Elizabeth I of England

Background

Elizabeth I was born on September 7, 1533, in Greenwich, England. She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. At the age of two, her mother was beheaded on her father’s orders, based on dubious charges of adultery and conspiracy. Elizabeth was brought up in the same way that any other royal child would be. She was tutored and was excellent in languages and music. Elizabeth spent some time in the care of her stepmother, Catherine Parr, after her father died in 1547.

Elizabeth I inherited a lot of issues that her half-sister Mary had sparked during her reign. The country was at war with France, which drained the royal coffers tremendously. After Mary worked to restore England to Roman Catholicism by any means necessary, there was also a lot of animosity between different religious factions. To solve these two serious challenges, Elizabeth moved quickly. She advocated for the passage of the Act of Supremacy, which re-established the Church of England, and the Act of Uniformity, which established a single prayer book, during her first session of Parliament in 1559. The closing years of Elizabeth’s reign were turbulent. Failed crops, food shortages, unemployment, inflation, and Irish rebellions plagued the country. She also faced numerous challenges to her authority, including one from Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex, one of her favorite noblemen. She had sent him to Ireland to put down a rebellion led by Gaelic lord Hugh O’Neill, known as ‘The Nine Years War.’ Essex, on the other hand, returned to England and attempted to start his rebellion. In 1601, he was hanged for treason. Despite her declining power, Elizabeth remained loyal to her people. In the same year, she delivered one of her most renowned remarks to Parliament. Elizabeth enjoyed recreational activities in addition to her hard job on the court. She was a music lover who could also play the lute. Elizabeth also enjoyed watching plays and dancing. In many ways, Elizabeth was an early fashionista; she adored jewels and gorgeous attire, and her outfits were frequently composed of gold and silver. She achieved a strikingly pale appearance with the help of makeup.

Elizabeth never married or had children, and she didn’t seem to want to share authority with anybody, earning her the moniker ‘Virgin Queen.’ She dealt with a lot of suitors and potential royal matches during her reign. Philip II of Spain, Archduke Charles of Austria, and the then-future King Henry III of France were among the suitors who begged for Elizabeth’s hand. She looked to be interested in Robert Dudley, a member of her court and a childhood friend. Their relationship became the focus of rumors and inquiry, and Dudley was suspected of his wife’s death with the intention of marrying the queen. On March 24, 1603, Elizabeth died at Richmond Palace in Surrey.