Goofs

Elizabeth completely smashes a mirror but in next shot a large shard of it still remains in the frame.

When at court near the beginning of the movie, a reaction shot of Olivia de Havilland is shown as Errol Flynn arrives. In the same scene she is shown again, wearing different clothes and jewelry. The clothing and jewelry shown in the second reaction shot are the same as she is wearing later in the movie, when they are again in court.

The real Robert Cecil was small and had a curved spine, and was one of Queen Elizabeth's chief counselors, not the supercilious character portrayed in this film, or in Maxwell Anderson's original play. The queen would affectionately refer to him as "my dwarf". He is more accurately portrayed in the TV miniseries Elizabeth I (2005).

At about 20 minutes into the movie, a duet is being performed with a piano and lute. The piano was not yet invented in 1596. It was invented circa 1700. The only keyboard string type instrument in the time period was the Harpsichord.

Details of some historical characters and events have been changed to fit the dramatic narrative.

When the horseman rides up to the "Red Lion" inn, a gorgeous sunset is behind him; the shadow he casts is inconsistent with the placement of the sun, revealing this sunset to not have been in the original shot.

During the battle scenes in Ireland, none of the matchlock muskets have matches, let alone burning matches, meaning that these firearms would have been inoperable.

The movie depicts Lord Burleigh being alive at the time of Essex's insurrection in 1601 however, Burleigh died in 1598.

Essex twice compares Elizabeth to her father, speaking of Henry VIII as if from personal acquaintance, though Henry died in 1547 and Essex was born in 1565.

The scores that Korngold wrote for this movie and for "The Adventures of Robin Hood" are perfect for creating a spirit of epic heroism; as regards music history, however, they are all wrong. The Late Romantic bombast of both these pieces is totally inappropriate for the Middle Ages and for the 16th Century, whose musical styles are well known.

At the end, Elizabeth begs Essex not to die and even throws England at him. Instead, Essex willingly goes to the block, even though Elizabeth is now willing to meet all of his demands. However, Elizabeth would never have done this. She really did love England more than anything else and willingly sacrificed her love life for it. So, the real Elizabeth would never have given into Essex's demands, nor would she have willingly given Essex her throne and England.

If Essex really were as ambitious as he states, then he would have had no qualms in lying to Elizabeth (just as she lied to him to get his men out of her palace) and then moved against her at a later time. Instead, he chooses to be honest and go to the block. Choosing death is the antithesis to ambition.