Historian and broadcaster Professor Suzannah Lipscomb will return to her home county of Surrey this month for a live event in Guildford examining the relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots.
Lipscomb, who grew up in Surrey, will appear alongside historian Professor Kate Williams at G Live on Wednesday 23 September for To Kill A Queen, which revisits the events leading to Maryโs execution in 1587.
Surrey is where I grew up, so it will feel like coming home, Lipscomb said ahead of the Guildford date.
The event will examine whether the two queensโ relationship has been oversimplified by centuries of historical retelling, which has often portrayed them primarily as bitter personal rivals.
Mary and Elizabeth were cousins and rival claimants to the English throne. Following years of political and religious unrest, Mary spent almost two decades in captivity before being executed for her alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth.
Lipscomb and Williams will work backwards from Maryโs execution at Fotheringhay Castle, looking at the coded correspondence, spy networks and political manoeuvring that eventually led Elizabeth to sign her cousinโs death warrant.
They will also question whether the decisions made by both women have historically been judged without sufficient consideration of the political pressures they faced as female rulers in the 16th century.
The Guildford setting has another connection to the story. Surrey played a role in Elizabeth Iโs own life, with the queen spending time at royal palaces in the county before her death at Richmond Palace in 1603.
Lipscomb is an award-winning historian and broadcaster and hosts History Hitโs Not Just the Tudors podcast. Williams is Professor of Modern History at the University of Reading and regularly appears as a historian and royal commentator across television and radio.
To Kill A Queen takes place at G Live, Guildford, on Wednesday 23 September at 7.30pm.
