The throne of England hung in the balance, and every prince in Europe wanted to claim it.

When Elizabeth I ascended the throne in 1558, she became the most eligible woman in Europe. All saw the same prize: marry Elizabeth, rule England. Ambassadors flooded her court with portraits, jewels and proposals. Sweden promised silver, Spain imperial protection. Even Ivan the Terrible sent gifts and threats in equal measure.

For nearly five decades, Elizabeth kept them all waiting, playing each suitor against the other. Erik XIV wrote love letters for a decade; she exchanged rings with the charming Duke of Alençon before wriggling free with an alliance; and Robert Dudley, ever at her side, became the favourite who made foreign suitors tremble with envy.

Written with historian Sophie Shorland’s eye for a gossipy aside, morbid titbit and acerbic wit, All the Queen’s Men reveals how Elizabeth turned the competition for her hand into foreign policy – using courtship as diplomacy, flirtation as statecraft and her single status as the key to England’s survival in the tangled web of European politics.