Sir John Melville Was Put in an Awkward Position by Queen Elizabeth: She Asked the Scottish Ambassador Whether She Was Fairer Than His Queen

Sir John Melville was put in an awkward position by Queen Elizabeth: she asked the Scottish ambassador whether she was fairer than his queen. Melville replied that "Elizabeth is the fairest queen in England, and Mary the fairest in Scotland". Which of us dances better, then? Elizabeth pressed on. In any case, Queen Mary does not dance so high or so freely. Small wonder, given Mary Stuart's poor health, her constant muscular weakness and her nervous attacks; it is astonishing that she had the strength for dancing at all.

Some sources ascribe the same exchange to the Venetian ambassador, perhaps by mistake, or perhaps the queen simply repeated herself in her whims.

In the painting, Elizabeth dances the old dance La Volta with her favourite, Robert Dudley, at Penshurst Castle.

Report a translation error

September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Sir John Melville Was Put in an Awkward Position by Queen Elizabeth: She Asked the Scottish Ambassador Whether She Was Fairer Than His Queen

Read more

September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s