Beware, Princess Elizabeth

"Beware, Princess Elizabeth" (2001) is a historical young-adult novel by Carolyn Meyer based on the early life of Elizabeth I of England. It is part of the Young Royals series, beginning with "Mary, Bloody Mary", about Elizabeth's older half-sister (or step-sister, depending on whose account is valid) Mary I.

Plot

Taking place between the death of Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, and her ascendancy to the throne, the novel covers Elizabeth's life from her fourteenth to her twenty-fifth year (1547-1558). During that period, she suffers the vacillations of a life between luxury and suffering, treated as either a pampered princess or political prisoner, depending on the sway of power in the kingdom. She survives three reigns in the interim: Edward VI, the sickly, only-surviving son of Henry VIII; Lady Jane Grey, the political pawn who lasted on the throne for only nine days; and Mary, who grabs the throne by force and later has Jane Grey beheaded. Mary serves England a little reign of terror, as her personal unhappiness, religious intolerance, and inability to produce an heir leads to the death of hundreds of political opponents. Always under suspicion of treason, Elizabeth is imprisoned by Mary in the Tower of London and on various estates where she is isolated and forced to pretend a conversion to Catholicism. Elizabeth's strength of will and growing popular support sustain her through the cruelty of her older sister, upon whose death she finally inherits the throne.