1. Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

Margaret Pole was the niece of Richard III – who Henry VII had slain at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. Until her dying day, Margaret asserted her Yorkist allegiance and become a focus for rebellion. She was considered such as threat that Henry VIII ordered her execution in 1541.

Margaret Pole; Elizabeth of York; Margaret Tudor

2. Elizabeth of York

Elizabeth was the daughter of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, who were leaders of the Yorkist cause. Her brothers were the ‘Princes in the Tower’.

The marriage between Elizabeth of York and Henry Tudor marked a union between the Houses of York and Lancaster, and the red and white Tudor rose was born. Elizabeth and Henry had eight children, who, through marriage, became monarchs of England, Scotland and France.

3. Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots

The eldest daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Margaret was the sister of Henry VIII. She was married to James IV of Scotland from 1503-1513, which united the royal houses of England and Scotland. After her husband’s death, Margaret acted as regent for her son James V, from 1513-1515.

4. Catherine of Aragon

Catherine ruled as Queen of England from June 1509 until May 1533. She was the daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon.

At three years old she was betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales, who was heir apparent to the English throne. After Arthur’s death, Catherine was married to his younger brother Henry, who grew increasingly frustrated after she failed to deliver a male heir.

Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn

Image Credit: History Hit

For six months in 1513, she served as regent of England as Henry was abroad in France. Her rousing speech about emotional courage seemed to be an important factor in the English victory at the Battle of Flodden. She was also a prominent humanist, and counted scholars such as Erasmus of Rotterdam and Thomas More as her friends.

5. Elizabeth Blount

‘Bessie’ Blount was a mistress of Henry VIII. On 15 June 1519, Blount bore the king what he had always craved – a son. Henry Fitzroy, the only illegitimate son of Henry VIII, was later Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Earl of Nottingham.

6. Anne Boleyn

The second and perhaps most infamous wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, when she was executed.

Henry first caught eyes on her when she served Catherine of Aragon as a maid of honour. To accommodate a marriage to Anne and divorce Catherine, Henry had no choice but to leave the Catholic Church and establish the Church of England. Anne was the mother of Elizabeth I.

7. Catherine Parr

Catherine had four husbands, the third of which was Henry VIII who she outlived by a year. She enjoyed a close relationship with Henry’s three children, taking personal interest in their education and playing an important role in the Third Succession Act, which restored Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession.

Catherine Parr; Lady Jane Grey; Mary I

Image Credit: History Hit

After Henry’s death, Catherine acted as queen dowager and was allowed to keep royal jewels and dresses.

8. Lady Jane Grey

Jane was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, through their daughter Mary, who became Queen of France.

She was exceptionally well educated in humanist studies, and as a committed Protestant, Edward VI saw her as an ally. In 1553, Edward’s will placed Jane in line to inherit the throne, effectively removing his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth from the line of succession and ignoring the Third Succession Act.

Jane was proclaimed queen on 10 July 1553 but support quickly waned and the Privy Council abandoned her. Lasting just over a week, she became known as the ‘Nine Days Queen’. Although Mary initially spared her life, she became viewed as a threat to the Crown, and was executed the following year.

9. Mary I

Mary was the eldest child of Henry VIII to survive to adulthood. As the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, she was a staunch Catholic. After expelling Lady Jane Grey to regain her place on the throne, Mary attempted to reverse the English Reformation begun by her father and restore Roman Catholicism.

The executions of Protestants earned her the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’. She was married to Phillip of Spain.

10. Elizabeth I

Elizabeth was the final monarch of the Tudor dynasty, ruling from 1558-1603. She depended heavily on a group of advisers led by William Cecil. Together they established a middle way in the religious debates, as Elizabeth became the Supreme Governor of the English Protestant church, but insisted on greater tolerance of English Catholics.

Elizabeth I; Bess of Hardwick; Mary, Queen of Scots

Image Credit: History Hit

Elizabeth never married and she became referred to as the ‘Virgin Queen’. Her 44 year reign was marked by England’s defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and a flowering of English drama, led by playwrights Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare.

11. Bess of Hardwick

Born into a modest background, Bess married four times and acquired an enormous fortune to become the second most important woman in England, after the queen. She is famed for building Hardwick Hall, which gave rise to the rhyme ‘Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall’.

12. Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary reigned over Scotland from 1542 to 1567. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland, who died when Mary was six days old. She married Francis, the Dauphin of France, and later her half-cousin, Lord Darnley.

Their son, James, would become James I of England, uniting the two kingdoms. She was executed by her cousin, Elizabeth I, in 1587 at Fotheringhay Castle.

