Elizabeth I gets royal treatment

Washington, D.C.

The 400th anniversary of the death of England’s Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) is being commemorated on both sides of the Atlantic with exhibits and performances.

* London: The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, not far from where Elizabeth was born, is showing more than 300 paintings, manuscripts and personal possessions such as jewelry relating to the Tudor queen. Many of the objects have never been displayed.

Among the highlights is a beautiful mother-of-pearl, ruby and diamond ring containing miniature images of Elizabeth and her mother, Anne Boleyn, who was executed by Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII. There are also rarely seen portraits and love letters from suitors to the queen, who never married.

“Elizabeth” begins Thursday and runs through Sept. 14. Open daily; hours vary. Adult admission is about $14. 011-44-20-8312-6565, www.nmm.ac.uk.

Britain’s Tower of London and Hampton Court have Elizabeth I events throughout the year. For more information, visit www.hrp.org.uk.

* Washington, D.C.: “To be a king and bear a crown is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it,” Elizabeth told Parliament in 1601. During her reign, however, England became a wealthy seafaring nation. Its prosperity led to patronage of the arts, such as theater.

At least two plays by William Shakespeare were performed for Elizabeth at court. The title page of one of them, “A most pleasaunt and excellent conceited Comedie, of Syr John Falstaffe, and the merrie Wives of Windsor,” published in 1602, is in the exhibit “Elizabeth I, Then and Now,” through Aug. 2 at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. (“Conceit,” explains curator Georgianna Ziegler, meant something fanciful and witty.)

Other exhibit highlights include a 1579 portrait of Elizabeth I by George Gower; a first folio of “Mr William Shakespeare Comedies Histories and Tragedies,” published in 1616; letters to and from the queen; and the “New Year’s Gift Roll,” an 11-foot-long piece of parchment that tallies gifts to the queen.

The library says its collection of items related to the Tudor monarch is the largest outside England. Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and during performance intermissions in the Folger Theatre. Free. (202) 544-7077 (library and theater box office), www.folger.edu.

The Folger exhibit is part of a citywide celebration called “Shakespeare & The World of Elizabeth I.” So are three plays: Maxwell Anderson’s “Elizabeth the Queen” at the Folger Theatre, part of the Folger Shakespeare Library (through May 4; tickets $34 to $46); Shakespeare’s “Richard III” at the Shakespeare Theatre (through May 18; tickets $19.75 to $66; [877] 487-8849, www.shakespearetheatre.org); and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of the Bard’s “As You Like It” at the Kennedy Center (through May 18; tickets $25 to $70; [800] 444-1324, www.kennedy-center.org).

Susan Davidson is arts editor of Washingtonian magazine and reviews plays for www.washingtonian.com.