Elizabeth 1 Research Paper

Elizabeth Tudor, who later became Elizabeth I of England, was born on September 7, 1533 at Greenwich Palace. She was a daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, the second of Henry's six wives. King Henry VIII needed a legitimate male heir. It did not happened with his first wife as all his sons died in infancy and she only had given him a daughter Mary. It made him defy the pope and break England from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth’s birth was one of the most exciting political events as everyone hoped that she would be a boy. Unfortunately for the king and his second wife, projections and expectations were wrong and Anne gave birth to a princess not a prince. When Elizabeth was only

Catherine Parr, who later married Thomas Seymour, became her guardian. For Elizabeth, the main problem with Seymour was his inappropriate and very flirtatious behavior. So she left the Seymour home for Hatfield House in May 1548. Catherine died on 4 September 1548 and after her death, it was rumored that Seymour wished to marry Elizabeth and thus secure the throne of England in case Edward died young. His plans unraveled and he was arrested, then executed on 20 March 1549. Edward was the king’s first and only legitimate son so he succeeded his father to the throne as King Edward VI. Elizabeth was shown every respect, and a degree of affection from her stepbrother which was completely lacking in his relations with their sister Mary. When Edward died in 1553, Lady Jane Grey, a cousin of Edward and Elizabeth, became a queen as she was appointed by Edward but her reign was short. Accession of Elizabeth’s older half sister Mary was the reason why Elizabeth was in danger. As Mary was raised Catholic and sought to restore her country back to her faith, she considered her half-sister as an enemy because of religious differences. Elizabeth came to the throne at the death of Mary on November 17, 1558 and inherited a number of problems stirred up by

She was the only legitimate child of James V of Scotland and his French-born wife, Mary of Guise. The death of Mary’s father, which occurred just six days after her birth, put her on the throne of Scotland as an infant. The Mary’s regent, James Hamilton, duke of Arran, arranged her engagement with the son of Henry VIII of England, prince Edward in order to obtain an alliance with England. But Mary’s mother was in favor of an alliance with France so she tried to invalidate the engagement and instead of it arrange for her daughter to marry the Dauphin, the young French prince, Francois. Eventually, England got into a bigger conflict with Scotland and Mary, Queen of Scots was sent to her mother’s homeland, France, in 1548, being only five years old, to be raised and later become a queen of France and also with the aim of securing a Catholic alliance against England. Mary and Francois grew up together in the French Court. They were close and affectionate with one another as children. Living in France, Mary was educated in the traditional manner of French princesses. She spoke French and learned Latin, Italian, Spanish and a little Greek in addition to speaking her native Scots. She learned to dance, sing, play the lute as well as converse on religious matters. Mary and Francois married on 24 April 1558 in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Mary was 15 and her husband 14.