Good Queen Bess

She was really very un-PC. 

But never-the-less, I am a huge fan of Queen Elizabeth I, because I find her brand of 16th Century Girl Power inspiring.

Searingly intelligent, steely, wily, courageous, witty and a style icon to boot – the woman credited for transforming England from 'the arse of the world' (anonymous) to a country worth reckoning with, definitely had something special going on.

Even though she never married, apparently having said, better beggar woman and single than Queen and married - 'Elizabeth enjoyed the attention of young male courtiers like Thomas Heneage, Christopher Hatton and Walter Raleigh, and later Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, all of whom flirted their way into the queen’s favour... The king of France joked that one of the great questions of the day was “whether Queen Elizabeth was a maid or no”.'
Emma Mason

And so, on this festival of St. Valentine's, may I refer you to the fabulous 'Queen Bess', who didn't do things by convention. 

My original painting of the Queen now lives in an amazing water's-edge apartment with an extraordinary couple, but prints of the piece are still available at the link below.

Pearl

http://www.pearlbates.com/prints/elizabeth-print