00:42:59,800 the business of being a good host 720 00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:07,320 and allowing the Queen to come to stay was an important...could be an important part of your future? 721 00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:12,560 Yes. Because either she would go as a sign of favour, or she might, 722 00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:16,040 on occasion, go to someone she didn't really like that much 723 00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:19,280 and attempt to bankrupt him by saying, 724 00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:22,520 "I'll only stay a couple of weeks," and then saying, "Oh, I like it here. 725 00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:25,400 "I will stay another couple of weeks," and of course the poor chap 726 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:28,520 was already borrowing money to pay for all the entertainment, 727 00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:34,120 so that would put him in serious financial difficulty for years to come. 728 00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:36,880 Deer hunting was high on the agenda for this progress. 729 00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:40,960 Most of the private palaces she visited had deer parks. 730 00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:44,920 In fact, later she went to places that had parks but no houses, 731 00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:49,120 which would seem to indicate that Elizabeth wanted to hunt as much as she could. 732 00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:51,760 But how hard is it to hit a deer with a bow and arrow? 733 00:43:53,240 --> 00:43:57,040 Janet Hudson has been an archer in Gloucestershire for nearly 40 years. 734 00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:00,200 If anyone can teach me, she can. 735 00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:03,320 Janet, hello. Hello. 736 00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:05,800 Diana in the wood, the huntress. 737 00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:07,520 That's extraordinary. 738 00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:09,040 If you were Queen Elizabeth, 739 00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:12,560 that's exactly how I would have greeted you. She used to go hunting, 740 00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:17,760 and people would pop out dressed as wild men with green hair, and recite poems to her. 741 00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,200 I have never had that when I've been shooting, I must say. 742 00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:22,440 So, now, let me look at my bow. 743 00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:26,160 Here you are. 744 00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:29,760 Now, we use these fingers, and traditionally the notion is that 745 00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:33,840 it was the two fingers at Agincourt - to the French 746 00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:36,480 they showed that they still had their two fingers. 747 00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:39,120 That is a tradition, yes. It is said that 748 00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:42,360 when archers were captured they did have their fingers removed, 749 00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:44,400 to prevent them operating in war 750 00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:46,920 and also as a punishment for poaching. 751 00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:52,120 We'll try aiming at an unfortunate small deer over there. 752 00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:55,000 Yes, as far as you can, and just let it go when you're ready. 753 00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:56,560 Well done, you nearly hit it. 754 00:44:56,560 --> 00:45:00,240 'For Elizabeth, though, it might not have been as difficult as all that, 755 00:45:00,240 --> 00:45:03,040 'because the stags were effectively herded together for her, 756 00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:05,320 'virtually guaranteeing a kill every time.' 757 00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:07,960 This time try and bring it closer to your chest. 758 00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:11,000 Closer to my chest? Yes, closer in to your chin. There? 759 00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:15,240 Yes, as far back as you can, and point at the ground. 