Elizabeth, Shakespeare and the Castle

On Saturday 9 July 1575 Queen Elizabeth I arrived at Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire. Her host was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who had transformed the castle and its surroundings into an enormous theatre and playground. What followed was the most spectacular and remarkable programme of entertainments to be witnessed during Elizabeth's long reign. But beneath the glitter and spectacle of the royal presence, the castle was a snake pit of ambition, jealousy and anger. This book provides the first full-length authoritative study of the Kenilworth revels. It also considers in detail the vexed question of the authorship of the anonymous 'Letter' which supplied a vivid contemporary account of the Queen's visit. Ronald Binns argues that the 'Letter' was a prolonged satire on events at the castle, and he sets out the case for William Patten of Stoke Newington, a member of the Earl's writing team, as its true author. Binns also examines the theory put forward by Shakespeare biographers that the young William Shakespeare was present. He finds compelling evidence that Shakespeare was at Kenilworth and that its imaginative impact inspired not only a career in the theatre but also aspects of his great castle-set play, "Hamlet".