History Of Virgin Queen  2

Early life

Elizabeth was the only surviving child of King Henry VIII of England by his second wife, Anne Boleyn, Marchioness of Pembroke. The couple were secretly married sometime between the winter of 1532 and late January of 1533. In later life Elizabeth reported to the Venetian ambassador that she had been told it was the earlier date, possibly in November.[1] Elizabeth was born in the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, on September 7, 1533. Upon her birth, Elizabeth was the heir presumptive to the throne of England despite having an older half sister, Mary, this was because Henry annulled his marriage to first wife, the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon, Mary was not considered to be a legitimate heir.

Henry would have preferred a son to ensure the Tudor succession, but Queen Anne failed to produce a male heir. She suffered at least two more miscarriages, one in 1534 and again at the beginning of 1536. The King enjoyed a string of affairs, one of which involved a young woman named Elizabeth Blount, known as Bessie, daughter of a knight, Sir John Blount of Shropshire. In 1519, Bessie became the mother of a male while she was single, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, also named Earl of Nottingham. While he acknowledged Fitzroy, the king didn't put the boy into the official lineage. It is believed the king thought to do so would anger his subjects. Fitzroy died of consumption in 1536 at the age of seventeen.

Historians debate the exact reason why Anne fell from power, but it is generally agreed that she was innocent of the charges against her, and that her death was orchestrated by her political rivals.[2] Anne was arrested on 2nd May 1536 and imprisoned. Seventeen days later, she was executed on charges of treason, incest with her younger brother, George Boleyn, and witchcraft. Elizabeth, then three years old, was declared illegitimate and lost the title of Princess. She also lost the money and gifts her mother had routinely showered upon her. After Anne's death, she was addressed as Lady Elizabeth and lived separately from her father as he married his succession of wives. In 1537, her father's third wife, Jane Seymour gave birth to a son, Prince Edward, who became the official heir to the throne under the Act of Succession 1544.

Elizabeth's first governess was Lady Margaret Bryan, a baroness whom Elizabeth called "Muggie". At the age of four, Elizabeth acquired a new governess, Katherine Champernowne, whom she often referred to as "Kat". Champernowne developed a close relationship with Elizabeth and remained her confidante and good friend for life. Matthew Parker, her mother's favourite priest, took a special interest in Elizabeth's well-being, particularly because a fearful Anne had entrusted her daughter's spiritual welfare to Parker before her death. Parker later became Elizabeth's first Archbishop of Canterbury after she became queen in 1558. One companion, to whom she referred with affection throughout her life, was the Irishman Thomas Butler, later 3rd Earl of Ormonde (d. 1615).

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