The Mask Slips
There was one instance where the queen’s meticulous beauty regime was unmasked, however. When the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, grew impatient over waiting for the queen’s audience, he took to unthinkable measures. The Earl pushed through Elizabeth’s royal chambers, uninvited, and there he saw the real Elizabeth. The queen had yet to put her makeup on. We must wonder what Elizabeth’s guards were doing (or not doing) to allow such an unforgivable and uncouth breach.
The Mask Slips
Death Sentence
There Devereux saw the real Elizabeth, without any makeup or frills. He was apparently so shocked by his queen’s real face that he began badmouthing her socially, meanly calling her a “crooked carcass”. If you know anything about historical royals, then you know that many figures were more than happy to take out anyone that insulted them. Devereux would later be executed in 1601, with many historians citing this incident as the motivation for the axman.
Death Sentence