760 00:45:15,240 --> 00:45:16,680 Yes! 761 00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:18,520 Good gracious me! 762 00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:20,240 That's absolutely astonishing. 763 00:45:20,240 --> 00:45:23,560 Can I say, that's the best instruction I've ever had. 764 00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:27,360 Not only did it quiver as it went in - djdjrrring! - 765 00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:29,880 and into the side of that plastic deer over there, 766 00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:31,920 I was quivering, and so was my quiver. 767 00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:33,280 That's extraordinary. 768 00:45:36,240 --> 00:45:40,400 Nice to see you've come back with your fingers intact after the hawks. 769 00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:42,280 Well, you know I hit it. 770 00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:45,120 From Berkeley, the next leg of the progress takes us 771 00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:50,200 back on the A38 to the tiny village of Iron Acton. 772 00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:53,680 And, again, we're entering a detective story. 773 00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:57,520 Some of the places that Royalty grace get lost in time, 774 00:45:57,520 --> 00:46:01,560 and sometimes a chance encounter reveals their Royal connections. 775 00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:04,640 Amazingly, this significant Tudor building 776 00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:08,560 was completely derelict by the 1970s and was being used as a cattle shed. 777 00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:11,320 Had it not been for local historian Dorothy Brown, 778 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:13,360 it might have been lost altogether. 779 00:46:15,360 --> 00:46:18,440 So, Dorothy, you were the person who discovered this building. 780 00:46:18,440 --> 00:46:22,720 In 1976, I found that there was this amazing building 781 00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:26,320 that I didn't know about, and I went to see 782 00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:30,320 if there was an owner or something, and there was none. 783 00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:33,040 There was nobody actually there, 784 00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:35,600 and so I wandered in and took some photos. 785 00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:38,480 I was quite amazed, and I went 786 00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:42,040 and scratched one of the walls, which was that one up there, 787 00:46:42,040 --> 00:46:48,640 and underneath I found the most amazing quality decoration, 788 00:46:48,640 --> 00:46:53,800 and typical of 16th-century palace work. 789 00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:57,240 But you could see it was super quality, so I thought I'd better stop... 790 00:46:57,240 --> 00:47:00,960 But it must have been the most exciting moment. It was fantastic. 791 00:47:04,160 --> 00:47:07,800 Dorothy had discovered an important Tudor building, 792 00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:11,280 and further research revealed that parts of it had been built 793 00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:12,680 for a special purpose. 794 00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:16,640 The Tudor owner, Sir Nicholas Poyntz, 795 00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:20,160 erected this wing in a staggering nine months. 796 00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:24,720 But though it was a rush job, it was done with care, for a reason. 797 00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:30,960 The building itself hold the clues. 798 00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:32,600 High up in the rafters, 799 00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:35,400 there's another little architectural surprise. 800 00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:36,840 Oh, look at that. 801 00:47:38,880 --> 00:47:43,080 We're looking at a roof which tells a story, 802 00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:48,440 because the trusses that hold up this roof are queen posts, 803 00:47:48,440 --> 00:47:54,120 and it's much more common to find this form of support 804 00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:58,880 in the east of England, rather than the west. 805 00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:03,440 And it happens to tell us this building 806 00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:07,920 is based on ideas which were imported. 