British royalty, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (b.1507?). Her birth was an inauspicious beginning as her father, King Henry VIII was so sure that he would have a son and heir that he divorced his first wife and broke with the Church of England for the sake of legitimizing this child, conceived out of wedlock. Eventually her dad became reconciled to his little redhead and pushed aside his older daughter, Mary Tudor.
Elizabeth was raised in sumptuous solitude, surrounded by servants and seeing her parents seldom. Her mother was repeatedly pregnant, trying to carry a son for Henry and England. In January 1836 Anne miscarried a male child, after which Henry refused to have marital relations with her. He accused her of adultery with five men and had her put in the tower and executed on 19 May 1536. Ten days later, Henry married Jane Seymour. He declared Elizabeth a bastard and banished her, as he already had done with Mary.
Henry’s sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, convinced the king to return his two daughters to court and restore them to the succession. She then engaged the finest tutors available to train the fiercely intelligent young Elizabeth. When Henry VIII died in 1547, he was succeeded by his ten-year-old son Edward VI and Elizabeth moved to the home of Catherine Parr, her guardian. Catherine almost immediately married Thomas Seymour.
Seymour lusted more for power than for his wife, and he began an amorous courtships of his teen-age step-daughter, thinking to make her queen so he could be de facto ruler of England. He would enter her boudoir in the morning to kiss her good morning and fondle her. Elizabeth, who had little experience with either men or affection, entered into the romance, until her pregnant step-mother, Catherine, found the two in an embrace and took action. History fails to tell us how far the affair had progressed, but it is recorded that Seymour was arrested for treason and beheaded. When told, Elizabeth refused to either offer information or show any reaction.
Edward VI died of TB when he was 15, 1552. After an aborted nine-day reign by the Protestant Lady Jane Grey, Mary Tudor was crowned Queen Mary I. While she was well liked, Protestants viewed her with suspicion that turned into unrest when she married the Catholic Philip, heir to the Spanish throne and about 11 years her junior. When the Protestants attempted an uprising, Mary had Elizabeth detained under house arrest and put in the Tower of London. Later she was allowed to return to Hatfield.
As her reign progressed, Mary’s behavior became more bizarre. She did not have the hoped-for male child, and the handsome Philip deserted her. Increasingly fixated on religious fanaticism, she took to burning Protestants at the stake. Starting on 4 February 1555, she had 300 protestant martyrs put to the stake, gaining the tile of Bloody Mary.
With a history of poor health, she was often ill, and died as a despised, dried-up old crone at 42 on 17 November 1558 OS, London. When Elizabeth was given the news, she wept, whether for her half-sister or for the hard road ahead.
England was deeply in debt. It had no standing army, no police, and many corrupt courtiers. The people were poor and England lacked an infrastructure to care for the homeless and sick, a job once handled by the now-closed monasteries and convents. Hardest of all, Elizabeth’s country was violently divided between Catholic and Protestant factions.
The first attempt of manipulation of the young queen came with ornate and profuse marriage offers, no matter how inappropriate was the suitor. Elizabeth I never married, gaining the title of The Virgin Queen, but the possibilities of affairs and even illegitimate children were rumored. History does not know the status of her chastity. Her favorite suitor, possibly even the love of her life, was a married man, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. He accompanied her often, and gave her lessons in riding. She openly fondled him, calling him “bonny sweet Robin.” More fuel was added to the rumor mill when Dudley’s wife, who was already ill, died in a very suspicious fall on 8 September 1560. Dudley stayed by Elizabeth’s side for 30 years, even holding rooms adjoining hers in the palace.
Elizabeth was said to be vain and deceitful, most devoted to her kingdom – and her own satisfactions. A redhead, she had a ferocious temper. At 29 she had lost her hair when she had smallpox and from then on, wore wigs and white makeup. She loved extravagant costume and had perhaps the best collection of jewelry in Europe, with 628 pieces by 1587. Every week she wore new shoes.
She reigned 1558-1603, placing English economy on a sound basis, reestablishing the Anglican church and beginning the Colonial empire. In religious matters, she was free of zealotry and simply wanted to keep stability in the land.
She died on 24 March 1603, 2:15 AM, London.
Link to Wikipedia biography