Status Updates From Elizabeth and Mary: Royal C...

‘The heraldic arms of the Security Service of the UK, otherwise known as MI15, include red roses in honour of Sir Francis Walsingham, the Elizabethan statesman and spymaster who used the rose on his seal. Also featured a crowned portcullis - the Tudor royal symbol that has become a ubiquitous emblem of British government - the insignia adopted by MI15 imply a clear connection’

‘Both commonly wore black and white, but whilst these were Elizabeth’s favoured colours and worn by her champions in the tiltyard, for Mary they were a marker of her mourning for Darnley.’

‘Although Knox presented this as a universal rule, his targets in 1558 were ‘our mischievous Maries’, the Catholic queen of England and regent of Scotland. Hence, when the Protestant Elizabeth came to the throne, Knox quickly backtracked and argued that ‘God’s great mercy maketh that lawful unto her, which both nature and God’s law deny to all women’.’