807 00:48:09,160 --> 00:48:13,200 The latest architectural style had been brought over to the west from London. 808 00:48:13,200 --> 00:48:15,440 The grand wing was put up in a hurry 809 00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:18,880 because Sir Nicholas Poyntz - a courtier - wanted to impress 810 00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:23,960 Elizabeth's father, Henry VII, who was planning a visit in 1535. 811 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:29,240 And here we are in a magnificent room, 812 00:48:29,240 --> 00:48:32,960 not a Gloucestershire room, at all, but a London, fashionable room, 813 00:48:32,960 --> 00:48:36,200 and this was the presence chamber. 814 00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:38,600 I just want to try something here. 815 00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:42,440 OK, let's see if this works. 816 00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:45,280 One, two, 817 00:48:45,280 --> 00:48:46,720 three, four, 818 00:48:46,720 --> 00:48:48,120 five, six, 819 00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:49,560 seven, eight, 820 00:48:49,560 --> 00:48:51,160 nine, ten, 821 00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:53,840 eleven, twelve, thirteen - 822 00:48:53,840 --> 00:48:58,560 near enough 13 yards there, or 39 feet. 823 00:48:58,560 --> 00:49:03,800 It's a 40-foot presence chamber, and we come through here, 824 00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:08,600 and what's here but, of course, the privy chamber - 825 00:49:08,600 --> 00:49:11,320 the chamber where the King had just his cronies 826 00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:14,160 and a few special people around here. 827 00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:17,000 And when he wanted to go away from them, 828 00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:20,040 he went through here and came through 829 00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:22,680 into what is known locally 830 00:49:22,680 --> 00:49:26,040 as King Henry VIII's bedroom. 831 00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:32,840 And what we have here is exactly what the ushers 832 00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:36,720 were ordered to find for Queen Elizabeth on her tour. 833 00:49:38,640 --> 00:49:40,760 Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn 834 00:49:40,760 --> 00:49:44,000 did use these rooms, but where Sir Nicholas succeeded, 835 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:46,840 his son failed. 836 00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:52,360 Queen Elizabeth - on her own progress, nearly 40 years later - passed by, 837 00:49:52,360 --> 00:49:54,360 though the privy council met here. 838 00:49:56,200 --> 00:49:59,920 It was an elaborate dance with those who wanted power. 839 00:49:59,920 --> 00:50:03,640 She could snub as well as reward, accept or decline, 840 00:50:03,640 --> 00:50:07,360 even abuse hospitality, as a political act. 841 00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:12,640 Today, the presence chamber is being used by a group 842 00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:15,960 of young students who are learning La Volta. 843 00:50:15,960 --> 00:50:19,960 Teaching them this popular Elizabethan dance is tutor Anne Day. 844 00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:23,440 What we're watching here is not really sort of display dancing 845 00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:25,520 to be watched like we watch the ballet, 846 00:50:25,520 --> 00:50:28,000 but something people were expected to join in. 847 00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:31,840 Yes, very much social dancing, but also to be watched, 848 00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:34,560 because you would do this with the court around, 849 00:50:34,560 --> 00:50:38,240 and you're also dancing in the presence of the Queen. 850 00:50:38,240 --> 00:50:41,680 And the Queen herself liked to dance this particular dance. 851 00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:46,960 Yes, there's a famous painting that is reputed to be her 852 00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:50,760 dancing the La Volta with the Earl of Leicester. 853 00:50:50,760 --> 00:50:54,360 Right, and the dancing was quite a useful way 854 00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:56,720 of getting to know the opposite sex, was it? 855 00:50:56,720 --> 00:50:59,760 Oh, yes, the only proper way you could meet another young person. 