Elizabeth I is considered one of the greatest queens that England has ever had.
She was the monarch who attempted to unite Protestants and Catholics inside of her land,
but she had to deal with lots of threats from within England and abroad.
Elizabeth during her reign saw off the Spanish Armada, the huge and famous invasion force
sent from Spain to cause chaos on English shores, and she led like a warrior queen at
the time.
She was also famously the subject to the plots in which sought to instil Mary Queen of Scots
onto the throne, with Elizabeth the target of the assassination attempts.
But there was one question that plagued her reign, and it was whether the Queen actually
took a lover, or whether she actually intended to Marry.
Elizabeth is regarded as ‘The Virgin Queen,’ and she wore a ring to indicate that she was
married not to any man, but to the service and duty to rule over England.
But what was Elizabeth I’s love life like?
She was known to have liked a number of men, but she never once married leaving England
with a huge problem in the wake of her death, as to who would reign next and be her successor.
In a speech to Parliament in 1559, Elizabeth stated that, ‘This shall be for me sufficient
that a marble stone shall declare that a Queen having reigned such a time lived and died
a virgin.’
When her reign began on the 17th November 1558, she was a young lady of only 25 years
old.
It was believed that her reign would be long and prosperous, and also that she would give
birth to the next successors to carry on the Tudor dynasty.
But this is not what happened, the throne after her would pass through to the Scottish
Kings and Queens, the stuarts.
As ta young girl there is much speculation with regards to Princess Elizabeth and also
her brother’s uncle Thomas Seymour.
Seymour married at the time the Queen Dowager, the former sixth wife of Henry VIII Catherine
Parr following Henry’s death.
Because of this, Thomas Seymour then became Elizabeth’s stepfather, and he joined Catherine’s
household, and Elizabeth at the time was around 14 or 15.
Elizabeth continued living inside of Catherine Parr’s household, but during this time there
was some scandal as to inappropriate behaviour that occured here.
Thomas Seymour would visit Elizabeth often by himself, and in some early morning visits
when no-one was properly dressed, it was noted that Seymour inappropriately touched and tickled
Elizabeth.
The mid-30’s Seymour flirting with the teenage girl, but it’s believed today that he groomed
the Princess.
His visits its considered were unwanted by Elizabeth’s part, and Catherine Parr did
not confront her husband about his inappropriate activities.
But Seymour later would be killed, but there was a renewed interest from him following
the death of Catherine Parr, as it was believed he wanted to marry Princess Elizabeth.
He was later beheaded after being embroiled in a power struggle where he planned to seize
the King Edward VI.
Elizabeth was questioned with regards to being involved with Thomas Seymour in the plot,
and his suspected plan to marry Elizabeth but nothing was found against the Princess.
When Elizabeth became Queen, she had a number of opportunities to marry at a number of times.
She had many favourites, those men who she was close with and who its considered she
could have married.
But each time this often ended up in disaster.
The most famous and notable possible suitor for Elizabeth was Robert Dudley, the Earl
of Leicester.
He was the Queen’s great favourite, and the two had been friends since childhood.
Dudley was well thought off at court, however he was already married to Amy Robsart , but
it was well debated at court that Dudley and the Queen would marry if his wife passed away.
She did pass away, but there was a significant amount of suspicion about the circumstances
that Amy died, including the fact that she passed away whilst falling down the stairs.
Much rumour emerged that she was infact pushed down a flight of stairs, it’s alleged by
some even by Dudley as he wished to to murder his wife to allow him to then marry the Queen,
the true love of his life.
But Elizabeth it was known was very jealous of the women close to Robert Dudley, and she
did wish to have him for herself.
But the rumours around the possible murder of his wife in September 1560 caused there
to be a huge degree of controversy around Dudley, to the point where an investigation
even had to take place to ensure that nothing criminal occured.
Many suspected Robert for having arranged her death so he could marry Queen Elizabeth,
but nothing was proven.
A number of male courtiers also objected to the possible match, and it was considered
that a rebellion made up of the nobility would occur if Dudley and the Queen married.
It’s clear that the two however had a close fondness, and some historians even consider
that Dudley may have slept with the Queen, making her moniker of the Virgin Queen redundant.
But following his wives passing, he was free to marry her but the scandal marred his chances
in doing so.
For the next 18 years he did not marry in the hope of securing the Queen’s hand, and
he continued to be a master courtier, being there with Elizabeth constantly.
Dudley was even considered a suitor to Mary Queen of Scots as a consort to bring together
peace between Scotland and England, but this never came to anything.
He was so close to Elizabeth that when she became ill with smallpox in 1562, she asked
the Privy Council to name Dudley as the Protector of the Realm.
Elizabeth was confronted with other marriage proposals and suggestions from abroad, but
she refused stating that she still wished to marry Dudley, but he would offend the Queen
on an unimaginable scale.
He had been known to have flirted with Lettice Knolly’s, and following the death of her
husband the Earl of Essex, the two got together and married secretly in September 1578.
Knolly’s and Elizabeth were very close, and the marriage of her favourite to one of
her best friends cut Elizabeth deeply.
She never accepted it, and slandered Dudley at court.
She remained fond of him, but she never got over the betrayal.
Knolly’s was banished permenantly from court, and looking at images of her and Elizabeth
it is interesting to consider the similarities between the two with regards to their appearances.
Elizabeth could not win when it came to men and marriage.
If she had married then she would have been forced to have passed over parts of her power,
and she did not wish to do this.
If she married someone from abroad, she risked the threat of a foreign ruler imposing his
will over England and the government.
For example, she entertained the idea of a proposal to marry King Eric XIV (14th) of
Sweden, and a danish match for her had previously been mentioned.
A marriage to Prince Frederick, the later Fredereick II was also propose, but nothing
came to anything.
It was considered for years also that she considered seriously marrying Charles II the
Archduke of Austria, but relationships then deteriorated.
Francis the Duke of Alencon was also considered, and it is claimed that she was also fond of
him.
She claimed that she would marry him, but overnight changed her mind and had second
thoughts.
It was even claimed she gave him her ring and kissed him on the mouth, but the marriage
did not take place.
Phillip II the husband of her half-sister Mary I was also considered, to bring about
an alliance between England and Spain and to pacify the Spanish, but ultimately the
proposal was refused too as Elizabeth refused to convert her country back to Catholicism,
and to marry her sister’s widower.
But the last possible suitor for Elizabeth I was Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex.
He and the Queen flirted a number of times, and he was significantly younger than the
Queen.
He was first noticed in 1584 when his step father brought him to court, and despite his
youth he and the Queen were very close.
She considered him a favourite, and it was said that, ‘even at night Devereux is at
cards or one game or another with her, that he cometh not to his own lodging till the
birds sing in the morning.’
But Devereux did not meet a good end, he annoyed the Queen and he married Frances Walsingham
in 1590, but he was driven by power.
He was linked in 1601 to a coup against the Queen and she convicted him of treason and
he was beheaded in London.
He was allowed a simple beheading rather than a hanging, drawing and quartering.
Ultimately Elizabeth I died a queen without any heirs or any husband.
So following her plans were drawn up to hand the throne across to the Stuarts of Scotland.
Elizabeth although she is known for being the Virgin Queen, she died a Queen who had
defeated Spain and had left England in a much stronger place than when she inherited it.
She’s a queen today considered one of the best monarch’s that England has ever had.
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