Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth was the second child of King Henry VIII of England and his second wife Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth was born on 7th September in 1533. Before Elizabeth was even three, Henry had grown tired of Anne and the fact that she had not born him a son, and had her beheaded under charges of adultery. Elizabeth was then taken out of her father’s site, as she was a reminder of Anne.
She was well-educated, and her intellectual interests ranged from history and science to art, literature, and philosophy. Her hobbies were music, drama, and poetry.
When Henry VIII died, Elizabeth’s brother Edward became the King of England, but died only a few years later of consumption.
Elizabeth's biggest troubles began when her elder sister Mary, daughter of Henry and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, ascended to the throne. Mary, unlike Henry VIII, Edward and Elizabeth, was Catholic, the religion of England prior to Henry's creation of the Church of England and the installment of Protestantism in England. Mary tried to bring back Catholicism to England, burning heretics creating much unrest. The English people were beginning to support Elizabeth rather than Mary, and so Mary, seeing her sister as a potential enemy, had her imprisoned. Eventually, Mary became pregnant and Elizabeth was no longer seen as a threat to the throne. However, Mary’s pregnancy was actually an illness, which she eventually succumbed to and died. As a result, in November of 1558, Elizabeth became Elizabeth I, Queen of England. She never married. Some theorize that because of the way her father treated his wives, Elizabeth was disgusted by the idea of marriage. The more romantic feel it was because she couldn't marry the man that she really loved, Robert Dudley. When Elizabeth became Queen, Dudley was married, and then his wife died under mysterious circumstances a few years later. Although Robert Dudley was cleared of any wrong-doing in the matter, Elizabeth could not marry him because of the scandal that would no doubt arise.Or perhaps it was a combination of both. Regardless of the reason, Elizabeth never married, but managed to successfully play her suitors off of one another for about 25 years, gaining alliances and wealth from gifts on the possibility of marriage. The one serious contender for her hand was the Duke of Alençon of France, but negotiations failed eventually.The later years of Elizabeth's reign are sometimes referred to as a Golden Age. During this time, England and Elizabeth faced several major trials. First, Elizabeth had to deal with the growing threat of Mary Queen of Scots, who had a strong and legitimate claim to the throne of England. When Mary fled her country in the 1560s, she was taken into house arrest in England, where she had expected the protection of her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth however knew Mary was a threat. Eventually, a plot serious enough arose in Mary's name, and Elizabeth sign her death warrant. Mary was executed in 1587, on February 8th, at Fortheringhay. Also, the greatest military threat some a year later, when the Armada from Spain sailed toward the tiny island nation. England prevailed and was on its way towards becoming the supreme naval power that it was in the 1600 and 1700s.
This was also near the time that Robert Dudley died. Elizabeth kept the last letter he sent her in her desk, with "His Last Letter" written on it.
Elizabeth toured through the country to win people’s layalty and let people see her. Many parts of the country were too remote and too hostile to a Protestant queen for her to risk travelling there. So instead, Elizabeth used portraits and pictures to let people see her. Elizabeth wanted to create an image of herself which would impress her subjects. This meant paintings of the Queen had to be controlled. It would be no good if paintings of Elizabeth showed her to be ugly, old and weak.
Elizabeth died on March 24, 1603 and was succeeded by James I (James VI of Scotland), the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Elizabeth's reign, although it faced some troubles at the beginning, brought about much growth and prosperity in England. Under her hand, England became one of the most powerful countries in the world.