Elizabeth is the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, anne boleyn. She was born in Greenwich Palace on September 7th 1533. Her birth may be the biggest disappointment in her father's life. He wants a son and an heir to succeed him to the throne, because he has already had a daughter, Mary, with his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. He didn't divorce Catherine, and in the process, he changed the religious belief of this country and only gave birth to a daughter. Elizabeth's early life was thus in trouble. Her mother failed to give birth to a son for the king and was executed on May 19 1536 on false charges of incest and adultery. Anne's marriage with the king was declared invalid, and Elizabeth, like her half-sister Mary, was declared illegitimate and deprived of her inheritance.
Elizabeth experienced a series of stepmother in the next eight years. Jane seymour died when he gave birth to Edward, the king's long-awaited son; Anne of divorced Clives; Catherine howard who was beheaded; Finally, catherine parr. For generations, historians have been debating whether Elizabeth refused to get married because her father kept changing brides. It is possible that the tragic fate of anne boleyn and catherine howard made her have some fear of marriage, but there may be other reasons for the Queen's single status, such as the fear of childbirth, which claimed a large number of women's lives during this period. Even though the Queen has no personal reservations about marriage, almost everyone who competes for her has political problems. Religion is a major divisive issue, and another question is whether Elizabeth must give up any of her kingship to her husband in an era when the political field is entirely male.
As a child, Elizabeth received an impressive education. Among aristocrats, educating sons and daughters has become very popular, and Elizabeth is also excellent in her studies. She studied under famous scholars, such as william green Dahl and Roger Assam, and she was very talented from a very young age. She has a special gift for languages. By the time she reached adulthood, she was said to be fluent in five languages.
Elizabeth's adolescence is no easier than her childhood. When the king was alive, she was protected from political opportunists, but when he died in 1547 1 month and his young son became the king of Edward VI of England, she was easily attacked by those who regarded her as a political pawn. Although officially recognized as an illegitimate child, Henry restored his daughter's inheritance rights. Mary followed Edward and Elizabeth followed Mary. This means that Elizabeth is now second in line to the throne. Edward was only nine years old, too young to rule himself, so his uncle Edward Seymour became the protector of England. His younger brother Thomas Seymour was jealous of his position and tried to overthrow him. His plans, including an attempt to kidnap the young king, cost him his life. He made no secret of his desire to marry Elizabeth (in Tudor times, girls 12 years old were considered as marriageable age), so she was involved in his plot. Without the consent of the king and parliament, it is treason for the heir to the throne to marry. Elizabeth is only 15 years old. She has to convince her interrogators that she doesn't know the plot and has not agreed to marry the king's uncle. She successfully defended her innocence, but the rumor that Seymour was not proper relationship was even more repugnant, because he had married her last stepmother, catherine parr (before she died in childbirth), which bothered her for a long time.
After Wyatt Rebellion in 1554, Elizabeth once again found herself implicated in treason. Edward died of a long illness in the summer of 1553. Mary, Elizabeth's half-sister, became Queen Mary I of England after a short battle for the throne. At that time, she opposed the plan of John Dudley, Duke of northumberland, to make his daughter-in-law Jane Grey queen. Mary is not a particularly popular monarch, and she has doubts about her Protestant half-sister. Therefore, it is not difficult to convince her that Elizabeth may conspire with Thomas Wyatt and his men to seize the throne. It is uncertain whether the rebellion is to make Queen Elizabeth, and it is not known whether Elizabeth knows the conspirators' plans. Even if she knew this, there was no evidence that she agreed with Wyatt and his followers. Elizabeth said she was innocent, but she was still arrested and sent to the Tower of London as a prisoner.
Many people around the Queen want Elizabeth to be executed, but there is no evidence against her, and she is very popular with the people. Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower of London for two months, and then transferred to Woodstock Manor in Oxfordshire, where she was imprisoned for one year. The house itself is uninhabitable, so she has to live in the gatehouse with the servants. Only at the request of her husband, King Philip of Spain, was the Queen allowed to return to her childhood home in hatfield, Hertfordshire. Philip knew that the Queen was in poor health and hoped to gain Elizabeth's friendship to ensure a peaceful relationship between England and Spain. If his wife died, Elizabeth would succeed to the throne.
