Queen+Elizabeth+I

Queen Elizabeth I Princess Elizabeth was born on September 7, 1533 in Greenwich, England. Her father was King Henry VIII, a very handsome man who loved to hunt, drink, and to be by beautiful women like her mother, Queen Anne. Elizabeth had her father's pale skin and bright red hair. Three days after she was born, she was brought to church, were she worn a long dress of silk and lace with a jacket of fur to keep her warm. Her birth was a grand occasion, but her father, King Henry was not at all happy about another daughter being born, he already had a seventeen year old daughter from his first marriage name Mary. He needed a son and fast! Who would rule the country after he died? Not a woman, of course! Anne had even promised him a living boy (Anne had two other boys but they were both still born). Henry soon convinced himself that Anne could never bare a son and accused her of sleeping with other men, including her brother. Even though she did none of these she was beheaded. Elizabeth was not even three years old when her mother was killed. Within two weeks of Anne's death, King Henry had married again and the new queen gave birth to a son and his name was Prince Edward. That meant, for Elizabeth that she was no longer important and not even a princess in her father's eyes. After she was sent away far from London, she hardly ever saw her father anymore.

Luckily, Elizabeth had many people look after her while she was there. She had her governess who made sure she was happy and heathy. She not only took care of Elizabeth, she was like another mother to her. Elizabeth also had her private teacher, even though most girls in the 1500s had no schooling Elizabeth was the daughter of a king, and she was expected to read and write. By the time Elizabeth was a teenager, she already knew five different languages besides English: French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, and Latin. She also started sewing when she was six years old. Like all little children at that time, she had to act like a tiny adult.

Elizabeth heard some gossip about her father and his wives. His third wife died, he divorced his next one, and beheaded the one after that. As a teenager, Elizabeth grew into a very intelligent young girl. At age thirteen, her father died and his only living son, Edward became king at age nine. Unfortunately the king was sick..a lot, and died at age fifteen. Mary, the oldest of the three children was now Queen of England. She was already thirty-seven years old and a year later she married Prince Philip of Spain. Mary resented her half sister, Elizabeth, after all King Henry divorced Mary's mother to marry Anne. She had Elizabeth locked up in the Tower of London. Elizabeth remained there in her cell for two months. Finally, the queen let her go, but she was closely watched and had to keep her thoughts to herself. But the queen was trying to have baby to raise as Catholic who would rule after her and make sure England would stay Catholic. She never had a child and her health started to fail. Queen Mary waited until she was on her death bed to declare Elizabeth as the new Queen. It was November 17, 1558 when two riders rode up to Elizabeth and presented her with a ring which her sister had worn. She was crowned Queen on January 15, 1559 in the famous church called Westminster Abbey in London.

The people loved Elizabeth and on her first day as Queen, she went out and meet her people and they __all__ came to see her. Elizabeth even had her own Privy Council. Of her forty-four years as Queen, she only called parliament into sessions ten times. Since Elizabeth was queen now, she had all of England become members of the Church of England but she also didn't want to know how everyone felt about God so as long as they were loyal, she would not use violence to change them. Elizabeth had a short temper and often pounded her fist against the table during meetings with her Privy Council. She even swore more than many of her men! She was even able to trick some of her council members, who were upset, into thinking another council member was problem and not the Queen.

Queen Elizabeth never got married. But do you know why? In 1559, King Philip of Spain asked Elizabeth to marry him since he was married to her sister, who was now dead. Elizabeth turned him down on the spot! She had reasons to why she didn't want to marry. As she saw from her father, she knew how quickly a king could put their queen in prison or kill them. If Elizabeth became pregnant, there was a huge risk of her dying in childbirth. More and more proposals kept coming and she kept saying no to each one. If Elizabeth did wish to marry it would be her long time friend, Robert Dudley. But the question remained in everyone's mind: Who would rule after Elizabeth died? In 1562, the queen was sick with Smallpox, a deadly disease that could have killed her. But one of her doctors wrapped the queen up in yards of red fabric and only left her face and one of her hands uncovered. He then placed her in front of a fire and she was healed after a couple days. Elizabeth's cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, had her eyes on Elizabeth's throne. But everyone in Scotland hated Mary and wanted to over throw her. She was fearing for her life when she left Scotland and went to her cousin Elizabeth in England for help. In 1586, a bunch of rebels and Mary planned to over throw Elizabeth and have Mary become the Queen of England. It would have worked if Elizabeth's faithful Walsingham didn't hear about it. Mary was later put on trial and put to death. But for twenty years, Elizabeth was protecting her cousin and she was sure about what to do. But in the end, Elizabeth put her cousin to death and Mary was beheaded.

After the death of Mary, King Philip of Spain was outraged and stormed the countryside. He wanted to take the crown away from Elizabeth but failed as her neared the English Channel just as a huge storm broke. Most of the boats were destroyed After England won their 'short war' against Spain, the English navy was the most powerful in the world.

During the Elizabethan era, playwrights like Shakepeare and Christoper Marlowe helped theatre flourish. This, along with a new age of exploration and discovery were the hallmarks of Elizabeth's reign. She ruled England for 44 years, providing stability and helping to create a national identity. She died at age 69 in 1603 and was succeeded by her cousin's son, James I.

By: Caitlyn Dixon