Was the Virgin Queen a King of Deception?

Elizabeth I never married, was proud to be called 'The Virgin Queen', and claimed that people needed to feel their monarch was wedded to the whole country, rather than one man. On other occasions, she hinted that the debacle of her father’s six wives, and her mother’s death at the block, had put her off marriage for life, but many people believe that Elizabeth's aversion to marriage was due to the need to hide a terrible secret that, if it were to be exposed, would bring the nation to its knees. What was her—supposed—terrible secret? Shocking as it may sound; some evidence suggests she was a drag queen monarch, rather than a true Queen.

Although many people have heard nothing of this rumored high-level deception, it is a subject that more people may soon become aware of because noted author, Steve Berry, has worked it into the plot of his controversial new novel The King's Deception. The book is part of Berry's Cotton Malone series.

From the Amazon sales page:

"Cotton Malone and his fifteen-year-old son, Gary, are headed to Europe. As a favor to his former boss at the Justice Department, Malone agrees to escort a teenage fugitive back to England. But after he is greeted at gunpoint in London, both the fugitive and Gary disappear, and Malone learns that he’s stumbled into a high-stakes diplomatic showdown—an international incident fueled by geopolitical gamesmanship and shocking Tudor secrets."

Berry is not the only writer to have been aware of this rumor. Dracula author, Bram Stoker was aware of it as well, and was so convinced of its credibility that that he included the story in the final chapter of his lesser-known work Imposters.

But what is this story that Stoker found so convincing, and has now inspired Berry's new novel?

Apparently Henry VIII sent his young daughter to a manor house in the Cotswold village of Bisley, not for a holiday, but as a precautionary measure because he was afraid that she, like so many Londoners, would fall victim to the plague. This much is known is an historical fact, subsequent events are, however, harder to prove, but this is the story . . .

The King's sensible precaution proved to be a futile because Elizabeth caught a fever and died, a terrible turn of events that would surely have entailed terrible consequences for those who had been assigned to protect her, so the whole matter was hushed up. Elizabeth was buried in secret and a substitute was sought in the village. Unfortunately the only substitute that could be found was a young boy and, with the king's imminent arrival at Bisley there was no time to find a better option.

The two people who manufactured this incredible deception—if deception it was—were Lady Kat Ashley (her governess) and Thomas Parry (her guardian) and, fortunately for them, certain circumstances worked to their advantage. The King had rarely spent time with his daughter and even when he did so she was such a quiet child that he was used to her sitting in silence; so in the dim light of the manor, the King had no reason to suspect that anyone other than his daughter stood before him. Opportunity for a better replacement was never forthcoming, so the boy was taught to be a princess, while the real Elizabeth was buried in the manor's grounds.

It is this clandestine burial that proved to be of particular interest to Stoker, who heard persistent rumors that a coffin had been unearthed at Bisley, during the 1800s, that contained the remains of a young girl, fully garbed in Tudor finery with precious gems sewn into the fabric.

Stoker could easily see how such a deception explained the Virgin Queen's failure to marry, even though one of her most important duties was to provide an heir, and her refusal to give her hand to the Prince of Spain provoked a war.

Berry believes that when the Queen said she had the heart of a man she was telling the truth. Stoker believed it too, so much of this story is heresay; the rest is a mix of heresy and history, while the truth of the matter remains a matter of personal opinion. Queen of the Realm, or drag Queen King? Maybe this is one piece of history that is better forgotten.

More at the Mail Online

Woman Gives Up Eating in Favor of a Strict Diet of Sunlight

Sixty-five-year-old Navene Shine has decided that it is perectly possible to live on sunshine all washed down, of course, with plenty of water. A firm believer in the Breatharian Diet, she has not eaten solid food since May 30th.

Exponents of Breatharianism believe that sunlight provides all the nourishment the body needs. Sadly none of  many thousands of people who are starving in Africa have come forward to back up this theory and all of the western world practitioners who managed to find the will power to stick with the Breatharian diet are now dead.

Mrs. Shine, who has been sharing her experience via Facebook and YouTube, and has set up eight cameras around her home to track her progress, admits that her new diet has not been easy. She occasionally gets twinges of something that ‘feels like hunger ‘ and has been constipated, and claims to feel short of energy.  She also says she has suffered from nausea.

So far she has lost more than six inches from her belly and has dropped from a weight of 159lbs to 130lbs and on her 30th day of the diet she wrote:
‘I have the feeling that my body has reached a point where it has used up all its stored fats and is now looking around for what next to consume.’

If someone doesn’t get her on a sunbed pretty soon the old dear may well starve to death, but she is one lady who knows what she wants out life and appears to be ready to fight to the death to get it.

More on this story from the Mail Online

Queen Guitarist Brian May Leads Protest to Stop Badger Cull

It’s official. June 1^st is the start of culling season and one of the worst things about this is the sad fact that this outrageous and barbaric state of affairs has been fully sanctioned by the British government.

Five thousand badgers may be killed in two pilot badger culls in West Gloucestershire and West Somerset and it is likely that it will cost around £4 million to provide enough police officers to cope with the inevitable disruptions caused by animal right protestors.

Brian May, Bill Oddie, and hundreds of protestors—some wearing badger masks—have already stormed the streets of London and delivered a petition against this cruel practice. The petition had been signed by 228,000 people, but the powers that be refuse to be moved and continue to claim that course of action is necessary to prevent the spread of bovine TB.

Many experts disagree and consider the cull do be an ill-advised act that may cause the disease to spread faster than normal, meaning the government will have spent millions of pounds of the British taxpayer's money to create a bigger problem than they had before.

Philip Mansbridge, chief executive of animal charity Care for the Wild, has stated: "The badger cull has no scientific, economic or animal welfare justification.

"The Government and the NFU are blindly embarking on one of the worst agricultural policies of the past 30 years, which will lead to senseless slaughter, chaos and disruption in the countryside, huge cost to the taxpayer and no meaningful reduction in the spread of bovine TB."