Following in footsteps of a queen at Bess Fest

Warwick followed in the footsteps of Queen Elizabeth I as the town celebrated the royal and her historical links with the district.
Elizabethan Festival, costumes, town crier etc procession leaves from the Globe from 11am then go through town centre 
MHLC-28-05-16 NNL-160528-201322009Elizabethan Festival, costumes, town crier etc procession leaves from the Globe from 11am then go through town centre 
MHLC-28-05-16 NNL-160528-201322009
Elizabethan Festival, costumes, town crier etc procession leaves from the Globe from 11am then go through town centre MHLC-28-05-16 NNL-160528-201322009

The town’s first Good Queen Bess Fest was held as part of St Mary’s church’s ongoing Shakespeare 400 celebration of religion and the playwright 400 years after his death.

A procession by the Queen and her entourage in full period costume took visitors to the Lord Leycester Hospital and continued on to Kenilworth Castle and Charlecote Park - following along the path taken by the royal in her three-week-long visit in 1575.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Event organiser, Alycia Smith-Howard, said: “We are very excited about all of our events and this is one we have worked hard with to draw on the links right across Warwickshire.”

Elizabethan Festival, costumes, town crier etc procession leaves from the Globe from 11am then go through town centre 
MHLC-28-05-16 NNL-160528-201335009Elizabethan Festival, costumes, town crier etc procession leaves from the Globe from 11am then go through town centre 
MHLC-28-05-16 NNL-160528-201335009
Elizabethan Festival, costumes, town crier etc procession leaves from the Globe from 11am then go through town centre MHLC-28-05-16 NNL-160528-201335009

The queen came to stay at Kenilworth Castle and its 16th century owner Robert Dudley, in what turned into weeks of pageants, music, dancing, feasting and fireworks.

It is even rumoured that an 11-year-old William Shakespeare was at the festivities which inspired him to write A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, has his tomb in St Mary’s Beauchamp Chapel - strengthening the district-wide links.