THE musicians sound. Queen Elizabeth approaches the gates of the stately house. A procession of courtiers and the long baggage train following her summer progress are snaking away behind her. The noble host and his family have ridden out to meet her. Actors and singers prepare to deliver their lines of welcome. Local people have run to view the spectacle. Poets, playwrights, composers, costumemakers, dancing masters, designers, and builders of scenery, machines, or special effects, have all been busy preparing the entertainments. Vast sums of money have been spent. Such visits were undertakings of considerable complexity for both the Lord Chamberlain, who was responsible for the logistics of moving the court and its possessions, and those preparing to host and entertain. While a nobleman could take part in a tournament in most years from the 1570s onwards, hosting the Queen on one of her summer progresses was a rarer honour. For civic hosts without other access to the court and its entertainments, such opportunities were even scarcer. All those involved in the production, from the Queen downwards, wanted to capitalise on their efforts, so an array personal and political aims vied for prominence.

Itinerant courts were the norm in Renaissance Europe as limited sanitation, the drain on local resources, and the fear of plague forced regular movement between royal palaces. As well as these more localised removes, monarchs undertook longer tours of their realms, making royal entries into multiple towns along the route in order to reinforce their authority across their kingdoms. Other European monarchs travelled further, made longer tours, and enjoyed grander and more classically inspired royal entries (the numerous progresses of Emperor Charles V across his pan-European empire and the two-year Grande Voyage de France by the newly come-of-age Charles IX are examples). Elizabeth's progresses, however, were distinguished by the hospitality she received from her nobility, the lavish entertainments they provided, and her deliberate participation and interaction with the crowds during royal entries.

During most summers Elizabeth left the confines of the royal household and spent several months travelling through parts of central, eastern, and southern England, both staying with noble hosts and also making royal entries into towns.