Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I , "Darnley Portrait", c. 1575
Queen of England and Ireland (more...)
Reign
17 November 1558 – 24 March
1603
Coronation
15 January 1559
Predecessor Mary I
Successor
James I
House
House of Tudor
Father
Henry VIII
Mother
Anne Boleyn
Born
7 September 1533
Greenwich, England
Died
24 March 1603 (aged 69)
Richmond, England
Burial
Westminster Abbey
Signature
Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March
1603) was Queen of England and Queen of
Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her
death. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen,
Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth
was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor
dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was
born a princess, but her mother, Anne Bo-
leyn, was executed three years after her
birth, and Elizabeth was declared illegitim-
ate. Her brother, Edward VI, cut her out of
the succession. His will was set aside, and in
1558 Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister, the
Catholic Mary, during whose reign she had
been imprisoned for nearly a year on suspi-
cion of supporting Protestant rebels.
Elizabeth set out to rule by good coun-
sel,[1] and she depended heavily on a group
of trusted advisers led by William Cecil,
Baron Burghley. One of her first moves as
queen was to support the establishment of an
English Protestant church, of which she be-
came the Supreme Governor. This Elizabeth-
an Religious Settlement held firm throughout
her reign and later evolved into today’s
Church of England. It was expected that El-
izabeth would marry, but despite several pe-
titions from parliament, she never did. The
reasons for this choice are unknown, and
they have been much debated. As she grew
older, Elizabeth became famous for her vir-
ginity, and a cult grew up around her which
was celebrated in the portraits, pageants and
literature of the day.
In government, Elizabeth was more mod-
erate than her father and siblings.[2] One of
her mottoes was "video et taceo" ("I see, and
say nothing").[3] This strategy, viewed with
impatience by her counsellors, of