'There was never a woman born, for all respects, as Queen Elizabeth, for she spoke and understood all languages, knew all estates and dispositions of princes and particularly was so expert in the knowledge of her realm and estate as no councillors she had could tell her what she knew not before'. So said William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Elizabeth's leading Minister.
Queen Elizabeth was born in 1533, the daughter of King Henry VIII by his wife Anne Boleyn, whom he had executed when Elizabeth was aged 2. Henry had wanted a son and in his disappointment did not even attend his daughter's Christening. She was sent to Hatfield House to be raised by governesses and saw little of her father. The birth of a half brother, Edward, in 1537 seemed to remove even the slimmest chance that she might ever rule England. Exiled to the countryside, she was tutored by the Cambridge scholar Roger Ascham, among others and made quite an impression on him. He wrote of her,
'Her mind has no womanly weakness (we need to bear in mind that this was a VERY chauvinistic time!) her perseverence is equal to that of a man and her memory long keeps what it picks up. She talks French and Italian as well as she does English and has often talked to me readily and well in Latin, moderately in Greek'. (She was also fluent in Spanish).
During the last years of her father's reign Queen Catherine Parr took an interest in her and ensured that Elizabeth's education was of the highest standard. It was she who saw to it that Elizabeth was taught the skill of public speaking, never considered a subject for a woman at that time, a skill which was to be put to good use. But in the short term, with the death of her father in 1547 and then of her half brother King Edward VI in 1553, Elizabeth was faced with the danger of her half sister Mary ruling England. Mary Tudor was Roman Catholic, whereas Elizabeth was Protestant, a possible focus of plotters. Elizabeth had to live with the constant fear of arrest and execution and had to hear her mother described as a whore and herself declared a bastard. Aged 21, Elizabeth was arrested on the orders of her half sister 'Bloody' Queen Mary and imprisoned in the Tower of London. She fully expected to be put to death, but was able to plead her loyalty and innocence and eventually was released. So far as is known, she never plotted against Mary.
With Queen Mary's death on November 17th 1558, Elizabeth became Queen. She was popular from the start, beginning with a magnificent Coronation in which she involved even the 'common' people as far as possible, stopping to converse with them. She took over a country riven by religious dispute, almost bankrupt and of little standing in world affairs. Rightly seeing religion as the most pressing issue, in the first years of her reign she and her Parliament made a series of Acts establishing a religious settlement which restored Protestantism to England but retained some of the traits of the Roman Catholic Church. It was a compromise accepted by the vast majority of her subjects and stands as a stark contrast to the repression and public burning of 'heretics' which had earned Queen Mary her 'Bloody' soubriquet.
Parliament was concerned at the Queen's lack of a husband, however, as the matter of the succession weighed heavily on their minds. They did not know her reign would last 44 years and feared for the future. They urged her to marry. King Phillip II of Spain was known to be interested. He had been married to her predecessor, Mary. Elizabeth found it politic to keep Phillip guessing, neither accepting nor rejecting his advances, made through diplomats. Spain could be a dangerous enemy, but a Spanish husband would expect to rule as King of England. Elizabeth knew she was a woman moving in a man's world. The Scottish Protestant John Knox had remarked, 'It is more than a monster in nature that a woman should reign and bear empire over a man'.
Queen Elizabeth's assertion that, ' I am already bound unto a husband, which is the Kingdom of England', cut no ice with Parliament though and in 1566 they voted to stop granting her funds until she married. Affronted by the attitude of Parliament, which she thought had no right to interfere, she went before them and charmed them into changing their minds, persuading them that the country's welfare must come first.
Queen Elizabeth I, famously, remained unmarried and was known as the 'Virgin Queen'. She certainly liked the company of good looking men though and encouraged the attentions of Henri, Duke of Anjou and later of his brother, Francois. An alliance with France could have had value in the face of growing tension with Spain. But nothing came of these meetings and her real affection seems to have focused on the dashing Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester with whom she spent much time. Rumours abounded of their intimacy and there must be some doubts as to her claim to lifelong virginity, but the Queen had much to gain from remaining single. She retained power, which would otherwise pass to any husband. But she herself said,
'If I followed the inclination of my nature, it is this- beggar woman and single, far rather than Queen and married'. It seems she preferred the single life, to the despair of her Parliament and the disappointment of her many suitors.
In 1568 a major headache landed in England in the form of the Mary Queen of Scots, fleeing imprisonment by her own people. Seeking sanctuary, she found honorable detention in Tutbury castle as Elizabeth pondered what to so with her. Mary Queen of Scots had a good claim to the Throne of England, through descent from Henry VIII's sister Margaret and was a Roman Catholic. She would be an attractive alternative in the eyes of disaffected Catholics in England. Elizabeth duly faced the Northern Uprising of Catholics in 1569 and the Ridolfi Plot involving Spanish intrigue in 1571. Unable to decide what to do with Mary, Elizabeth did nothing, a habit she showed when faced with difficult and seemingly intractible problems. Only when her Minister Francis Walshingham set out to entrap Mary did matters come to a head. Faced with clear evidence of the involvement of Mary Queen of Scots in the Babington Plot to kill Elizabeth and put Mary on the Throne, Elizabeth signed her death warrant and she was executed in 1587.
Meanwhile, England had drifted into war with Spain. Religious differences and the 'piracy' of Elizabethan sea dogs such as Drake played a part in this and by 1586 plans were set in train for the Spanish Armada. Undaunted, England began to plan its defence, and as the Armada approached in summer of 1588 Elizabeth donned armour and addressed her troops at Tilbury down river from London. Hitting just the right tone for the time and the people, she told them,
'I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman but I have the heart and stomach of a King and of a King of England too; and I think foul scorn that (the Duke of) Parma or Spain or any Prince of Europe should dare to invade the borders of my realm'.
The Spanish Armada turned into a humiliation for King Phillip of Spain and became a celebrated English triumph against the odds. But the Queen was ageing and the 1590s took their toll on her. Unrest in Ireland, claimed and dominated by England but never happy in this position, remained a problem. Her old favorite, Robert Dudley the Earl of Leicester, had died in 1588. Soon, her Ministers Burghley and Walsingham were to follow. Increasingly, the Queen allowed new ministers to oversee day to day government business. Although portait painters continued to follow the convention of depicting 'Gloriana', the beatiful and vivacious Queen, eye witnesses wrote privately of her thinning hair and blackened teeth, the result of the newly available sugar brought from the New World. Increasingly, the Queen became concerned of the threat of assassination. However, she never lost the affection of her subjects, nor her love for them. Addressing her Parliament in 1601, she told them,
'This I account the glory of my Crown, that I have reigned with your loves. I never was any greedy, scraping grasper. My heart was never set upon any worldly goods but only for my subjects' good'.
The Queen died peacefully on March 24th 1603, 'mildly like lamb, easily like a ripe apple from a tree', as one who witnessed her passing reported. She was 70, a great age for her era and had reigned for over 44 years. Possessed of a formidable intellect and quick wits, clever and flirtatious, at times ruthless and calculating, she knew and loved her people and they loved her. For the first time there was a serious attempt to deal with caring for the poor, through the Poor Law. During her reign England became a stable and more peaceful realm. England avoided the worst excesses of religious war seen in other European countries and her prestige in Europe was raised high. Literature flourished too for her reign saw the birth of Shakespeare among others. Although she came to the Throne with the power of an autocrat, she knew the practical limits of her power and had the skill and wisdom to keep within them.
Few if any English rulers have approached Queen Elizabeth in effectiveness or their people's affections and it is no surprise that she regularly ranks high in polls of Greatest Britons of all time.