Elizabeth: The Golden Age

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• In the scene where Francis Walsingham is on his deathbed, Isaac Oliver's famous "Rainbow Portrait" of Elizabeth I can be seen hanging from a wall. This painting was completed c.1600, ten years after Walsingham's actual death on April 6, 1590.
• The set used as El Escorial (the King of Spain's palace) in the movie is really Westminster Cathedral in London. Being a functioning worship building, the production team wasn't able to start shooting until after the last confession in the evening, then strip the interior with everything recognizably modern, shoot every scene in the night, and return everything into place by the first mass in the morning.
• In the film, when Elizabeth arrives at St. Paul's Cathedral there is construction going on that demonstrates part of the Golden Age of her reign. In real life, St. Paul's actually needed repair work done. Director Shekhar Kapur decided to improvise and gave costumes to the actual workers and period-accurate tools to cut real stone that was being installed in the cathedral. They are not actors, but really are masons and construction workers.
• The words Mary, Queen of Scots, mouths before being executed are "I forgive you with all my heart", said to be her last words, spoken to the executioner when he asked her forgiveness.