Elizabeth finally succeeded to the throne on June 7, 654381/kloc-0. For this abandoned daughter, this is a supreme moment of victory. She spent her life in the shadow of the court, abandoned and forgotten. In the years after her father's death, people called for being sober and cautious, but now that she is the queen, Elizabeth is determined to enjoy her new freedom and fully enjoy life. She likes all kinds of sports, especially riding horses. In the early days of her rule, she spent a lot of time riding horses. She also likes hunting, hawking, luring bears, and watching male courtiers perform well in fighting or other sports competitions. She likes music and dance, gorgeous performances and masquerade parties, and even plays the Virginian and the Lute skillfully. She has no time to pay attention to the Puritan theologians in ungodly who think such things. She also enjoyed watching plays and created an atmosphere, which contributed to the prosperity of literary masterpieces in that period and opposed the Puritans' demand to close all theaters and theaters.
Elizabeth was crowned queen on Sunday, June 5th, 65438/kloc-0. In the next few months, the new queen rebuilt the Protestant church in England and restored the devalued currency. Perhaps to appease Catholics or those who don't believe that women can be church leaders, Elizabeth became the supreme consul of the Church of England, instead of becoming the supreme leader like her father. Although it is impossible to know exactly what the Queen's personal religious beliefs are, the church she built shows these beliefs. She is a devout Protestant. It is said that she spends time praying every day, but she may be a conservative Protestant. She likes candles and crosses in private chapels, church music and traditional ways of worship, which is in sharp contrast to the evangelical worship popular in some Protestant circles. She doesn't like religious extremism and doesn't want to persecute anyone because of her religious beliefs. However, the stubborn political nature of the Catholic/Protestant split means that her government has to take a tougher attitude towards Catholics than she hoped.
Now that Elizabeth is the queen, marriage proposals are flooding in, but Elizabeth has not promised any of them. In her political skill and trading genius, she managed to take advantage of her single status, attract enemies by using the bait of marriage, or scare them by hinting that she would marry one of their enemies, thus benefiting the country. Regardless of Elizabeth's personal feelings about marriage, she did come close to marriage twice. Over the years, her most important competitor was robert dudley, who was made Earl of Leicester in 1564. He knew Elizabeth for many years and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He is the only serious personal hobby in the Queen's life. However, politically, marrying him would be a disaster. He is unpopular because he is the son of traitor northumberland, and he is even more hated after his wife was found to have died mysteriously. People think that he murdered her, so that he can marry Elizabeth freely. Another strong contender for the Queen's hand is France's heir to the throne, Francis, Duke of Aroncon/Anjou. However, due to political considerations, this game is ultimately impossible.
She is unmarried and has no children of her own, which means that the inheritance right is uncertain. Elizabeth doesn't like talking about the succession to the throne and tries to suppress it, but people are worried about what will happen to the country after her death. However, having children of your own may not be the end of all problems. In the eyes of Catholics, Elizabeth is illegitimate and has no right to inherit the throne. For them, Mary, Queen of Scotland, is the real Queen of England. Plots to make Mary queen, whether Elizabeth has children or not, will be formed. This may be especially true when Mary became Elizabeth's prisoner after the disastrous rule of Scotland.
She was forced to flee her country, gave up the throne for her son, and came to England to seek Elizabeth's help to restore her kingdom. She was immediately imprisoned. This is not only to protect her, but also to minimize her threat to Elizabeth. Mary was imprisoned for nearly 20 years. During that time, Elizabeth refused to hear about the execution of her cousin, but Mary's complicity in the babington plot of 1586 made the execution inevitable for many people. It was a painful moment for Elizabeth. For a while, she didn't seem to have the strength to execute the death penalty, but she did. Mary was executed in Fozelinge Castle on February 8.
The relationship between Elizabeth and now King Philip of Spain was friendly at first, but with the conflict of their different political and religious agendas, the relationship gradually deteriorated. To 1588, they are first-rate enemies. For years, Philip has been talking about invading England and deposing Elizabeth, but the execution of the Queen of Scotland gave him extra motivation. Now he can take the British throne for himself, not for her. In the summer of 1588, he sent a powerful fleet to attack England. But with superb tactics, ship design and sheer luck, the British defeated them. Elizabeth's popularity reached its peak. This is another personal victory for her, because she proved that she, a woman, can lead the war like any man.
Elizabeth devoted her life to her country, which few monarchs can do. Elizabeth has the mind of a political genius, and has cultivated her country by carefully leading and choosing capable people to help her, such as Sir william cecil and Sir Francis Walsingham. Elizabeth is a determined woman, but she is not stubborn. She listens to the advice of people around her, and if a policy is unpopular, she will change it. She is extravagant in appearance and sometimes frivolous in behavior, but her attitude towards politics is serious, conservative and cautious. When she ascended the throne in 1558, England was a poor country torn apart by religious disputes. When she died in Richmond Palace on March 24th, Britain was one of the most powerful and prosperous countries in the world.