A new art installation, by award winning contemporary artist Lindsey Mendick will mark the 450th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth I's 19-day visit to Kenilworth Castle, English Heritage has announced.

Going on display there in July 2025, the immersive artwork will "offer a new perspective" on Queen Elizabeth 1's relationship with her courtier and long-term suitor Robert Dudley while also exploring her strategies for maintaining authority from the epicentre of a Tudor power struggle.

During the summer of 1575, in her longest ever visit to a courtier's residence, Elizabeth I spent nearly three weeks as a guest of the Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley.

Dudley laid on lavish festivities throughout Elizabeth's stay in a final attempt to woo her, ten years after his original marriage proposal, on Christmas Day in 1565.

The 'princely pleasures' included fireworks which were heard 20 miles away and a garden created especially for her visit.

A rainstorm led to the cancellation of the final entertainment, which should have been a masque urging Elizabeth to marry her host.

Working closely with English Heritage historians, the artist was struck by the ruthlessness of Robert Dudley's pursuit of Elizabeth during her time at Kenilworth and the precariousness of her position as Queen.

Elizabeth I visited Kenilworth Castle in 1575 (image via Ann Longmore-Etheridge)

Mendick's installation will present a historical retelling of the reasons why Elizabeth would not marry, drawing on women from Greek mythology, using their stories as warnings to Elizabeth, against marriage.

Lindsey Mendick said: "As I read more about Elizabeth, I began to understand the profound vulnerability of her reign. She was not just the iconic Queen with 'the heart and stomach of a king', but the child scarred by her mother's execution and a woman surrounded by an ever closing circle of men in a perpetual battle of wits."

English Heritage's curatorial director, Matt Thompson, said: "The significance of this 19-day visit to Kenilworth is undeniable. Dudley spent around £1000 a day on the no-holds-barred festivities, which would be in the region of £7m today.

"To put that into perspective, this would have been even more than Queen Victoria's 1831 coronation in today's money.

"Rather than choosing the focus of the artwork to be on Dudley and this seemingly grand romantic gesture, Lindsey has followed a different thread, putting the queen at the centre of the story and exploring the potentially dangerous and complicated situation in which she found herself.

"We're very excited to be working with Lindsey and look forward to bringing this fresh take on one of history's intriguing love stories to our visitors next summer."

Lindsey Mendick is a leading British artist known for immersive, multimedia installations that transform personal and historical stories into larger-than-life sculptures and installations filled with humour, horror, and feminist revisionism.