This Day In History

On this day in 1559 Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, was crowned Queen in Westminster Abbey. She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, who was executed 2 years after Elizabeth’s birth. Elizabeth came to the throne after the Catholic Mary I, during whose reign she had been imprisoned on suspicion of supporting Protestants.

As Queen, she established an English Protestant Church, which evolved into today’s Chrch of England. She was a far more moderate ruler than her predecessors, and quite tolerant of other religions, avoiding persecution. In foreign policy, she oversaw the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 as Spain sought to conquer England. Elizabeth’s rival, Mary Queen of Scots, was imprisoned by the Queen in 1568 and executed in 1587.

The period of Elizabeth’s reign is known as the Elizabethan era, and is known for playwrights such as William Shakespeare and adventurers like Sir Francis Drake. Elizabeth never married, and thus did not continue the Tudor line and died heirless on 24th March 1603, aged 69. She was succeeded by the King of Scotland, who became King James I, and thus marked the union of England and Scotland