Where there actually blacks back then in the 1500's...

When something (or someone, as the case may be) sticks out, it distracts. That's why people get worked up about "a few extras". If extras were so insignificant, the movies wouldn't include them in the first place.

And sure, there were a handful of black people around, but these days there's a trend - and people are well aware of this trend - to be as inclusive as possible, for the sake of diversity. This inevitably gives one the impression that the message is diversity (which it kind of is, let's be honest), rather than the story itself. It becomes... preachy.

Let me also point out that there is a black person in virtually every shot in the trailer, in all sorts of social and/or political position. Courtiers, chamber maids, sergeants... Considering that Elizabeth was particularly prejudiced against them and wanted them out (as per the article you yourself linked to), and considering that black people were hardly ever even seen by the vast majority of her subjects (again, as per the article you yourself linked to), it is correct to call historical inaccuracy. And as they are in virtually every shot (especially in the trailer), it is all the more obvious that they are making a very deliberate point of including black people. In other words... preachy.

You are the dipshit! You can’t be serious! The casting of negroes in this film is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen. Negro nobles in class conscience Elizabethan England? A black ambassador to Scotland? Where did they all go? I have never seen or heard of any black government officials in WW I or WW II. Then we have the gratuitous scene with the black noble kissing one of the ladies in waiting. All this was is a pathetic piece of pro-black propaganda and untruths.

They're deliberate "errors".

I wouldn't be so confident to define which people are prepared to overlook wee "errors" but be put off by miscasting black actors.

The movies about Mary Stuart have been poor to quite good. Unless you are expecting them to be historically accurate. Only people expecting historical accuracy AND intolerant of dramas not casting based on skin colour are going to have "a lot of things" taken away from the movie before they see it.

Movies are either historically accurate or they are not. They almost always aren't. Take it or leave it. If you take it and still can't be entertained or stimulated then that's too bad.

Don't waste your time. The race and skin colour of the actors is the primary concern... regarding another "historical" drama that relies on putting two people, who never actually met in real life, in the same room together and talking their problems with each other. You might as well have put Elizabeth I and Muhammad Ali in the ring and let them box it out.

It's one thing if they outright say that it is fiction, and they are going to use color-blind casting to show off the acting abilities of the people they hired. I can go with that. They've done it with a number of films, including the "Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella" with Brandy and Whitney Houston.

It's another if they're trying to say "This is history and how it REALLY happened, not that white-washing stuff the real people actually lived with." And you look at that and feel like you're being lectured by a snotty teenager who believes they know more than you do, when they don't know jack shit about history and are trying to re-write it to make up for their own personal shortcomings.

That was a different era, in the early time of movies; the white actors were made-up to appear (somewhat) what race the role was. It wasn't until mid-20th centuray that actual American Indians actually played the roles of American Indians! I think there *are* plenty of complaints of visual anachronisms--the viewer is too much worried by the error that sticks out like a sore thumb to pay attention to the rest of the move/play.

To do a complete research, don´t forget to check posting history of the ones who complains about white actors; include those who judge if an actor is "black enough" for a role.