Heir conditioning
| Published date | 11 June 2022 |
| Publication title | Huddersfield Daily Examiner |
"It's just taking a step back, not just seeing that great monarch we all know from the books, but actually having a closer look at the young girl and who the person was before she became Queen," says Alicia von Rittberg, known for appearing alongside Brad Pitt in 2014's Fury, who plays Elizabeth in the series.
"It's more about the human behind that public figure, about the family affair, about trying to stay alive, about falling in love for the first time."
When we meet her in Becoming Elizabeth, the future queen is trying to learn the rules of the court at a particularly dangerous time. Everyone, man or woman, is on a wheel of fortune that could see them go from being one of the most powerful people in the land to having their head on the chopping block.
Elizabeth's nine-year-old brother Edward VI has just taken the throne, and all of the royal children have become pawns for the families of England and Europe who vie for power.
Young Elizabeth is in the care of Henry's widow Catherine Parr, played by Call The Midwife's Jessica Raine.
"I think there's a double-edged kind of reason why we love it," says Jessica, discussing why this period is so compelling.
"It's far removed, and yet power corrupts whatever age we're in. So I think that's the hook."
Alicia, 28, says when finding the character of Elizabeth, she drew on the parallels between her own childhood and that of a young girl in the 16th century.
"Reading the history books, I tried, but there's not that much told about her early years," she says.
"I found a book where they put all the letters she wrote herself, and some little poems, together - I think that was so informing, because you all of a sudden could hear her voice. It was actually hers.
"But other than that, because it is her being so young, I just took the scripts and tried to remember what I was struggling with when I grew up. Finding those emotions again, opening up and allowing your inner girl and child out again."
Alicia also had to learn Tudor skills such as horse riding, calligraphy, the Volta - which was reportedly Elizabeth's favourite dance - even some Ancient Greek.
"That is the lifestyle she had when she was young: being
It's about behind Alicia schooled all day, and if not in school, being on a horse," she...
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