The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I hangs in the Queen’s House in Greenwich, London
The iconic Armada Portrait shows Queen Elizabeth I surrounded by potent symbols of majesty, while in the background we see her navy and ‘Protestant’ winds thwarting the mighty invasion fleet of Philip II of Spain.
What could be more stirring? And what could be more beguiling than the story of Sir Francis Drake nonchalantly finishing a game of bowls on Plymouth Hoe before valiantly sailing out to finish off the approaching foe?
The failed invasion of England by the Spanish Armada in 1588 may be the most famous conflict of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, but it’s also a tale greatly embellished by Tudor propaganda and later myth-making – the story of a cool-headed Drake playing bowls in the face of