Jean Simmons almost don't get the part of Elizabeth because she was considered too pretty.
This was young Rex Thompson's film debut as Prince Edward/King Edward VI. He turned in a truly engaging performance as the ill-fated young King of England, remarkable considering he was only eleven years old, and was not British but a native New Yorker.
Cast as on-screen lovers Young Bess (Queen Elizabeth I) and Sir Thomas Seymour, in real life Jean Simmons and Stewart Granger were married to each other when this movie was filmed.