Elizabeth I Queen of England
Being the Queen of both Ireland and England, the early life of Elizabeth was full of discontentment and disturbance from the time she was born for she failed to fulfil the expectations of her father, King Henry VIII. He was looking forward to bringing forth a healthy son that is why he sacrificed to change the progression in one direction of his country's important past events just to marry Anne Boleyn. He had already had his first daughter Mary, sixteen years older than Elizabeth in his first wife Catherine of Aragon whom he decided not to divorce at the moment while transforming the beliefs and practices of the religion. On September 7th, 1533, Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace where she begun to suffer the anger and disappointment of her father.
By the time Anne finally become pregnant with a son, Henry could not wait anymore and he begun to fail in his health and become tired of her that he started to manipulate overthrowing her in his Kingdom. Because of failure to give Henry a son, Anne was killed on false charges of adultery and crimes of sexual intercourse and was decapitated in the Tower Green, Elizabeth was only three years old during that time. Elizabeth like her sister Mary was withheld of her right to the throne as the successor of the King because she was also declared as an unlawful daughter after their mother's marriage to Henry was considered without effect and void.
While King Henry waited eagerly to have a son, Elizabeth was sent out of the existence from judicial tribunal as she was a memory of her mother to Henry. He married Jane Seymour, who indeed conceiving a longed son Edward VI of the future, but died shortly after she gave birth. Elizabeth saw a proceeding succession in her life in the arms of other stepmothers after Jane's death. There was Anne Cleves who had been divorced after her father found her to be ugly, Catherine Howard who was executed and beheaded for adultery and lastly Catherine Parr, the last among Henry's six wives and who was first expected to marry the brother of late Queen Jane, Thomas Seymour before she was captured by Henry's eye.
Catherine conveys both Mary and Elizabeth back to court until she became the Queen of Dowager when King Henry VIII died. Thomas Seymour, another brother of Jane became England's Lord Protector when young Edward VI could not be a legitimate successor of his father in his early stage of life.
Elizabeth continued to live with her stepmother Katherine, but left the palace after Thomas Seymour became the present husband of Katherine. Gossips and hearsays said that Elizabeth is having an affair with Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour and was caught kissing and possibly in bed at the same time. After Katherine gave birth to her daughter named Mary, she died and was put in the ground of Sudeley Castle leaving her husband unmarried once again.
Here came the most dangerous years in the life of Elizabeth. Since she was in line to reign the throne and the will of her late father as his heir, there were many undertakings to remove her from the series of successors and in consequence of that, a most sought after bride. Her refusal to Thomas Seymour’s marriage became a suspicious scheme or plan during the royal rule of Edward VI were she was interrogated but was not punished for any charges. Nevertheless, after his assault to kidnap the young king, Thomas Seymour was punished and killed for treason.
An announcement following on the young King's health, having pulmonary tuberculosis had spread all over the kingdom most especially for those who did not want Catholic Mary to heir the crown. The plan had begun for his crown fearing that he would die without a successor. In 1553, after Edward VI’s death, Lady Jane Grey (former adherent of Henry VIII sister Mary) was announced as the Queen by his father, gathering armies to bear with her. However, nine days after Jane sat on the throne as Queen, Mary the daughter of Henry VIII through her rightful followers move to London together with her sister Elizabeth fight for her right as the royal successor of his half brother Edward VI which resulted in the imprisonment of Jane Grey and her husband Guilford. Briefly, Mary became a Queen of Catholics and married Philip, the Prince of Spain that made her less popular.
The marriage of her mother, Anne Boleyn to Henry VIII initiated the fall of England from Rome and her reign brought suffering to Protestants persecution and saw Elizabeth as an image of new faith and prophet of their beliefs. Mary captivates and put into prison Elizabeth without her little knowledge after seeing some danger out of her due to some resistance and defiance uprising from the people.
Elizabeth's imprisonment and entry to the Tower is quiet exciting yet, a doubtful one because she was deadly afraid of the place, maybe due to her mother’s destruction being buried in that palace. She declined to move as she was told to enter secretly the Traitor's Gate to keep away the rise of the compassion from her followers and supporters. Finally, the dark of the night and the cold brought by the rain convinced her to enter and soon she became one of the popular prisoners of the Tower. The pregnancy of Mary in her nearly 40's made Elizabeth no longer an important threat that made the old Queen to stay back home at her residence in Hatfield. There were reports that said that the Queen had a large cyst in her ovary that made her belly to swell but no baby was born and her health failured causing her sudden death on November 17, 1558.
Information about Mary's death, made Elizabeth survive to become the legendry Queen of England which made her believe that what happened was God's will and it was excellent in the eyes of the people. When she possessed the throne to reign, she automatically came down by many suitors to court her for all they knew, she had never been married. Questions started to occupy peoples minds why Elizabeth had stayed single. Some propositions said that possibly because she saw the way her father had dealt with all his wives or maybe of extreme dislike because she could not marry Robert Dudley, the man she truly loved.
Dudley had been already married to Amy who died a few years after from a mysterious condition, at the time Elizabeth became a Queen. Afraid of any scandalous matter to rise, she could no longer marry Dudley despite his clean background and doings but, she succeeded to make fools with her admirers for over twenty five years more gaining treaties between countries, power, money and possessions from the gift on the favourable state of marriage. Arrangement was failed to the Duke of Alencon named Francis, her serious rivalry. She also re-established the Protestant Churches and religion in England and brought back into existence the debased fabrication of coins.
The remaining years of Elizabeth as the Queen of England had been marked as the "Golden Age" facing several serious trials including the growing conflict of her cousin Mary Queen of Scotland who had a strong lawful claim to the throne of England. Elizabeth already knew that Mary was a threat so, she had taken her into her custody and convicted of major mistakes that made her sign the death warrant over Mary and made the final execution on 1587. Another military declaration of intention happened some years later when the fleet from Spain attacking toward England dominating it for becoming the paramount naval and warship power. When Robert Dudley died, she kept the last message given to her on her writing desk.
On March 24th, 1603, Elizabeth died at Richmond Palace that made England the most progressive and powerful country in the world. Her reigning power was followed by James VI, son of the Queen of Scotland.
Original Authors: Phil Post
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 23/07/2008
