Elizabeth I

b. 1533 Greenwich; d. 1603

Elizabeth was born at Greenwich in September 1533 to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII second wife. In May 1533, four months before Elizabeth's birth, it was declared that Henry's marriage to his first wife, Catherine, was void. Elizabeth, at the time of her birth, therefore took precedence over her elder sister Mary, and this was confirmed by an Act of Succession in the following year.

However, when her mother fell from grace and was executed in May 1537, the tables were turned in terms of the succession and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour produced a male heir who later became Edward VI, but after the King's last three marriages produced no further sons, another Act of Succession in 1543 reinstated both daughters as heirs in the event of their brother predeceasing them.

On the death of her father Elizabeth spent some time in the household of Catherine Parr and her new husband Lord Seymour. When Catherine died, Seymour proposed marriage to Elizabeth, a course of action which elicited Seymour's arrest for treason and the close questioning of Elizabeth.

Mary succeeded her brother in 1553: in March 1554, after Wyatt's rebellion, Mary had Elizabeth incarcerated in the Tower, fearing that she was a figurehead for Protestant opposition. No evidence of complicity with the rebellion was forthcoming even with the use of the rack on the leading conspirators; Elizabeth was therefore released from the Tower but confined at Woodstock.

On the death of her sister Elizabeth acceded to the throne on 17th November 1558. On her first day as Queen she appointed William Cecil as her secretary; he proved to be a wise choice as he laboured ceaselessly on her behalf for most of her reign until he died in 1598 and indeed he was part of a team of administrators all of whom served her over long periods.

She was immediately faced with the seemingly intractable problem of the age - religious policy. Not unnaturally she reversed Mary's policy in this regard, immediately taking the decision to reinstate herself as governor of the church. Within a year she had replaced all catholic bishops. At first Pope Pius IV was not antagonistic to the new regime as its exact complexion was not altogether clear despite Elizabeth's actions in regard to the clergy appointed by Mary. In 1570 however the new pope Pius V issued a bull deposing her. This had the effect of unleashing a series of catholic plots against the queen, the first in 1572, culminating in the Babington Plot of 1586 which failed when the conspirators were comprehensively duped by the Machiavellian schemes of Sir Frances Walsingham, the Queen's principle secretary since 1571 who seems to have been something of an Elizabethan 'M' overseeing a 'secret service' in defence of the Queen and Protestantism against the machinations of counter reformation Catholicism.

The Babington Plot sealed the fate of Mary Queen of Scots who had fled Scotland in 1568 after two ill judged marriages had gone disastrously wrong, only to be placed under house arrest by Elizabeth. During years of incarceration she amused herself with various degrees of involvement in the various catholic plots of the 1570's and 1580's. Eventually, after the Babington Plot, Elizabeth gave in to her advisers who had been exerting considerable pressure for Mary's execution and she was beheaded in 1587.

Cecil, like most of her advisors, wanted her to marry, have children and thereby secure the succession. But the queen saw the political pitfalls of such a course of action. She had witnessed the problems caused by Mary's marriage to Philip of Spain and she did not want to expose herself or her country through marriage to a foreign prince to the possibility of being dragged into foreign wars. Nor could she support the notion that she might in some way be dominated by any husband, be he a European prince or one of her own subjects. This despite her flirtations with Leicester and earlier with Seymour, which certainly show that she was not averse to advances from the opposite sex. Rather, she nurtured the idea of herself as a supreme figurehead who was 'married to her people'.

In 1585 Elizabeth began to provide material support for the Dutch rebels who were fighting against their Spanish rulers. This involvement in the War of Independence in the Netherlands (coupled with continued English piratical attacks on Spanish trade with her colonies) brought a swift reaction from Philip II of Spain. In July 1588 the Armada of over 130 vessels sailed from Corunna and its defeat, largely at the hands of the weather but also as a result of the harrying tactics by the lighter and more manoeuvrable English ships, elevated the Queen into something of a legend.

The failure of the Armada did not deter Philip from further interventions in English affairs and his support for Tyrone's rebellion in Ireland in the last years of Elizabeth's reign led to more worries in regard to the security of the realm. In 1599 the Queen sent her favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex to Ireland as lord-lieutenant with a brief to subdue the rebellion led by the the Earl of Tyrone. A gallant and courageous courtier, Essex was frustrated in his ambitions to hold high political office. He now jeopardise his position as favourite by negotiated with Tyrone instead of fulfilling his duty (as the Queen saw it) to defeat him in the field. Then, in direct contravention of her orders he returned to England. This spectacularly stupid behaviour unsurprisingly resulted in his disgrace which in turn led to further petulance when in 1600 Essex tried to engineer a coup. The attempt inevitably failed and led to the execution of Elizabeth's former favourite in 1601.

Elizabeth died in 1603 expressing her wish that she should be succeeded by 'our cousin of Scotland', James VI.

Her stewardship of the crown may perhaps be summed up (despite some criticism by historians) as a creditable juggling of priorities combined with an equally skilful balancing of many irreconcilable interests especially in the field of religion.

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