Mistress Margaret Radcliffe Quotes in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

Queen Elizabeth I: And when he takes you in his arms again, thank heaven you are not a queen.

Mistress Margaret Radcliffe: But I thought to be a queen...

Queen Elizabeth I: To be a Queen is to be less than human, to put pride before desire, to search Men's hearts for tenderness, and find only ambition. To cry out in the dark for one unselfish voice, to hear only the dry rustle of papers of state. To turn to one's beloved with stars for eyes and have him see behind me only the shadow of the executioner's block. A queen has no hour for love, time presses, and events crowd upon her, and her shell, an empty glittering husk, she must give up all the a woman holds most dear.