Until Maria Perry began her exploration of Elizabeth's papers, this vivid raw material had only been partially studied. From it, a fresh portrait of Elizabeth emerges, one which is often more cohesive and less baffling than some offered by her biographers. The dangers and insecurities of her early life, her sense of divine protection, her formidable education, all stand out as crucial elements in the formation of her character; but behind the acquired circumspection lies a personality of great warmth and spirit. The earliest letter to survive was written to her stepmother Katherine Parr, in Italian, when she was ten years old; her last words to be formally recorded are two moving speeches to Parliament at the end of her reign. In between, her letters and papers illuminate her relations with her family, and with Mary Queen of Scots; she reflects on the nature of kingship, performs miracles of circumlocution to achieve diplomatic ends, and communicates her feelings to her inner circle of trusted friends; on the teasing questions of love, marriage and virginity, the letters and speeches offer oblique comment. Elizabeth's papers are not only personally revealing, when studied with the care that Maria Perry brings to the task; they are also intellectually and stylistically very much a product of their time, generous in their display of Renaissance learning and concerns.