The film adheres to 16th-century heteronormative structures. While Elizabeth and Robert Dudley share an intense intimacy, the narrative lacks explicit queer subtext or non-cisnormative identities.

The film subverts patriarchal hierarchies by tracking Elizabeth's evolution into a singular authority. It portrays sovereignty as a performance that disrupts the trope of the submissive female monarch.

The cast is predominantly white and Anglo-Saxon to maintain historical verisimilitude. The central power structure lacks non-European perspectives or color-blind casting.

Religious institutions are portrayed as volatile tools of political manipulation rather than moral guides. The narrative focuses on statecraft and the sacrifice of personal identity to power.

The film does not feature prominent characters with visible or invisible disabilities.