Rob and I have just got back from the R.E. after watching a very disappointing football game. That’s right, I’m referring to the Socceroo’s 3-1 loss to the Iraqi team in the Asian Cup. Despite Viduka coming in and scoring a not-so-bad goal to level the score 1-1, Iraq hit us with two more. This means that if the Socceroos don’t beat Thailand by a decent amount, we’re officially out of the Asian Cup. So much for being favourites.

I found it funny that after all of the press absolutely worshipping the Socceroos last year after their World Cup success, they turned on the Australian team so quickly and at the first sign of trouble: ‘Socceroos Slump to 3-1 Loss to Iraq’ reads the Ninemsn headline; whereas News.com.au states ‘Socceroos Stunned by Iraq in Asia Cup.’

Let’s just hope someone knocks some sense into the team before they play Thailand on Monday night (Australian time), or we’re going to have a very embarrassed national football team.

Tonight Nick, Kate, Rob and myself had coffee and dessert at Freestyle Tout (Rosalie - the website is for the Emporium restaurant but has the same menu). It’s basically a concept cafe/restaurant that serves good quality coffee with spectacular desserts. Nick had classic New York Baked Cheesecake, Kate had Flourless Chocolate Cake, Rob had Apple and Rhubarb Crumble, and I had a Steamed Lime Pudding. All desserts came dressed with ice cream, sorbet, berry compote and chocolate (or biscuit in Nick’s case). Although certainly not cheap, they were so beautifully presented and so tasty that it was well worth splashing out a bit for a treat. The menu is online if you’re interested to have a look at the other sugary sweets.

‘Queen Elizabeth Discovers she is no Longer Young,’ by Augustus Leopold Egg (1848) - image courtesy of Art Net.

One of the texts I’ve come across that has been particularly useful for my honours thesis is Remaking Queen Victoriaedited by Margaret Homans and Adrienne Munich. Last night I was reading an essay about the comparisons the Victorians drew between their own queen and Elizabeth I.

According to the article, during the first decade of Victoria’s reign public commentary tended towards wondering whether Victoria could live up to the reputation of her predecessor. While Elizabeth was thought to have been silly not to have married and had children, she was respected as a clever and forward-thinking Queen who contributed to the state of England as the Victorians enjoyed it. The article goes on to state that this image of Elizabeth changed once Victoria was married and started having children. Victorian artists and commentators began to represent Elizabeth as an old, wrinkled maid who vainly refused to acknowledge her faded looks (see above painting). Apparently artists favoured representing an elderly Elizabeth caught in her bed chamber in a state of undress, perhaps to act as a stark comparison to the homely, private, and obviously fertile Victoria. But this view of Elizabeth as old and decrepit was not lasting, and changed again when Victoria went into a prolonged period of mourning following the death of her husband Albert. Victoria, whose grief had shown her to be human as well as mother, wife and Queen, disappeared from public life - and her popularity went with her. The image of Elizabeth as an old, vain, infertile woman vanished along with Victoria, and was replaced by startling portraits of Elizabeth as an innocent young child in the nursery, untouched by the events of her reign yet-to-come. Why this occurred is less clear, however I imagine it had something to do with the wide-spread acknowledgement that both Victoria and Elizabeth were women as well as monarchs, and that their personal and public lives were necessarily separate. According to the article, when Victoria emerged from her self-imposed period of mourning, she and the almost 300-year-dead Elizabeth underwent what some might call a positive publicity boost - with Victoria’s expanding global empire came the comparisons with Elizabeth’s triumphs (at the hands of Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake).

I find it fascinating that the life of Queen Victoria could have had such an impact on the way the public understood the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Of course it was not an every day occurrence to have a female ruler, and obvious parallels would have been drawn. It’s just interesting that Elizabeth’s persona changed as many times as it did, and so dramatically. It also makes me wonder how much of this propaganda remains in present day scholarship regarding both queens - is the reason we associate Elizabeth with her struggle to remain unmarried and childless because of the efforts of the Victorians? And did society accept Victoria more willingly because of the previous success of Elizabeth? I think there is still a great deal of work to be done concerning the relationships between female rulers in Britain, and the portrayals of said leaders not only by their contemporaries but by historians in later periods.