© National Portrait Gallery, London

The Coronation Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I was painted somewhere around 1600, copied
after a now-lost original by an unknown English artist.

This painting shows the Queen crowned, wearing the cloth of gold that she wore at her
coronation on 15 January 1559.She holds the orb and sceptre, symbols of her authority.

Elizabeth I succeeded to the throne of England in 1558 and was crowned in 1559 at the age of
twenty-six. In addition to the official coronation portrait, there are several miniature versions.

Unlike most Tudor and Elizabethan portraits, Queen Elizabeth I is depicted full-face in The
Coronation Portrait; this is because the coinage and royal seals for the new regime were to be
based off of this image. Her hair hangs loose about her shoulders, as was typical for a queen at
her coronation. Elizabeth's heavy coronation robes are decorated with Tudor roses and fleur-
de-lis. The fleur-de-lis, which is the heraldic emblem of France, represents the longstanding
English claim to the French throne. According to the National Portrait Gallery, these elaborate
robes were not custom-made for Queen Elizabeth, but were reused from the coronation of her
sister, Queen Mary I just five years before, when England still had possession of its last French
territory, Calais. Mary lost Calais in the final year of her reign.

Who was Queen Elizabeth I?

Queen Elizabeth I claimed the throne in 1558 at the age of 25 and held
it until her death 44 years later. Elizabeth I was born a princess but
declared illegitimate through political machinations. Eventually, upon
her half-sister Mary Tudor’s death, she took the crown. 

During her reign, Elizabeth I established Protestantism in England;

defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588; maintained peace inside her
previously divided country; and created an environment where the arts
flourished. She was sometimes called the "Virgin Queen", as she
never married.

Elizabeth was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife,
Anne Boleyn. She was only 2 years old when her mother was
beheaded on the orders of her father, based on questionable charges
of adultery and conspiracy.+