If you’ve binged the show or devoured Deborah Harkness’s All Souls trilogy, you know the vibe. It’s moody. It’s academic. It’s filled with vampires who have too much money and witches who can’t control their literal internal thunderstorms. But nothing quite matches the tension of the A Discovery of Witches Queen Elizabeth encounter.
Seeing Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont bow before Good Queen Bess in the second season (and the book Shadow of Night) feels like a fever dream of historical fiction. People always ask: was Elizabeth I actually in on the supernatural secret? Honestly, the show makes it look like she was just another player in the Congregation’s messy politics. It’s a brilliant bit of writing. Harkness didn't just pick a random monarch; she picked the one whose entire reign was defined by secrets, alchemy, and a very real-life "wizard" named John Dee.
Most viewers don't realize how much of that onscreen tension is rooted in actual Tudor history. Elizabeth wasn't just a queen; she was a woman living in a world where the line between science and magic was basically non-existent. When Matthew Roydon (Clairmont) walks into that room, he’s not just a vampire. He’s a spy. And in the world of A Discovery of Witches, Queen Elizabeth I is the ultimate puppet master who knows exactly what he is.
Why the Queen Elizabeth and Matthew Dynamic Works So Well
In the series, Elizabeth is portrayed by Barbara Marten. She’s aging, she’s sharp, and she’s deeply paranoid. This isn't the "Virgin Queen" from a history textbook. This is a woman who feels her power slipping. The show handles the A Discovery of Witches Queen Elizabeth relationship as one of old friends—or maybe old assets. Matthew has served her for decades. Because he’s a vampire, he doesn’t age. She does.
Think about how terrifying that would be.
You’re the most powerful woman in the world, but your most loyal spy looks exactly the same as he did thirty years ago. The show highlights this bitterness perfectly. Elizabeth is jealous. She’s dying, and he’s eternal. That dynamic adds a layer of "human" drama to a show that’s usually about ancient scrolls and DNA sequencing.
The real-life Elizabeth I was obsessed with her image. She used "The Mask of Youth," a thick layer of lead-based makeup, to hide the ravages of smallpox and age. In the show, seeing her face-to-face with the immortal Matthew de Clermont makes that insecurity feel visceral. It’s a reminder that even the most powerful humans are just blips in the timeline of a vampire.
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The John Dee Connection
You can’t talk about magic in the Tudor court without mentioning John Dee. In the show, he’s there. He’s the bridge between the Queen and the supernatural world.
The real John Dee was a mathematician, astronomer, and, yes, an occultist. He genuinely believed he could talk to angels using "scrying" stones. Elizabeth actually relied on him. He picked her coronation date based on astrology! So, when A Discovery of Witches suggests that Elizabeth was comfortable around "creatures," it’s not actually that far-fetched. To a 16th-century mind, a vampire might just be another of God’s strange creations that the Queen needed to manage.
Did the Show Get the History Right?
Kinda.
The costumes? Incredible. The politics? Pretty spot on. But the show plays fast and loose with the timeline to make the "Shadow of Night" plot work. In the story, Diana and Matthew flee to 1590. At this point, Elizabeth is 57. She’s survived the Spanish Armada (1588), but she’s lonely. Her favorites are dying off.
The show captures that isolation.
When Diana meets her, the Queen is suspicious of this "witch" from another time. She wants what every aging monarch wants: a way to stay in power. In the context of A Discovery of Witches Queen Elizabeth represents the desperate human desire to control things that can’t be controlled—like time, death, and magic.
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Harkness, who is a real-life historian (a professor at USC!), weaves these details in so subtly that you might miss them. For instance, the "School of Night" mentioned in the show was a real-life group of atheists, poets, and scientists. Sir Walter Raleigh, Christopher Marlowe, and Thomas Harriot were all members. In the A Discovery of Witches universe, these men were either creatures or humans who knew about them. It makes the history feel "lived in."
The Book vs. The Show: A Different Kind of Queen
If you’ve only watched the AMC/Sundance series, you’re missing some of the grit. In the book Shadow of Night, the interaction between Diana and Elizabeth is even more fraught.
Diana is terrified.
She’s a modern woman who knows how this ends. She knows Elizabeth will die. She knows the Tudor line stops. Standing in front of a woman who could have your head chopped off for breathing wrong is a lot more stressful in the prose. The show makes it feel a bit more like a tense HR meeting, whereas the book makes it feel like a life-or-death gamble.
One detail the show nailed was the wardrobe. The ruffs, the jewels, the heavy silks—they aren't just for show. They are armor. Elizabeth used her clothes to project strength when she felt weak. When Diana brings her "modern" sensibilities into that space, the clash is amazing. It highlights how much of a "creature" Elizabeth had to become just to survive as a female ruler in a man's world.
Key Moments with the Queen in Season 2
- The First Audience: Matthew has to navigate the Queen’s temper. She’s annoyed he’s been gone. It shows that even a 1,500-year-old vampire has a boss.
- The Witch Suspicion: Elizabeth knows Diana isn't a normal woman. The tension isn't just about magic; it's about Diana's lack of "courtly" manners.
- The Demand for Results: Elizabeth wants Matthew to use his "talents" for the crown. It’s a reminder that for the royals, creatures were just tools.
The Legacy of the Tudor Arc
Why does this specific part of the story resonate so much?
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Maybe because we’re all a little obsessed with the Tudors. But more specifically, the A Discovery of Witches Queen Elizabeth arc works because it grounds the high fantasy in something we recognize: power.
The show spent a lot of time in modern-day Oxford and France, which is cool, but going back to 1590 changed the stakes. It proved that the struggle between witches, vampires, and daemons isn't a new thing. It’s been happening in the shadows of palaces for centuries. It also gave Diana a mirror. Elizabeth was a woman who had to sacrifice her personal life for her "calling." Diana is essentially doing the same thing as she learns to master her weaving and time-walking.
What You Should Do Next to Get the Full Story
If you want to truly appreciate the depth of the Elizabethan era in this universe, don't just stop at the TV show. The series is great, but TV has a budget. Books don't.
- Read "Shadow of Night": There are subplots involving the Queen’s court that the show simply didn't have time for. You get a much better sense of Matthew’s role as a "spy" and how the Queen used him to keep her enemies in check.
- Look up the real "School of Night": If you like the mystery of the show, the real history of Christopher Marlowe and Walter Raleigh is just as wild. Marlowe was actually accused of being a spy and a heretic before he was killed in a "bar fight." Sound familiar?
- Visit the National Portrait Gallery (Virtually): Look at the portraits of Elizabeth I from the 1590s. Look at the eyes. You’ll see exactly where Barbara Marten got her inspiration for the character’s weary, sharp gaze.
- Watch the "Making Of" Features: The costume designers for A Discovery of Witches did an insane amount of research to ensure the Queen’s outfits reflected her specific psychological state in 1590.
The portrayal of A Discovery of Witches Queen Elizabeth isn't just a cameo. It’s a pivotal moment that defines Matthew’s past and Diana’s future. It’s about the collision of the mundane and the magical, and how even a Queen is just a spectator when true power walks into the room.
To dig deeper into the actual history behind the magic, check out the primary sources from John Dee’s diaries. They are public domain and read like something straight out of a fantasy novel. You'll see that Deborah Harkness didn't have to invent much—the real Tudor court was already plenty weird.