The Portrait av Liz Woodhouse

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<p><strong>It is 1546: the last year of Henry VIII¿s reign. </strong></p><p>What is the purpose of the top-quality portrait, painted then, of Elizabeth I aged about 13? It hangs today for all to see in Windsor Castle. Her clothes are a dazzling scarlet and gold and she wears many jewels; in fact, the gold material was reserved for top royalty. </p><p>The only person in 1546 who could have commissioned such a portrait was her father, the King.</p><p>Behind Elizabeth hang her bed-curtains. They signify that this is a betrothal portrait: a declaration that she is now ready to be married. Her destiny is a foreign Prince for a political alliance. She will soon be despatched abroad. It¿s a tense year at Court. The King is ill and beset with suspicions. He lashes out at anyone he suspects of heresy or claims of royal descent. No-one dares mention the Succession, because it implies the King¿s death. But it is uppermost in every mind at Court now. Prince Edward is only 8. His two half-sisters a