856 00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:03,400 Because courtly manners kept you separate from the girls otherwise, 857 00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:06,840 and then somehow you would get intimate on the dancefloor, 858 00:51:06,840 --> 00:51:10,200 and the Elizabethan age was quite a sexy age, wasn't it? 859 00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:13,360 Yes, one of the dancing masters of the day has pointed out 860 00:51:13,360 --> 00:51:16,960 that once you are dancing with a young woman, you can work out 861 00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:19,640 whether she has foul breath or a deformity, 862 00:51:19,640 --> 00:51:21,320 what her conversation's like - 863 00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:23,440 in other words, her level of intelligence... 864 00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:25,760 Her marriageability. And her marriageability, 865 00:51:25,760 --> 00:51:28,560 whether she'd be a good wife, good manager of your household. 866 00:51:30,040 --> 00:51:32,680 Elizabethans learned to dance at a very young age. 867 00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:36,720 The higher your rank, the earlier your tuition would start. 868 00:51:36,720 --> 00:51:40,640 And Royal status meant lessons from the age of six. 869 00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:46,080 I guess I've arrived in court at quite a late stage in my life, 870 00:51:46,080 --> 00:51:49,320 but can you teach the a few steps? Oh, certainly, yes. 871 00:51:49,320 --> 00:51:54,440 Hop, step and jump. Hop, step and jump. 872 00:51:54,440 --> 00:51:57,040 Hop, step and pivot, that's it. 873 00:51:57,040 --> 00:51:59,480 So, if your knee makes contact, 874 00:51:59,480 --> 00:52:03,280 your left knee makes contact with her...her rear, 875 00:52:03,280 --> 00:52:04,760 and it pushes her on. 876 00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:08,520 Whup! Binky-bonky-bing. Whup! Binky-bonky-bing. 877 00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:12,200 OK. One more. Oh, and one more! 878 00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:14,160 Binky-bonky-bing, whoa! 879 00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:26,080 I tell you, actually, what I know, Leah, is I'm looking into your eyes 880 00:52:26,080 --> 00:52:28,320 and that's delightful, but I know that my legs 881 00:52:28,320 --> 00:52:31,240 are not going the same way as your legs at the moment. 882 00:52:31,240 --> 00:52:33,840 THEY LAUGH 883 00:52:33,840 --> 00:52:36,760 Strictly Come Volta doesn't seem to be beckoning, 884 00:52:36,760 --> 00:52:39,040 so, as they continue their preparations, 885 00:52:39,040 --> 00:52:41,560 it's time for me to leave Acton Court 886 00:52:41,560 --> 00:52:43,360 and get back on the road. 887 00:52:49,680 --> 00:52:53,120 I'm entering the final leg of my journey. 888 00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:56,160 I now have to cover the last 10 miles southwest 889 00:52:56,160 --> 00:52:59,320 and onto the culmination of the Royal progress. 890 00:53:02,280 --> 00:53:08,760 This seaport was one of the major defensive outposts of the Queen's realm. 891 00:53:08,760 --> 00:53:11,600 and it was the furthest west she would ever travel. 892 00:53:11,600 --> 00:53:13,560 We're on our way to Bristol, 893 00:53:13,560 --> 00:53:17,040 the most important stop of her summer holiday, 894 00:53:17,040 --> 00:53:20,720 and there she had political business to attend to 895 00:53:20,720 --> 00:53:23,760 and let the Spanish ambassador catch up with her. 896 00:53:25,640 --> 00:53:31,240 Queen Elizabeth I finally arrived here on August 14 1574. 897 00:53:31,240 --> 00:53:34,720 It had taken her and her baggage train a month 898 00:53:34,720 --> 00:53:37,120 to travel the 156 miles from Windsor. 899 00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:47,320 So, Her Majesty the Queen, Gloriana, is making her way 900 00:53:47,320 --> 00:53:50,000 through the streets of Bristow, as it's known then. 901 00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:52,080 She's accompanied the mayor, bare-headed, 902 00:53:52,080 --> 00:53:54,640 carrying the sword of state, all the aldermen, 903 00:53:54,640 --> 00:53:57,280 and 300 local soldiers 904 00:53:57,280 --> 00:54:01,360 who, now and again, fire their guns into the air in celebration. 905 00:54:01,360 --> 00:54:05,800 And everywhere she goes she's surprised by figures 906 00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:09,120 who pop out and deliver poetic orations. 907 00:54:09,120 --> 00:54:12,720 O, blessed be the hour, our Queen is coming to the town 908 00:54:12,720 --> 00:54:15,120 with princely train and power... 909 00:54:15,120 --> 00:54:17,360 These boys are from Bristol Grammar School, 910 00:54:17,360 --> 00:54:21,880 founded on this site by her father, and visited in turn by Elizabeth. 