'Gloriana', 'Faerie Queen', 'Queen Bess', are just some of the names given to Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. But the name for which she is perhaps most remembered and which best explains why Elizabeth was the last of the Tudor monarchs, was the "Virgin Queen.'

But how appropriate is that image? Were Elizabeth's suitors and favourites really just innocent intrigues? Or were they much more than that?