Trivia for
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) More at IMDbPro »

• Elizabeth's jewelery was made by Erickson Beamon of Belgravia and her plumed hats were designed by Christian Dior's milliner, Stephen Jones.
  
  
• The words Mary, Queen of Scots, mouths before being executed are "I forgive you with all my heart", said to be her last words, spoken to the executioner when he asked her forgiveness.
  
  
• In the scene where Francis Walsingham is on his deathbed, Isaac Oliver's famous "Rainbow Portrait" of Elizabeth I can be seen hanging from a wall. This painting was completed c.1600, ten years after Walsingham's actual death on April 6, 1590.
  
  
• Release prints were delivered to theaters with the fake title 'Minelli'.
  
  
• Angharad Rees, best known for her performance as Demelza in the 1970s BBC television series "Poldark" (1975), designed some of the jewelry worn by Queen Elizabeth and her ladies in waiting. Pieces from Rees' Qing Dynasty Collection are seen throughout the film.
  
  
• To save money on building replicas, only one ship was built. It was Raleigh's English vessel on one side and a Spanish galleon on the other side. When filming wide shots of the deck that might reveal the difference, they used smoke in the scene to cover up any separation in design.
  
  
• The scene of Raleigh leaving English shores to go into battle was originally filmed as his arrival to England from the New World and was much earlier in the film with completely different dialog.
  
  
• The scene where Bess is learning to dance the Volta required the actress to be lifted in the air for every six counts. There were so many retakes that the actress was sore and had trouble walking the next day.
  
  
• Director Shekhar Kapur filmed Elizabeth's personal time (bathing, bedroom) in circular sets to reflect the infinite questioning of her mind, aspiring to a different kind of freedom and exploration. In contrast, he filmed Elizabeth's professional moments (throne room, etc.) in rectangular rooms that enclosed her where you could see straight walls and corners.
  
  
• The director, Shekhar Kapur, felt that color should reveal the internal life of the characters. Alexandra Byrne (costume designer) did not want to use blue on Elizabeth since it was not a color of that period. But Shekhar insisted because he felt that blue was the color of yearning and aspiring and he wanted to portray Elizabeth as yearning to be divine and immortal. Likewise, he conveyed the close relationship of Elizabeth and Bess by showing them in similar colors/gown styles and as their relationship separates, the colors are contrasting and even clashing.
  
  
• In the film, when Elizabeth arrives at St. Paul's Cathedral there is construction going on that demonstrates part of the Golden Age of her reign. In real life, St. Paul's actually needed repair work done. Director Shekhar Kapur decided to improvise and gave costumes to the actual workers and period-accurate tools to cut real stone that was being installed in the cathedral. They are not actors, but really are masons and construction workers.
  
  
• When Elizabeth is shown her suitors, Christopher Hatton stands next to a table with a model of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on it.
  
  
• Eddie Redmayne played different roles in competing Elizabeth movies. In "Elizabeth I" (2005), he played the traitor Southampton, and in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) he played Thomas Babington.
  
  
• The set used as El Escorial (the King of Spain's palace) in the movie is really Westminster Cathedral in London. Being a functioning worship building, the production team wasn't able to start shooting until after the last confession in the evening, then strip the interior with everything recognizably modern, shoot every scene in the night, and return everything into place by the first mass in the morning.
  
  
• Initially Mary was not part of the Babington Conspiracy, but, desiring her execution, Walsingham got one of the conspirators to act as a double agent and entrap her.
  
  

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