911 00:54:21,880 --> 00:54:27,640 All hail, O plant of grace and special sprout of fame... 912 00:54:27,640 --> 00:54:30,160 The flattering verses are the actual words 913 00:54:30,160 --> 00:54:32,640 written for her visit by Thomas Churchyard. 914 00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:36,480 ..England's hope is come to place these things in breast, 915 00:54:36,480 --> 00:54:40,560 we dare not stay her longer here whose travel crave with rest... 916 00:54:40,560 --> 00:54:43,800 With these ceremonies, and others like them, 917 00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:46,280 the people of Bristol demonstrated to the Queen 918 00:54:46,280 --> 00:54:50,320 that they were disciplined and worthy of her attention. 919 00:54:50,320 --> 00:54:54,160 But her priority in this city was to carry out serious business 920 00:54:54,160 --> 00:54:56,200 with the Spanish ambassador. 921 00:54:56,200 --> 00:54:58,960 He had been brought here deliberately to witness 922 00:54:58,960 --> 00:55:02,240 a three-day mock sea battle. 923 00:55:02,240 --> 00:55:04,760 She wanted to show him the power of her Navy, 924 00:55:04,760 --> 00:55:08,240 and the strength of Bristol in particular, 925 00:55:08,240 --> 00:55:10,280 before signing that treaty 926 00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:13,680 that would - temporarily - halt years of bad feeling 927 00:55:13,680 --> 00:55:17,040 caused by English pirates raiding Spanish treasure ships. 928 00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:22,200 It brought stability to the nation for a further 14 years, 929 00:55:22,200 --> 00:55:26,480 until the famous defeat of the Spanish Armada. 930 00:55:26,480 --> 00:55:29,960 Later, the celebrations continued. 931 00:55:33,040 --> 00:55:37,240 In the evening, they all came back here to the great house. 932 00:55:37,240 --> 00:55:40,280 Well, not here, in fact, because the great house was over here, 933 00:55:40,280 --> 00:55:43,160 and this is the lodge, which is all that remained. 934 00:55:43,160 --> 00:55:47,800 It belonged to John Young, and they had music and feasting 935 00:55:47,800 --> 00:55:51,040 and dancing, and the Queen actually loved music. 936 00:55:51,040 --> 00:55:54,320 A visitor came and said she kept the cadence, 937 00:55:54,320 --> 00:55:58,960 not just with her hand and her foot, but her head, as well, 938 00:55:58,960 --> 00:56:02,600 and she rebuked any maids who danced badly. 939 00:56:05,680 --> 00:56:12,040 John Young gave her a big jewel, and she gave him a knighthood, 940 00:56:12,040 --> 00:56:16,640 something we probably recognise from our own day - 941 00:56:16,640 --> 00:56:18,960 cash for honours. 942 00:56:25,600 --> 00:56:30,320 Queen Elizabeth I was a monarch who won the hearts of her people. 943 00:56:30,320 --> 00:56:32,880 She did that by reaching out to them 944 00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:37,640 and travelling her kingdom to meet her subjects face to face. 945 00:56:39,280 --> 00:56:42,840 The Royal progress allowed her to enjoy herself, 946 00:56:42,840 --> 00:56:47,120 but at the heart of the trips was a strong political purpose. 947 00:56:47,120 --> 00:56:50,360 She was rallying support from her favoured courtiers 948 00:56:50,360 --> 00:56:54,360 and, crucially, keeping an eye on potential troublemakers. 949 00:56:54,360 --> 00:56:57,680 Our current Queen Elizabeth II will often make a grand tour 950 00:56:57,680 --> 00:57:02,120 of her kingdom, especially in her Jubilee year, 951 00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:05,400 and in doing so, she reflects a tradition that her namesake 952 00:57:05,400 --> 00:57:09,840 popularised and refined 450 years ago. 953 00:57:12,080 --> 00:57:16,160 But for Elizabeth I, there was an awful lot more at stake. 954 00:57:16,160 --> 00:57:19,000 BAND PLAYS "Rule Britannia" 955 00:57:27,400 --> 00:57:31,000 In 1574, all the pageantry 956 00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:34,840 and the ceremony of a Royal progress 957 00:57:34,840 --> 00:57:38,560 were designed to impress upon the Elizabethan people 958 00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:40,920 that they had never had it so good, 959 00:57:40,920 --> 00:57:46,000 that the Virgin Queen, Gloriana, was their salvation. 960 00:57:46,000 --> 00:57:52,360 They even resurrected an ancient Roman goddess called Britannia 961 00:57:52,360 --> 00:57:56,600 and invented the idea of Great Britain to support their cause. 962 00:57:57,800 --> 00:57:59,840 For the first Queen Elizabeth, 963 00:57:59,840 --> 00:58:03,080 a Royal tour was a lot more than tradition, colour and noise. 964 00:58:04,920 --> 00:58:08,960 It was literally a matter of life and death. 965 00:58:42,160 --> 00:58:45,520 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd