FRAGMENTS OF A DYNASTY
Summary: Elizabeth speaks her speech for the troops against the Armada while she thinks about the powerful strong women like herself in the recent years. Pairings: slight mention of Katherine of Aragon/Henry VIII and briefest hint of Mary/Philip of Spain. They dress her at her specific orders. Her ladies staring at her in a mix of awe and horror as they watch a man place silver plated armour over her breast. She was wearing her plainest white gown underneath the armour and her new hair so to speak was the deepest red at the longest length she could get it – tumbling down her back to her elbow. She was wearing tough plain boots that men would wear to war or perhaps just a plain hard working poor woman to the field. She is not beautifully painted or elegantly decorated as she would be on a normal day. Sometimes simplicity is the best way forwards as it had been when she was a young child trying to be the Protestant maid. She gets onto her horse and rides towards the many soldiers fighting in her name and she feels giddy with pride and wonder at having so many men at her command. She thinks of Boudicca the Celt Queen who fought the Romans with her fiery red hair. The woman she was trying to imitate today. She thinks of an ancestor somewhere in the far past, the Empress Matilda who may have caused so many problems and wars with her own pride but was so strong and held tightly to her claim on the throne so she could put her own son on it in her place and started the long line of great Plantagenet Kings her own grandfathers. She thinks of Eleanor of Aquitaine, another ancestress and a beautiful redheaded one at that. A woman who lived a very long life and held regency for England many times for her son. A woman who many feared as she had no problem amassing an army if needed. She thinks of Joan of Arc the peasant child who dressed as a man and led a whole army against the English. The woman she admired but did not want to imitate for she wanted her men to respect her as a woman. She thinks of her great grandmother Margret Beaufort who may not have led an army to battle but certainly prepared one and spun many webs so that her son, Elizabeth's grandfather, could take the throne. She thinks of her stepmother Katherine of Aragon who had led an army to Scotland and defeated the Scots while her husband, Elizabeth's father, was at war with the French. How she led the army that killed the Scottish king and her own brother in law. How she returned home and tried desperately for heirs and then stood up in a new battle against her own husband for the right to remain married to him. That was a brave woman that she cannot help but grudgingly admire. She thinks of Katherine's mother Isabella of Castille and how she led an army against the Moors and birthed and raised each child on the battle field. Another admirable woman. She thinks of her own sister Mary, how she led an army against Northumberland and claimed her own throne in not only her name but for Elizabeth's right to be her heir. She thinks of Mary and how horrified she would be to know her own husband was amassing the largest Armada against her own country. Though she would never have been in this situation as Mary, Queen of Scots would have been her welcomed guest and not her prisoner attempting to murder her. So many strong women that have led armies. And she was to be the next one. She will give these men the speech of a lifetime and make them so proud of her, so proud of being English, and so very motivated that the next time she sees them she will be rewarding them for their victory. She speaks. She speaks with her passion that she always had but can never use. She speaks with her temper that she always uses. She speaks with her grace. She speaks with her charm. She speaks with a charisma. And best of all she speaks all the truth. "I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field." The cheers are so loud and roaring that the rest of her speech is almost drowned in it. She smiles regally at them while inside she is cheering and screaming in joy alongside her people. Who needs a great king to defend England when there is a strong woman like Elizabeth? It was a pity that her sister did not learn that or otherwise she would have been a greater Queen than Elizabeth. Then again...why shouldn't Elizabeth enjoy being the greatest Queen?
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