Goofs for
Elizabeth (1998) More at IMDbPro »

• Factual errors: Details of some historical characters and events have been changed to fit the dramatic narrative.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the Duc d'Anjou leans over the dead Mary of Guise, she closes her eyes.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Robert Dudley recites Sir Philip Sidney's sonnet "My true love hath my heart" to Elizabeth in a boat. This sonnet was not written until at least 1580, about 20 years after the time the movie is set, and wasn't published until 1593.
  
  

• Continuity: As Elizabeth is being arrested, Robert Dudley's gold chain suddenly disappears from around his neck.
  
  
• Continuity: After the unsuccessful assassination attempt, when Elizabeth is being tended by her ladies, she is shown standing, yet the very next shot has her sitting.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: At opening scene on the right side of the shot, a halberd used to block the crowd from the prisoners bends and wobbles, showing itself to be made of rubber.
  
  
• Factual errors: In one scene, we see Mary of Guise riding at the front of her men across a bloody battlefield. Back then, even reigning women did not ride at the front of their troops, and rarely rode horses with both legs over the animal; they sat on the side. It is actually said that Mary of Guise refused to ride in front of her troops.
  
  
• Factual errors: When Sussex comes to arrest Elizabeth, he calls her from her home by shouting, "Princess Elizabeth!" In fact, Elizabeth was never addressed as "Princess" after the death of her mother, Anne Boleyn, in her early childhood. She was only formally titled "Lady Elizabeth." Henry VIII stripped both of his daughters of their royal titles as a public display of their illegitimacy.
  
  
• Continuity: The first shot of Walsingham in the film (from behind the head), is actually used twice. Just before the next shot (of his face), a sharp slit of silver can be seen heading toward Walsingham's head from the right side of the screen. However, Walsingham's servant then crosses the room, and gets a knife out of its case. When the next shot of the back of Walsingham's head is seen, this slit is the knife now being held to his throat by the servant.
  
  
• Factual errors: While it's true that Henri, Duke of Anjou (later King Henri III) was generally obsessed with clothing and did on occasion dress as a woman, he never actually traveled to England to court the Queen. That honour fell instead to his younger brother François, who became Duke of Anjou in 1576, and was the only one of Elizabeth's many suitors to court her in person.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: In the scene in which Elizabeth, dressed in red, is galloping to find Sir Robert, who is afield hunting, one long shot taken straight on clearly shows the face of the stunt double.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Elizabeth is shown washing her face with water. In 16th-century England, water was considered dangerously unhealthy and almost never used for washing the body. Elizabeth would have "bathed" by rubbing her face with a dry cloth.
  
  
• Continuity: As Walsingham is speaking with Mary of Guise, she is holding a table knife up to her lips, and is playing with it by rotating the handle. The camera then switches to a shot from behind her head and the knife is oriented the other direction. Then, as they continue speaking, the camera shot returns to the original angle and the knife handle is reoriented back to the original hand.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Walsingham enters Arundels home looking for the priest he picks up the little girl and if you look closely you can tell that he's holding a doll.
  
  
• Continuity: The movie shows Kat Ashley as being about the same age as Elizabeth when in actuality she was much older than Elizabeth was.
  
  
• Factual errors: The beginning of the film shows Robert Dudley with Elizabeth while she was arrested. Historically, Robert Dudley, his four surviving brothers (including Guildford), and his sister-in-law (Lady Jane Grey) were all in the Tower of London indefinitely. In fact, Wyatt's rebellion threatened all of their lives and brought about the executions of Jane and Guilford, while Robert and his remaining three brothers to stay in the tower until eventually released later that year.
  
  
• Factual errors: Where the Queen and the others are talking about her fertility on the boat, she mentions Turkey, which was actually called the Ottoman Empire at the time.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Pope Julius II is featured in a scene in this movie, even though he had already died by the time Elizabeth was a little girl.
  
  

• Continuity: SPOILER: In the scene where the priest returns to England bearing letters from Rome, he accuses Norfolk's man, Thomas Elliot, of betrayal, then grabs him and leads him in front of Norfolk off to the side (closer to the shore). As he beats Elliot to death with a rock, Norfolk watches from the side. When the priest is finished, and Elliot lies dead in the water, he is shown coming down from a greater height, several yards away, and behind Norfolk, rather than a few feet off to the side.
  
  

Related Links