At various times a royal citadel, palace, menagerie, observatory, public records office, mint, arsenal and, even to this day, the home of the crown jewels of England, since 1100 it has famously served as a prison for notorious traitors, heretics, and even royalty.

Out of the more than 8,000 unfortunate souls, many who were imprisoned in the Tower never left. Those who did, often did so without their head. For a small number, however, the supposedly impenetrable walls proved merely a minor nuisance.

Here are 5 of the very best escapes from ‘The Tower’.

1. Ranulf Flambard, escaped 1101

Influential in establishing the Domesday Book, Ranulf Flambard was Bishop of Durham and a key supporter of the tyrannical William Rufus.

A keen builder, he oversaw the construction of Durham Cathedral, the first stone London Bridge, Westminster Hall and – most ironically – a curtain wall around the Tower of London.

The South View of the Tower of London” engraving, published in 1737 (Credit: Nathaniel Buck, Samuel Buck, British Museum).

The accession of William’s younger brother, Henry I, saw a dramatic downturn in Ranulf’s fortunes. Removed from all offices of state and charged with embezzlement, Flambard became the first official prisoner of the Tower.

For 6 months, he wiled his time away patiently.Renowned for his qualities as an entertainer, he frequently hosted banquets for his gaolers.

After slowly building their trust, on 2 February 1101 the canny cleric organised one such event, taking note to ensure extra quantities of wine.

Once his captors were inebriated, he used a rope that had been smuggled into his cell and abseiled down the walls. Despite the end of the rope being about 20 feet from the ground, he managed to scale the curtain wall to where a horse had been left for him by his allies.

2. Alice Tankerville, escaped 1534

The only escapee of Henry VIII’s reign, Alice Tankerville was the first and only woman to flee the Tower.

Condemned to death for stealing a shipment of 366 crowns and brought to the Tower, the reputedly charming woman managed to befriend two of the gaolers – William Denys and John Bawd.

Having fallen in love with his prisoner, Bawd agreed to help her escape. Buoyed by claims from Denys that the Coldharbour Gate had a plausible escape route, Bawd purchased two long pieces of rope and had a second key cut of the tower’s outer door.

On the night of the next new moon, Tankerville escaped with the help of her gaoler, whose securing of a rope to an iron hook ensured their way down the parapets from St Thomas’ Tower.

After sailing a small boat across the moat, they disembarked at the Iron Gate Steps and fled along a nearby road where Bawd had prepared two horses.

There, disaster struck. Posing as young lovers, the guise failed to fool the returning night watch.

On 31 March 1534, the hapless couple were carted to the walls that lined the river’s embankment and enchained at low tide, while Bawd was left above the walls to experience exposure and dehydration.

Guilty or innocent, the gold was never found.

3. Edmund Neville, escaped twice 1585-1610

The Tower of London, 1647 (Credit: Wenceslaus Hollar, Project Gutenberg)

In the Tower’s long history, only two of its prisoners are believed to have twice escaped.

Neville’s first experience of the Tower began in 1584 on suspicion of his involvement in the Parry Plot against Elizabeth I. Using a small file, he patiently worked away at the bars of his window until he managed to make his way out.

Despite managing to flee the city, an alert horseman took notice of his strange appearance and odour from swimming in the Tower moat, and he was returned to his cell.

Neville attempted the same escape a couple of years later, aided by a rope smuggled in by his wife. Making his way through the same window, he discovered that the rope was significantly too short and guards were alerted to the splashing noise of his drop into the moat.

Still undeterred, the thrice-shackled prisoner set about a third attempt. After 6 frustrating years, he succeeded brilliantly in tricking his gaoler by sitting practically motionless before, one night, creating a straw mannequin and dressing it in his own clothes.

Having also created fake tools and dressed himself up as a blacksmith, he waited for his gaoler to enter his cell only to be discovered trying to make his exit.

Within two years it was decided that Neville no longer posed a significant threat and was finally exiled to the Continent.

4. William Maxwell, escaped 1715

‘Jacobite Troops Surrendering Their Arms to General Wills in Preston Market Place’, 1715 (Credit: Holmes, Richard, Harris Museum).

A Stuart loyalist, William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale was captured and taken to the Tower for his part in the Jacobite rebellion, after proclaiming the ‘old pretender’ James Edward Stuart king in the Scottish borders.

His wife, Lady Winifred, immediately set about securing his release, appealing to a Jacobean sympathiser and tricking her way inside St James’s Palace to seek an audience with the king – all unsuccessfully.

