Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen of England

and Ireland and her 45 year reign
was considered a ‘golden period’ of
English history. Elizabeth I reigned
as Queen of England from 17th
November 1558 to 24th March 1603.
Her reign is sometimes known as the
Elizabethan Age, and was the era of
William Shakespeare's plays, Sir
Frances Drake's trips to America,
and the defeat of the Spanish
Armada.
Elizabeth was born on 7th September 1533 and became Queen at the
age of 25. She reigned for 44 years and 127 days. She is the monarch with
the eighth longest reign, and the third longest of any female monarch - the
longest reigning female was Queen Victoria who reigned for 63 years and
216 days, and second longest is Queen Elizabeth II, the current Queen,
who has been reigning for over 60 years.
Elizabeth's path to becoming Queen of England wasn't easy. Usually,
the successor to the English throne is the oldest male descendent of the
reigning monarch. If there are no males, it goes to the oldest female
descendent. Henry VIII's first wife was Catherine of Aragon, who gave
birth to a girl called Mary. This would make Mary the heir to the throne.
Elizabeth was born to Henry's VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, but Henry
had a son to his third wife, Jane Seymour, who they called Edward. This
would make Edward heir to the throne, with Mary second in line and
Elizabeth third in line. Edward became Kind Edward VI when Henry died
in 1547. However, Edward died in 1553 and despite attempting to name
his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as his successor, Mary took over as Queen
Mary I after Lady Jane Grey reigned for only 9 days (all of which she
spent in the Tower of London). Queen Mary I died on 17th November 1558
and as she had no children, Elizabeth took the throne of England, and
became Queen Elizabeth I from that date.
Queen Elizabeth I never married and never had any children. For
this reason, she is sometimes known as The Virgin Queen and Gloriana. As
she didn't have any children, there was no heir to the throne in her family
line, so the title went to the King of Scotland, James VI, who had some
family link to Elizabeth somehow. He became King James I of England but
continued ruling Scotland. After this, although the two nations remained as
separate Kingdoms, they always had the same monarch, and of course
eventually united to become the United Kingdom.
Although Queen Elizabeth I didn't marry, marriage to a number of
suitors was considered. Between them were Thomas Seymour (creepy
husband of Catherine Parr, Elizabeth's guardian, and 24 years older than
her), Lord Robert Dudley (married man who Elizabeth quite liked but her
government didn't. Some historians think he had something to do with his
wife falling down some stairs to her death, thus freeing her to marry
Elizabeth), King Phillip II of Spain (proposed to Elizabeth, got rejected,
later attempted to send an Armada to invade England), the Archduke
Charles of Austria (King Phillip II's cousin), and the Frenchmen Henri,
Duke of Anjou and Francois, also Duke of Anjou.
Queen Elizabeth I would sometimes wear a frog-shaped earring,
given to her as a gift from Francois, the Duke of Anjou. This was probably
because Elizabeth called Francois her "frog". Elizabeth could understand
several languages: English, Latin, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish, Welsh
and apparently even Cornish, a language which is now only spoken by
about 2,000 people in Cornwall.