Today in 1593, Grace O’Malley the Irish pirate queen stood in the royal court of Greenwich Palace before another queen Elizabeth I. She had crossed the Irish Sea not as a supplicant but as a sovereign in her own right, seeking the release of her sons and her half-brother, imprisoned by the ruthless Governor of Connacht, Sir Richard Bingham. Grace is said to have refused to curtsey, declaring that she recognised no monarch as her superior, though she addressed Elizabeth as a fellow ruler. When the English guards found a dagger concealed in her clothes, she explained calmly that it was for her own protection, not for attack, and the Queen allowed her to keep it. The two women conversed in Latin, not as is often claimed because Grace didnt speak English, but because it was a common diplomatic language. Grace was born around 1530, the daughter of the Mayo chieftain Eoghan Dubhdara Ó Mháille, whose fleets traded salt with France and Spain. At sixteen she married Dónal Ó Flaithbheartaigh, with whom she had three kids and took command of his castles at Bunowen and Ballinahinch. When Dónal was killed by the rival Joyce clan in 1565, two hundred of his men pledged themselves to Grace. She established her base in Clew Bay, from which she commanded ships, exacted tolls, and conducted raiding campaigns. In 1566 she married Richard ‘the Iron’ Bourke, gaining control of Rockfleet Castle in Newport, County Mayo. A year later she dismissed him with the words “I dismiss you” though the marriage bond remained intact. Bourke’s connections to the great MacWilliam and Bourke clans brought her new influence, but also new enemies. When Richard Bingham became governor in 1584, he sought to break the power of the Bourkes, seizing lands, impounding Grace’s fleet. Bingham made it super personal by ordering the killing of her eldest son, Eoghan. Bingham described the Pirate Queen as “a notable traitoress and nurse to all rebellions in the province for 40 years.” It was in this context of loss and defiance that Grace made her extraordinary journey to London. And against all expectation, she prevailed. Elizabeth ordered the release of her son Tibbot ne Long, as well as the return of her fleet in Clew Bay. Whether through admiration, a shrew diplomatic calculation, or both, the English queen had recognised in Grace O’Malley a female leader who, like herself, had carved authority out of a hostile world. – at Dublin City, Ireland