She then came up with an ingenious plan: to dress her husband up in women’s clothes so that he could stroll out unnoticed. On the day before his execution, she and several sympathisers smuggled in layers of garments worn below their dress.

Part one complete, Lady Nithsdale got frantically to work to add appropriate makeup before staging a mock conversation with herself as her heavily disguised husband walked free.

Nithsdale watched from an attic window the following day as two other Jacobean peers were executed for their role in the doomed rebellion. Inside the Tower, no less than 5 warders were dismissed on grounds of negligence.

Placing a guard at every road and gate leading out of the city failed to stop a magnificent coach bearing the arms of the Venetian ambassador with the errant lord on board.

Lady Winifred too passed safely by as she travelled north to secure the family papers before joining her husband overseas to end their lives happily in Rome.

5. Subaltern, escaped 1916

In 1916, a young officer was brought to the Tower and accommodated somewhere in the East Casemates. Unlike the POWs of the time, the man’s charges related to being unable to honour his cheques due to insufficient funds in his account.

The man was clearly attentive to everything around him, as was proved when he nonchalantly passed the distracted guard outside his quarters and marched through the main gate, honoured with the salutes of unsuspecting personnel.

Catching the Underground, the mystery man subsequently dined sumptuously in the West End, paying for his dinner with another fraudulent cheque.

Curiously, he decided to return to the Tower, discovering his actions had caused considerable consternation. Of his background, nothing is known. The only reference concerning the man is Subaltern.

John Paul Davis is the international bestselling author of 10 thriller novels and three historical biographies. A Hidden History of the Tower of London is his first book for Pen & Sword.

If you enjoyed this article, you can find more of John’s favourite escapes here.

But before Queen Elizabeth there were King Edward VI and Queen Mary I of England, her younger brother and older sister. And the three monarchs were only Henry VIII’s legitimate children who survived beyond a few weeks. The Tudor king also had one illegitimate child who he acknowledged, Henry Fitzroy, and is suspected of having fathered several other illegitimate children too.

Mary Tudor

Henry VIII’s oldest daughter earned herself the unfortunate nickname “Bloody Mary”

Image Credit: Hans Eworth, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (left) / Antonis Mor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (right)

Mary, the oldest of Henry VIII’s legitimate children, was born to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, in February 1516. Henry was affectionate towards his daughter but increasingly less so towards her mother who had not born him a male heir.

Henry sought for the marriage to be annulled — a pursuit that ultimately led to the Church of England breaking away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church which had denied him an annulment. The king finally got his wish in May 1533 when Thomas Cranmer, the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury, declared Henry’s marriage to Catherine void.

Five days later, Cranmer also declared Henry’s marriage to another woman valid. That woman’s name was Anne Boleyn and, adding insult to injury, she was Catherine’s lady in waiting.

In September of that year, Anne gave birth to Henry’s second legitimate child, Elizabeth.

Mary, whose place in the line of succession was replaced by her new half-sister, refused to acknowledge that Anne had superseded her mother as queen or that Elizabeth was a princess. But both girls soon found themselves in similar positions when, in May 1536, Queen Anne was beheaded.

Edward Tudor

Edward was Henry VIII’s only legitimate son.

Henry then married Jane Seymour, regarded by many as the favourite of his six wives and the only one to bear him a son who survived: Edward. Jane gave birth to Edward in October 1537, dying of postnatal complications shortly after.

When Henry died in January 1547 it was Edward who succeeded him, aged just nine. The king was England’s first monarch to be raised Protestant and, despite his young age, he took a great interest in religious matters, overseeing the establishment of Protestantism in the country.

Edward’s reign, which was plagued by economic problems and social unrest, came to an abrupt end in July 1553 when he died following months of illness.

The unmarried king left no children as heirs. In an effort to prevent Mary, a Catholic, from succeeding him and reversing his religious reformation, Edward named his first cousin once removed Lady Jane Grey as his heir. But Jane only lasted nine days as the de facto queen before most of her supporters abandoned her and she was deposed in favour of Mary.

During her five-year reign, Queen Mary gained a reputation for ruthlessness and violence, ordering hundreds of religious dissenters burnt at the stake in her pursuit of the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England. This reputation was so great that her Protestant opponents denounced her “Bloody Mary”, a name by which she is still commonly referred today.

Mary married Prince Philip of Spain in July 1554 but bore no children, ultimately failing in her quest to prevent her Protestant sister, Elizabeth, from becoming her successor. After Mary fell ill and died in November 1558, aged 42, Elizabeth was named queen.

Elizabeth Tudor

The Rainbow Portrait is one of the most enduring images of Elizabeth I. Attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger or Isaac Oliver.

