Picnic at the Castle?  If it was good enough for Gloriana…

We don’t usually meet in August but for those avoiding traffic jams, trying to reduce carbon footprints or staycationing in Kenilworth, President Amanda arranged some holiday downtime together.

Our VIP treatment included a special presentation of the talk President Amanda gives to visitors in her role as volunteer at the Castle.

Amanda entertained, amused and fascinated us with her description of the fourth and final visit of Elizabeth 1st to Kenilworth Castle in 1575.  Apparently this was Robert Dudley’s last ditch attempt to win the hand of Gloriana in marriage and he certainly pulled out all the stops!

He even went to the trouble of having a special garden created for her, full of flowers and plants that conveyed messages of love and regard.  Then he topped that with a fountain featuring statues of himself and his brother Ambrose.

Sadly, for Robert, this was not enough to persuade Gloriana to hand over her power to a man.

And as Soroptimists – we totally get that!  Here’s to working towards gender equality for us all.