Royal Duty Quotes
Centuries later leaders have studied this speech and the actions taken by Elizabeth as the epitome of model leadership and morale building at a time of crisis. What made the event more dramatic were two monarchial norms of the time understood by all the citizens. Monarchs did not open themselves to the risk of very close proximity to their armies with only a handful of retainers. A dissident military commander could kill or capture the monarch as most soldiers had little loyalty to anyone but the commander who paid them. Second, monarchs usually abandoned battlefields where the outcome was uncertain and if not present certainly stayed away. Elizabeth in breaking both these norms was taking obvious risks with her own life (as a women for whom it was even more unexpected) and welfare to share the immediate fate of her subjects. It explains why an absolute monarch was extremely popular with her subjects—great leadership.
This letter was written at the request of Rotrou the Archbishop of Rouen with the urging of King Henry II. Eleanor, one of the wealthiest and powerful people in Europe of either sex, left her husband and sided with one of their sons in a feud with the father, King Henry. Henry and most of the English and French courts wanted her to return to her husband and this letter was meant to chastise her behavior. She however, paid it no heed. The law of scripture to which Peter referred is a passage in the Book of Ephesians—see {618995}
