Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603; reign as Queen 1558-1603) was a child of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and remains one of the most famous English monarchs.
Nicknamed Gloriana, and reigning for nearly fifty years, Queen Elizabeth is important in British history. However, why was this queen so adamantly against her supposed monarchical duties of providing an heir? And why was she so infamously portrayed as the ‘virgin queen’? Hannah Rooney looks at the rumors and explains why she really may have been a ‘virgin queen’.
Queen Elizabeth I Ddancing with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.
Bisley boy
Elizabeth’s lack of an heir makes her an intriguing subject of discussion. Ranging on varying aspects of absurdity, one conspiracy was begun by the author of the novel Dracula, Bram Stoker. Allegedly, on visiting a small English town named Bisley, Stoker found out that on May Day, the traditional ‘May Queen’ would be dressed as a boy (rather than a white gown and crown), and upon research, Stoker uncovered the story of the ‘Bisley boy’. This said that during bouts of the plague, a young Elizabeth was sent to the town for security and safety. However, she became deathly ill and supposedly died whilst there. Known for his wild temperament and tendency to sentence, Elizabeth’s governess, terrified, frantically searched for a resembling girl, but only came across a young boy of the same age and some likeness. When Henry came to visit, the deception had worked. As a rather cold father, he was distant and visited infrequently, and in combination with Elizabeth’s usual shyness toward her father, the secret was kept. Over 300 years later, whilst undergoing building work, a stone coffin was found with the body of a young girl in an Elizabethan dress. In the years after this, there were other signs towards this theory. Furthermore, her tutor Robert Ascham described her as being “endued with a masculine power.” Her striking use of wigs and thick, white makeup which would take hours to apply is also used as an indicator, as it was said she would not be seen without it unless to her servants and maids. Even in her dying moments, she was adamant she would not receive an autopsy.
This theory is widely used as to why she would never marry. However, it has many faults-Elizabeth was inspected by doctors to ensure that her ‘child bearing’ abilities were adequate, to which the results were affirmative. Furthermore, a potential suitor, Philip II of Spain, had asked of her fertility to her laundress, having heard rumors, who reported with a wide indication of menstruation. Arguably, it is a misogynistic perspective used to imply that a woman of the 1500s could not be so powerful, so must have been a man, and her masculine features and perspectives towards leadership are supposed ‘evidence’.
Lord Robert Dudley
The ideas do not end here, though. Supposedly, the ‘virgin queen’ may not have been virtuous at all. Lord Robert Dudley, born in June 1532, befriended Elizabeth during the reign of Queen Mary I, a time of impending danger for the young Elizabeth, and on Elizabeth’s ascension in 1558, she appointed him master of her horse, and the two remained close at court, often dancing, horse riding, and hunting. Dudley was married to Lady Amy Robsart Dudley; she was almost never in court, with Dudley’s bedchambers moved next to Elizabeth’s private rooms for their meetings. In 1587, after rumors swirling around the country viciously, a man named Arthur Dudley arrived at Philip II’s court in Spain and claimed to be the illegitimate child of Dudley and Elizabeth. His supposed conception in 1561 was eerily linked to the time Elizabeth had been bedridden with an illness which had resulted in her body “swelling.” Matters were made worse for the supposed couple when in 1560, Dudley's wife Amy was found dead in her residency, at the bottom of a flight of stairs with a broken neck, the circumstances for which were regarded as suspicious - and Robert Dudley felt the brunt of it. For almost 50 years, their relationship was filled with turmoil, yet Elizabeth always described him as her ‘sweet Robin’, and had accordingly been brought to tears for several years after his death in 1588, upon anyone saying his name. So perhaps she never married due to a sweet childhood romance, a lost case of love, though she solemnly swore on her deathbed that ‘nothing unseemly had ever passed between them.’ No physical evidence accounts for otherwise too.
A real Virgin Queen?
Most notably, Queen Elizabeth could have actually been a “virgin queen.” Her complex relationship with her father likely had a large impact on her chastity - losing her own mother at two years old to the hands of her father would have had an inevitable impact on the young girl, particularly being indoctrinated with the wild accusations and defamation against her own mother, as a ‘witch’ and ‘conspirator.’ Her stepmother, Catherine Howard, who was allegedly very warm and kind to Elizabeth, suffered the same fate of execution via beheading. Elizabeth was just eight at the time, and supposedly uttered, that she would ‘never marry.’ Her perspective likely linked matrimony to ideas of pain, loss and death.
Personally, I see it in the sense that it was a choice made by Elizabeth. There was a deep requirement for marriage during her reign and she knew it: being an unwed queen held her at an incredible risk of losing credibility as a ruler, especially with rival Mary, Queen of Scots, announcing her pregnancy and eventually conceiving a young boy, who would become King James VI of Scotland and King James I of England. And it wasn’t like opportunity was sparse: countless suitors presented themselves, such as Philip II of Spain, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, Prince Eric of Sweden, and a plethora more. To me, it is likely that the incredibly intelligent and sharp queen disliked the idea of sharing her own political power, or risking her country with dependency on others. She cunningly used the incessant possibility of her hand in marriage as an opportunity to prevent uprisings and ensure increasingly civil foreign affairs. Devoted and unwavering, Queen Elizabeth remained, ultimately, ‘married to her country.’
All of these speculations will fly around for the rest of history, but what’s more inspiring to believe? A queen, defiant of societal constructs and unwilling to conform to 16th century stereotypes - that sounds pretty amazing to me. Throughout her father’s inevitable dismissal, determination for a male heir and half sister Mary’s doomed marriage, Elizabeth proved to be a successful and hearty leader, without the need of a man, and arguably, even for her rival and cousin, Queen Mary, she proved the misogynistic John Knox incorrect on his views of female monarchs. The perfect summary would be her Tilbury speech to the troops for the Spanish Armada: ‘I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too [..] we shall shortly have a famous victory over the enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.’
Why do you think Queen Elizabeth I of England never married? Let us know below.
