QUEEN ELIZABETH 1. THE LAST OF THE TUDORS.

Queen Elizabeth 1, was born Elizabeth Tudor, on 7th September, 1533 at Greenwich Palace (Palace of Placentia)See link at bottom of the page for this Palace.

She was the second surviving child of King Henry VIII, her mother being Henry's second wife Anne Bolyn, whom he had married when his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon was annulled. It was annulled by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury and not the Pope.

When King Henry VIII annulled his marriage to Catherine, their daughter Mary Tudor, (who was the older sister of the newly born Elizabeth Tudor and who would later ascend the throne as Queen Mary of England), lost her position as heir presumptive to the throne of England.

This made Elizabeth heir presumptive, meaning if someone with a better claim came along, such as a male child, then he would automatically become heir apparent and therefore first in line to the throne.

When her mother Anne Boleyn was executed in 1536, Elizabeth was declared illegitimate, losing her position in line to the throne along with her sister Mary. The following year however, a male heir apparent was born to Henry's third wife Jane Seymour.

The newly born heir apparent was Christened Edward and ascended the throne when his father King Henry VIII died in 1547.

A sickly child, he eventually succumbed to his illness and died at Greenwich Palace in July 1553, but not before bequeathing his crown to Lady Jane Grey, cutting both of his sisters out of the line of succession.

His will being set aside, he was succeeded by his half sister, Mary, who was crowned, Queen Mary of England, a staunch Catholic, who had Elizabeth imprisoned in the Tower of London on suspicion of supporting Thomas Wyatt in his failed rebellion.

It was Mary's husband Philip II of Spain who eventually secured Elizabeth Tudor's release, in the hope of gaining favour with her should his wife Mary die in childbirth.

Initially Queen Mary had been very popular, but her ill advised marriage to the Catholic Philip II of Spain turned many of her subjects against her.

After a short and eventful reign, Mary too died childless in 1558. This left Elizabeth Tudor the undisputed heir to the throne of England.

It was on 17th November 1558 that Elizabeth Tudor became Queen Elizabeth 1, a reign viewed by many as the beginning of a Golden Age in the history of England.

However, this view is not shared by all. Some historians see Queen Elizabeth 1 as an indecisive, hot tempered ruler with a short fuse and an ocean of good luck on her side.

There can be no doubt whatsoever though, that the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1 saw the flourishing of great literature and drama in the English Language.

Her reign, known as the Elizabethan Age, saw the likes of William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and John Donne blossom.

It was a time when prowess of her seafaring adventurers such as Sir Francis Drake and his cousin Sir John Hawkins, both slave traders and privateers, together with the help of Sir Martin Frobisher saw off the Spanish Armada.

It was her association with that defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, seen as one of the greatest victories in the history of England, which helped her to be regarded as one of the countries greatest rulers ever.

It seems to have been accepted, that Queen Elizabeth 1 aspired to be more moderate than her father and half brother and sister.

That is one way of looking at it, but it is a view not shared by everyone, for there were as many, if not more Catholics executed during Elizabeth's reign as there were protestants executed during Mary's, especially toward's the end of her life.

It has to be said that the advisors to both monarchs were terrified of plots and uprisings against their respective rulers.

To this end they used every means at their disposal, including the most inhuman acts of torture known to man and carried out by the most sadistic devils ever to have walked the earth.

Towards the end of her life, she was beset by problems, both economic and militarily which made her increasingly unpopular with her subjects. There was a feeling of widespread relief throughout the Kingdom when she eventually died.

This feeling did not last very long however, for within two dozen years of her death, her memory was being feted as the ruler of a golden age, an image that has carried on down the centuries to the present day.

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