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Fast Facts
- Lady Grace's mother died one year ago when she drank poisoned wine intended for the Queen. An orphan, Lady Grace is the Queen's goddaughter and in Her Majesty's care.
- Lady Grace became Queen Elizabeth's Lady Pursuivant by chance and found her calling. A pursuivant is someone who pursues wrongdoers for the Crown, though most pursuivants mainly pursue spies and assassins.
- Later in her reign, Queen Elizabeth had a full-scale secret service run by the great spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham.
- Maids of Honour were not servants --- they were companions and friends of the Queen and came from upper-class families. A Maid of Honour by the name of Mary Shelton really existed.
- The Queen, who remained unmarried, did not allow her Maids of Honour to have suitors. They would marry a man of their parents' choosing.
- Lady Grace must keep her friendship with Ellie and Masou a secret, or else the two servants would be beaten for not knowing their proper place.
- Sir Francis Drake, who appears in BETRAYAL, was one of the most successful sea captains during Elizabeth's reign, financed by investments from the Queen and many of her courtiers.
- Every summer Queen Elizabeth I went on "progress," a summer vacation of sorts for the Court. It was to keep them out of London during the worst months of the plague and also a rare chance for Elizabeth's subjects to see their Queen.
- Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, and the Princess Elizabeth were both locked in the Tower of London for treason when they were younger, and they developed what would become a lifelong friendship. Robert Dudley is rumored to have played a part in the death of his first wife, Amy Robsart.
- Many things we take for granted today weren't available in Elizabethan times, and they had to improvise. For instance, kissing-comfit --- a spice, such as caraway, fennel, or aniseed, covered in sugar --- was eaten to make one's breath smell pleasant.
- A waterman is someone who rowed a ferryboat on the River Thames, making him a kind of Elizabethan cabdriver.
- The Tower of London, which is made up of several buildings, had many functions during Queen Elizabeth's reign. It housed the Royal Mint, an immense armory, dungeons in the White Tower, a menagerie of animals in the Lion Tower, and the Crown Jewels in the Jewel House.
- In 1834, the animals kept in the Lion Tower were moved to Regent's Park and became the London Zoo.
- The Queen's Guard was more commonly known as Gentlemen Pensioners, young noblemen who guarded the Queen from physical attacks.
- During the time period in which the Lady Grace mysteries are set, there was only one bridge across the Thames: London Bridge.
- The Clink (where Ellie is almost taken in EXILE) is a prison in Southwark, especially famous in Tudor times and one of the earliest prisons in England.
- During the Elizabethan era, jewels were just as prized as they are today. Sometimes they were even used in place of money to purchase expensive items or to cover a debt.
- Pearls were Queen Elizabeth's favorite jewel. She once bought a string of pearls that belonged to her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, for what was said to be a "bargain" price of £3,000 (equivalent to several million dollars today!).
- One of the most famous feuds in history is the fictional one between the Montagues and the Capulets in Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET --- and the play is staged by a troupe of actors who visit the royal court in FEUD.
- Nicholas Hilliard, who appears as a character in FEUD, was a real person. He was trained as a goldsmith, and in 1570 Queen Elizabeth I did indeed appoint him Court Miniaturist, as she does in FEUD. A collection of his miniatures are on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
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