ships. Elizabeth, atop her coastal headquarters, walks out to the cliffs and watches the Spanish Armada sink in flames as the English prevail. She visits Raleigh and Bess and blesses their child. Elizabeth appears to triumph personally through her ordeal, again resigned to her role as the Virgin Queen and mother to the English people. Cast Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I Geoffrey Rush as Sir Francis Walsingham Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh Abbie Cornish as Bess Throckmorton Samantha Morton as Mary, Queen of Scots Jordi Mollà as King Philip II of Spain Susan Lynch as Annette Fleming Rhys Ifans as Robert Reston Eddie Redmayne as Anthony Babington Tom Hollander as Amias Paulet David Threlfall as John Dee Steven Robertson as Sir Francis Throckmorton Adam Godley as William Walsingham Laurence Fox as Sir Christopher Hatton William Houston as Guerau de Espés Christian Brassington as Charles II, Archduke of Austria John Shrapnel as Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham Kelly Hunter as Ursula Walsingham Production Principal photography began 28 April 2006 and completed on 1 August 2006. Historical background In 1558, King Philip II of Spain's second wife, Queen Mary I of England, died. They had wed in July 1554, a year after Mary's accession to the English throne, but the English Parliament had refused to grant him much real power as co-monarch of England. On Mary's death he tried unsuccessfully to persuade her sister and successor, Elizabeth I, to marry him. For many years Philip maintained peace with England, and even defended Elizabeth from the Pope's threat of excommunication. This was a measure taken to preserve a European balance of power. Ultimately, Elizabeth allied England with the Protestant rebels in the Netherlands. Further, English ships began a policy of piracy against Spanish trade and threatened to plunder the great Spanish treasure ships coming from the New World. English ships went so far as to attack a Spanish port. The last straw for Philip was the Treaty of Nonsuch signed by Elizabeth in 1585 – promising troops and supplies to the rebels. Although it can be argued this English action was the result of Philip's Treaty of Joinville with the Catholic League of France, Philip considered it an act of war by England. With the Pope's blessing, he launched the Spanish Armada to attack England, Protestantism, and Elizabeth herself. Sir Walter Raleigh, whom the Queen favored, married Elizabeth Throckmorton, a