Fairy figure, minstrel or Blessed Virgin? Elizabeth I used all these role models as if in a masquerade to legitimize her position as monarch. Female rulers were not actually envisaged in the structures of the 16th century. They contradicted the passive, obedient and silent image of women of the time. With masque music by Byrd, Dowland, Morley, Parsons and others, ensemble feuervogel looks behind these royal masks, breaks through courtly facades and explores how the problem of role models was solved under Elizabeth I.