Queen Elizabeth I: What about her Portuguese physician?
Published on
To history, Queen Elizabeth I lived from September 7, 1533, until her death on March 24, 1603. She was the queen regent of both England as well as Ireland, ruling from November 17, 1558 until she died on March 24, 1603. Nicknames for this queen include the Virgin Queen, Good Queen Bess or Gloriana. The 5th and the final monarch within the Tudor dynasty, she was the daughter of one Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. The queen's reign is known to history as the Elizabethan era, which was marked by the flourishing of the art of English drama (epitomized by the playwrights Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare) and for the seafaring successes of adventurers such as Sir Francis Drake.
During the week of February 18, 2012, the Portuguese journalist named Isabel Machado talked to the Portugal News about her 1st novel, which is a historical romance concerning Queen Elizabeth I and her physician of Portuguese stock. She spoke to the Portugal News prior to her novel’s public launch, which was slated for February 22, 2012.
The summary of her new novel goes like this: As Rodrigo Lopes, a Portuguese Jewish physician, comes to London in the 16th century right after the ascension of Elizabeth I to the throne, he had absolutely no clue that he was destined to meet and interact with history’s powerful Virgin Queen.
Machado’s romantic tale, apparently based upon historical fact, traces the route of Anne Boleyn’s and Henry VIII’s daughter throughout her existence, centering on both England’s as well as Portugal’s hardship in the face of Spain’s power and Elizabeth I’s Portuguese physician, who’s barely known in the annals of history.
The author-journalist talked about her desire to center on the English queen from the Portuguese POV in her very 1st book.
According to the author, she’s always been a fan of English culture and history, and she even comes complete with an Anglicized education. She quickly mentioned after that that England is her second-favorite country, right after Portugal, naturally! Her dad is the recipient of her dedication of her novel, and he apparently also enjoyed England and history very much.
It turned out that her decision to center her novel on the English queen came out of a project she undertook when she was still in university.
The author claimed that Elizabeth I was always an object of fascination for her, and she desired to introduce the English queen to the Portuguese people even though she actually lost track of her original piece of work that was done when she was still in school. Further, since Elizabeth I’s reign intersected with an exceptionally intriguing time in Portugal’s history when Spain stole its independence, the author naturally was drawn to the subject matter.
Freedom is how Machado refers to the procedure of transitioning from journalism to novel writing.
The author spoke of how she worked within the written media as well as TV, both of which demanded basic language and a tight regulation of word choices. However, writing the book made her return to her roots in university, which involved the study of modern lit as well as languages. Her journalism talents, she claimed, aided her in research.
Lots of characters in her novel come right out of history, referring to Sir Robert Dudley and Sir Francis Walsingham. The physician in her novel is based upon an actual individual. The author explained that in her research, she stumbled onto English papers that spoke of Portuguese Jews who turned into spies on behalf of the Virgin Queen. She also added that Lopes, after becoming a physician for the queen, actually suffers a tragic fate in her novel!
Though her book has already seen a release in Portuguese, Machado yearns for it to see a release in English so that a bigger audience can enjoy her work in the near future. On February 22, a public launch of her novel was scheduled held on the 7th floor of El Corte Ingles, which is in Lisbon.
PortugalProperty.com - Portugal's most trusted real estate agency with over 5,000 properties for sale. For information on property in Portugal contact the Portugal Property team via email at: info@portugalproperty.com or call free on: +44(0)800 0148201
Published in: Portuguese Life