Queen Elizabeth I - Quick facts

 

 

 

 

 

Known as the Virgin Queen because she never married.

She was born 7th September 1533 at Greenwich Palace.

Her father was the notorious Henry VIII and her mother was Ann Bolyn.

Died on 24th March 1603 of blood poisoning (she was almost 70 years old)

She reigned for 45 years from 1558-1603.

She was sent away in disgrace amid rumours she was having an affair with Thomas Seymour (Princess Elizabeth lived with her step mother Katherine Parr and her husband Thomas Seymour).

She almost died of smallpox in 1562 (the fashionable heavy white make-up of those days was used to cover the scars on her face)

She never actually met her cousin and rival Mary Queen of Scots.

Her reign as Queen is generally regarded as the most glorious in the history of England (establishment of a secure Church of England).

Her mother, Anne Boleyn, was accused of adultery and incest ( with her brother George Boleyn) and was beheaded at the Tower of London

Princess Elizabeth lived with her stepmother Katharine Parr and her husband Thomas Seymour - she was sent away in disgrace amid rumours that she was having an affair with Seymour.

Scandal followed Queen Elizabeth I when Amy Robsart, the wife of her favourite courtier Robert Dudley (some say lover) was found dead at the foot of her stairs.

Elizabeth was held prisoner for three months before Mary's advisors tried to have her executed. They failed, and were forced to let her go.

Her greatest legacy was to have secured the Protestant faith in England, avoiding bloodshed.

She owned more than 3,000 gloriously coloured gowns and wore new shoes each week.

For her coronation, Elizabeth bought London out of crimson silk and demanded that she get first pick of any that arrived in the city (her courtiers' livery was that color).

She was very vain about her hands and liked them to be prominently displayed in paintings.