The Courtships of Queen Elizabeth

The Courtships of Queen Elizabeth is a book by Martin A. S. Hume. The title page calls it a history of the various negotiations for her marriage.

The text says extraordinary efforts were made to show de Bacqueville and de Quincy special honour at Long Melford, and that Mendoza in one of his letters gives a curious instance of this, and of Elizabeth’s treatment of even her most distinguished ministers. The text says Elizabeth triumphed as much by her weakness as by her strength; her bad qualities were as valuable to her as her good ones. The text says that without Leicester as a permanent matrimonial possibility to fall back upon, the endless negotiations for marriage with foreign princes would soon have become pointless and ineffectual. Burleigh assures his correspondent that he sees no lack of will in the Queen but on account of Alençon’s age, and otherwise, he says, he doubts the result, as the Queen mislikes Alençon’s youth and appearance.