Elizabeth I revealed as secret scribe of historic manuscript

A manuscript written by Queen Elizabeth I has been discovered after lying unnoticed for more than a century.

A literary historian from the University of East Anglia made the startling find in Lambeth Palace Library in London.

He turned detective to piece together a series of clues to establish the queen was the author of the writings.

The work is a translation of a book in which the Roman historian Tacitus wrote of the benefits of monarchical rule.

It was while searching in the library for translations of Tacitus that Dr John-Mark Philo found the mysterious 42-page manuscript.

He established it was written on a very specific kind of paper, which had "gained special prominence" in the Tudor Court in the 1590s.

"There was, however, only one translator at the Tudor court to whom a translation of Tacitus was ascribed by a contemporary, and who was using the same paper in her translations and private correspondence - the queen herself," added Dr Philo.