Queen Elizabeth I of England: The Last Tudor to Rule

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Queen Elizabeth I of England, daughter of Henry VII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, was the last Tudor Monarch to rule. She was born on September 7, 1533 in Greenwich, England. History books describe her as determined and intelligent, and gave her many nicknames including ‘The Virgin Queen’ and ‘Good Queen Bess”.
When Elizabeth was two years old her mother Anne Boleyn was executed, leaving her motherless. King Henry VII did not care for his children and so Elizabeth essentially grew up without the parental attention she needed. She was cared for by various nannies and Henry VII’s other wives. Elizabeth grew especially attached to Katherine Howard, Henry’s fifth wife. Katherine became the motherly figure that Elizabeth never had. She would often time invite Elizabeth to her rooms, would sit and play with her, and gave Elizabeth a seat at the dinner table right next to her. This is considered the most honorable of places to sit because usually only the Queens most trusted friends sat next to her. Unfortunately, just like Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard was charged with adultery and executed. Elizabeth was only eight years old at the time and this must have been an excruciating time for her as she lost her ‘mother’ again.
Elizabeth lived a decidedly freer life than her sister, Mary I, or brother, Edward VI, did because she was not expected to rule England one day, as she was third in line to the throne. Many Catholics and some Protestants also believed she would never inherit the throne because she was considered illegitimate by their standards. Before young Anne Boleyn was executed in 1536, King Henry had their marriage annulled.
After her father’s death in 1547, Elizabeth was raised by her latest stepmother Catherine Parr (named aft...

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... sole person attempted to claim the throne as her own. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was the cousin to Elizabeth. Mary was the daughter of King James V of Scotland. She married in 1558 the future King of France, Francis II. Three years after their marriage, Francis died of tuberculosis. Mary was raised Catholic and was believed to be the rightful heir to England by the English Catholics. After her second husband’s death in 1568, Mary left Scotland and fled to England. Elizabeth and her advisors thought Mary to have connection to the Babington plot, an assassination attempt on Elizabeth. Mary was held prisoner for almost 20 years until she was executed in 1587.
Queen Elizabeth made impressive improvements in the field of literature, art, land expansion, and military conquests. Elizabeth ‘married her job’ and became one of the greatest English monarchs ever in history.

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