Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

Clive Owen: Sir Walter Raleigh

Photos 

Quotes 

• [after an expedition in the New World, Raleigh has founded a colony] 

  Walter Raleigh : We have named it Virginia, after our Virgin Queen.

  Queen Elizabeth I : "Virginia"? And when I am married, will you rename it to "Conjugia"?

• Queen Elizabeth I : Do we discover the New World or does the New World discover us?

  Sir Walter Raleigh : You speak like a true explorer.

• Sir Walter Raleigh : Why be afraid of tomorrow when today is all we have?

• Queen Elizabeth I : In some other world, in some other time, could you have loved me?

  Sir Walter Raleigh : I know only one world and in this world, I have loved you.

• Walter Raleigh : [throws his coat in the road]  A puddle in the way, Majesty.

  Queen Elizabeth I : A puddle.

  [keeps walking] 

  Queen Elizabeth I : Puddle.

  [laughs] 

• Queen Elizabeth I : Are you here to tell me I must murder a Queen?

  Sir Walter Raleigh : I would never presume to tell my Queen what to do. Only you know where your duty lies.

  Queen Elizabeth I : Was it my father's duty to murder my mother? She was a Queen, for a time. Oh, I would be loath to die such so bloody a death.

  Sir Walter Raleigh : Since when were you so afraid?

  Queen Elizabeth I : I'm always afraid.

  Sir Walter Raleigh : Kill a Queen and all Queens are mortal. We mortals have many weaknesses: we feel too much, hurt too much, all too soon we die, but we do have the chance of love.

  Queen Elizabeth I : Do we? I have given England my life. Must she also have my soul?

• Sir Walter Raleigh : [interrupting Elizabeth hitting Bess]  Majesty, this is not the Queen I love and serve.

• Queen Elizabeth I : I like your immensities. Your ocean is an image of Eternity, I think. Such great spaces make us small. Do we discover the New World, Mr. Raleigh, or does it discover us?

  Sir Walter Raleigh : You speak like a true explorer.

• Don Guerau De Spes : Excuse me, Your Majesty. The air has become stale. I am sensitive to the smell of an open sewer.

  [He stares at Raleigh and leaves] 

  Queen Elizabeth I : [to Raleigh]  I cannot accept the fruits of piracy, Mr. Raleigh.

  Walter Raleigh : Philip of Spain is no friend of England, Majesty. The more gold I take from him, the safer you will be.

  Queen Elizabeth I : Well, well - a political pirate.

• Walter Raleigh : Can you imagine what it is to cross an ocean? For weeks you see nothing but the horizon. Perfect and empty. You live in the grip of fear. Fear of storms. Fear of sickness onboard. Fear of the immensity. So, you must drive that fear down, deep into your belly. Study your charts. Watch your compass. Pray for a fair wind. And hope. Pure. Naked. Fragile. Hope.

• Queen Elizabeth I : Go on, Mr Raleigh. You were - hoping?

  Walter Raleigh : At first, its no more than a haze on the horizon. So you watch. You watch. Then, it's a smudge. A shadow on the far water. For a day. For another day. The stain slowly spreads along the horizon, taking form. Until, on the third day, you let yourself believe. You dare to whisper the word. Land. Land! Life! Resurrection! The true adventure - coming out of the vast unknown. Out of immensity. Into new life. That - your Majesty - is the New World.

• Queen Elizabeth I : Oh, don't tease me, Mr. Raleigh. There's nothing I'd like to do more.

  Walter Raleigh : So why don't you?

  Queen Elizabeth I : Alright, then. I will!

• Queen Elizabeth I : Bess would like to go to sea.

  Walter Raleigh : I'm afraid that's not possible. Women bring bad luck on ships.

  Queen Elizabeth I : Do they?

  Walter Raleigh : Lock up a hundred men in a space smaller than this room, for months at a time. Men have needs. A beautiful woman would drive us all mad.

• Queen Elizabeth I : Am I so hideous you can't even look me in the face?

  Sir Walter Raleigh : Why do you speak like a fool when you're anything but a fool?

  Queen Elizabeth I : Fool? Yes, I am. A vain and foolish woman. And you! You - you - come here, as if from another time and I - you have real adventures! You go and have met them. And I - I would follow you there if I could! Believe me!

• Elizabeth Throckmorton : I'm so afraid.

  Sir Walter Raleigh : We're all human, Bess. We do what we can.

• Sir Walter Raleigh : I have never known a woman like you.

• Walter Raleigh : [Raleigh's horse runs ahead]  Forgive me, Majesty, my horse doesn't seem to know his place yet.

  Queen Elizabeth I : Have you ever known your place, Mr. Raleigh?

• Walter Raleigh : How am I to win the Queen's favor?

  Elizabeth Throckmorton : Why should I tell you that?

  Walter Raleigh : I've little enough to offer, but whatever I have to give, ask and it's yours.

  Elizabeth Throckmorton : Say what you mean to say as plainly as possible. All men flatter the Queen in hope of advancement. Pay her the compliment of truth.

• Walter Raleigh : I think it must be hard for so great a Queen to know the simple pleasure of being liked for herself.

  Queen Elizabeth I : Now you grow dull.

• Walter Raleigh : It is something, after all, to take a blank on the map and build there a shining city.

  Elizabeth Throckmorton : Which you will, no doubt, name after yourself.

  Walter Raleigh : No doubt.

• Queen Elizabeth I : You see how fearless Bess is?

  Sir Walter Raleigh : You like your ladies to jump at your command?

  Queen Elizabeth I : Do you think that wrong?

  Sir Walter Raleigh : No. You are the Queen. You ought to be obeyed.

  Queen Elizabeth I : To tell you the truth, I'm very, very tired of always being in control.

  Sir Walter Raleigh : Nonsense!

  Queen Elizabeth I : What?

  Sir Walter Raleigh : You eat and drink control.

  Queen Elizabeth I : Is that so?

• Queen Elizabeth I : I like you, Mr. Raleigh.

  Walter Raleigh : [as she walks away]  And I like you.

  Queen Elizabeth I : [turning back]  You know, of course, that when I like a man, I reward him.

  Walter Raleigh : I have heard that.

  Queen Elizabeth I : And what have you to say about it?

  Walter Raleigh : Reward my mission, majesty, not me.

  Queen Elizabeth I : Is the mission not the man?

  Walter Raleigh : Then you leave me free to like you in return.

• Queen Elizabeth I : What have you brought me?

  Walter Raleigh : Potato, Majesty. You eat it. Very nourishing. Tobacco. You breathe its smoke. Very stimulating!