I am sure there is not a woman out there who hasn’t heard of this royal lady. A feminist icon and The Virgin Queen; Elizabeth I’s (1533-1603) legacy is undisputed in both royal and gender history.
Born in 1533, Elizabeth was the only surviving child of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. The marriage of her parents maintains its own legacy, arguably triggering the Reformation which is still evident in today’s society. This marriage ultimately ended in death: Anne was executed for treason and other crimes when Elizabeth was only two years old. So already, we have a girl growing up without a mother. Similar to her sister Mary, she was side-lined by her father because of her gender, brought to and from court, faced accusations of illegitimacy, numerous stepmothers and experienced strained relationships with her siblings.
After her father’s death in 1547, Elizabeth lived with her last stepmother, Katherine Parr. This period of adolescence is often contested amongst historians as a striking and monumental time in her life, one that possibly involved sexual abuse at the hands of Katherine’s new husband, Thomas Seymour. Her life as a teenager was marked as her being used as a political pawn for marriage and claim to the throne, something she would later experience in adulthood.
Upon her sisters’ accession to the throne in 1553, Protestant Elizabeth was used as a focus of opposition to the Catholic policies Mary was implementing. Rebellion after rebellion, Mary eventually imprisoned Elizabeth in the Tower of London in an attempt to crush any threat her sister posed to her. Later released and relocated outside of London, Elizabeth began preparing for her sister’s death and her own accession to the throne.
Crowned Queen in November 1558, Elizabeth’s life changed dramatically. She was never meant to be Queen, she was a Protestant, her legitimacy was questioned, but most importantly she was female. England had only just seen its first female queen and it was not prepared for another one. Immediately, there was a sense of urgency for Elizabeth to marry, to place a male figure by her side. The question of her marriage remains till this today a problematic one: she never married and remained childless despite receiving countless offers and was thought to have been in love with Robert Dudley. She openly admitted that she saw herself as the mother of England, a ruler with the appearance of a female but the heart and stomach of a King.
Elizabeth faced both internal and external threats for the rest of her reign mainly in the form of Mary Queen of Scots and the Spanish Armada. Yet upon her death in 1603 and even today, her legacy has been rooted in her determination to remain strong and powerful in a man’s world. The ruler of a supposed ‘golden age,’ when Elizabeth died, the Tudor dynasty died with her yet, her legacy is often how we remember them today. Elizabeth remains an ever-present example of how women can be anything they want to be, even in the face of adversity.
For more on Elizabeth’s life check out The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir.