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La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream) the most canonical play of the Spanish Golden Age has elicited much discussion. Although many have focused on the characters of the play, little has been said about Estrella, one of the so-called minor characters. In "From Estrella to Isabel de Borbón: Reading Life is a Dream as Speculum Reginae", I uncover a number of links that find in Estrella both a character that allows the plot to move and develop without her being recognized as a protagonist and also, an entity by which Calderon is trying to speak to the Queen consort of Philip IV, Isabel de Borbón. My approach is historicist, hermeneutical and aesthetical using the theories of Georg H. Gadamer, Thomas Pavel and Paul Ricoeur. Thus, through a close reading and discussion of the two versions of Life is a Dream, and an examination of historical materials from the period, in each chapter, text materials from different areas such as the education of women, mythography, religion, rhetoric and politics are brought together to construct the background needed to highlight those links mentioned. However, those links between Estrella and the Queen consort are better understood when I examine different accounts given of Isabel's life that were offered during the many services that took place after her death not only in Madrid and the main capitals of the empire in Europe such as Milan, Naples and Rome, but also in the Americas: Lima, Mexico and Quito. These different accounts (sermons, relaciones and poetry) coming from both sides of the Atlantic confirm the popularity and approval that Isabel had among her subditos and the strong widespread belief in her abilities to properly rule the empire. The use of iconographical symbols of ruling and power during these ceremonials reported by the accounts confirms this. The display of images such as Aurora, Flora, Pallas, Bellona and Minerva in Isabel's memorials shows that these names—the names by which Estrella is addressed in Calderon's plays—were associated with the Queen not only in her funerals, but before. In my doctoral thesis, I offer a reading of La vida es sueño as speculum reginae, which complements and expands our more accepted readings of the play as speculum regis. Calderon's Life is a Dream can, therefore, also be read as a play where on the one hand, the queen is reminded that her place in the Court is one that ought not to overshadow the King, nor his privado. On the other hand, however, the play also claims that her vigilant position on the affairs taking place in the Court not only offers her a preferential glimpse of the situation, but it also stipulates the conditions for her to act on her own.