"Drawing on a treasure trove of manuscripts that have never before been translated or published, this massively researched book offers a valuable new perspective on the first thirty years of Elizabeth I's reign. Even readers thoroughly familiar with her reign will be jolted into fresh perceptions by re-encountering the story from the French point of view." (Ilona Bell, Clarke Professor of English Emerita, Williams College, USA) "In this fascinating study, Estelle Paranque has examined thousands of letters between the French ambassadors to England and their royal masters--many little known to English scholars and translated here--to provide a wealth of new insight into how Elizabeth I was represented among foreign observers, while also allowing us to hear her own thoughts in reported speech. The picture that emerges is of a very different Elizabeth I than the one with which we're familiar. This sparkling new work gives us what historians long for: a fresh perspective on one of England's best-loved queens." (Suzannah Lipscomb, Reader in Early Modern History, University of Roehampton, UK).