8th of July 2006 – In the private chamber, the Queen talks to her ladies in waiting. This scene is full of giggly, feminine energy yet the queen, whilst partaking, is still very much in control and not one of the girls. This scene sets up nicely the complex and intriguing relationship between the Queen and Bess.

At times throughout the film the Queen is warm and motherly towards her, at other times she is quite cool and distant. This ambiguity is to be expected given the Queen experiences a range of emotions when Raleigh enters her world that she hasn’t felt for a very long time. In amongst this stirred up chaos – and standing right beside her – is a much younger and very beautiful Bess. It is definitely in the ‘relationship triangle‘ of Bess, the Queen and Raleigh, that our Queen’s inner complexities are brought to the fore. Other people and other people’s relationships are often mirrors for our selves! The Queen is no exception.