Image Credit: Hatfield House via Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Elizabeth, who ruled for nearly 50 years and died in March 1603, was the last monarch of the House of Tudor. Like her brother and sister, she too bore no children. Even more surprisingly for the time, she never married (though stories of her many suitors are well documented).

Elizabeth’s long reign is remembered for many things, not least England’s historic defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, seen as one of the country’s greatest military victories.

Drama also flourished under the queen’s rule and she successfully reversed her sister’s own reversal of the establishment of Protestantism in England. Indeed, Elizabeth’s legacy is so great that her reign has a name all of its own — the “Elizabethan era”.

But from her very first breath to the day she breathed her last, Elizabeth was surrounded by enemies who threatened her crown and her life.

A Seymour plot

Throughout her childhood and teenage years, Elizabeth was accused of being involved with a series of dangerous allegations that could have resulted in her imprisonment, or even her execution.

The Princess Elizabeth as a young teenager. Image credit: RCT / CC.

Image Credit: Royal Collections Trust / CC

When her 9-year-old half-brother Edward ascended to the throne, Elizabeth joined the Chelsea household of her stepmother Katherine Parr and Katherine’s new husband, Thomas Seymour.

While she was there, Seymour – approaching 40 but good looking and charming – engaged in romps and horseplay with the 14-year-old Elizabeth. These included entering her bedroom in his nightgown and slapping her on the bottom. Rather than confronting her husband, Parr joined in.

But eventually Parr discovered Elizabeth and Thomas in an embrace. Elizabeth left the Seymour house the very next day.

The south front of Hatfield House in the early 20th century. Image credit: Public Domain.

In 1548 Katherine died in childbirth. Seymour was subsequently executed for plotting to marry Elizabeth without the council’s consent, kidnap Edward VI and become de facto king.

Elizabeth was questioned to find out whether she was involved in the treasonous plot, but denied all charges.  Her stubbornness exasperated her interrogator, Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, who reported, “I do see it in her face that she is guilty”.

The Wyatt plot

Elizabeth’s life during Mary’s reign began well, but there were irreconcilable differences between them, particularly their differing faiths.

Then in 1554, just 4 short years before she came to the throne, a terrified Elizabeth was being smuggled through Traitors’ Gate at the Tower of London, implicated in an unsuccessful rebellion against her newly crowned half-sister Mary I.

Mary’s plan to marry Prince Phillip of Spain had sparked the unsuccessful Wyatt rebellion and Elizabeth was once again interrogated about her desire for the crown. When the rebels were captured for questioning, it became known that one of their plans was to have Elizabeth marry Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, to ensure an English succession to the throne.

She fervently protested her innocence, and Wyatt himself maintained – even under torture – that Elizabeth was blameless. But Simon Renard, the Queen’s adviser, did not believe her, and counselled Mary to bring her to trial. Elizabeth was not put on trial, but on 18 March she was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

Held in her mother’s former apartments, Elizabeth was comfortable but under severe psychological strain. Eventually lack of evidence meant she was released into house arrest in Woodstock, Oxfordshire on 19 May – the anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s execution.

Mary’s final years

In September 1554 Mary stopped menstruating, gained weight and felt nauseous in the mornings. Almost the entirety of her court, including her doctors, believed her to be pregnant. Elizabeth was no longer seen as a significant threat when Mary had become pregnant.

In the last week of April 1555 Elizabeth was released from house arrest and called to court as a witness to the birth, which was expected imminently. Despite the pregnancy being revealed as false Elizabeth remained at court until October, apparently restored to favour.

But Mary’s rule disintegrated after another false pregnancy. Elizabeth refused to marry the Catholic Duke of Savoy, who would have secured a Catholic succession and preserved the Habsburg interest in England. As tensions over Mary’s succession arose once again, Elizabeth spent these years fearing for her safety while earnestly trying to preserve her independence.

By 1558 a weak and frail Mary knew that Elizabeth would soon succeed her to the throne. After Elizabeth, the most powerful claim to the throne resided in the name of Mary, Queen of Scots, who had not long before married Francois, the French heir to the throne and enemy of Spain. Thus, although Elizabeth was not Catholic, it was in Spain’s best interest to secure her accession to the throne, in order to prevent the French from obtaining it.

By October Elizabeth was already making plans for her government whilst at Hatfield and in November Mary recognised Elizabeth as her heir.

Portrait of Mary Tudor by Antonius Mor. Image credit: Museo del Prado / CC. 

Image Credit: Public domain

End of the rocky road

Mary I died on 17 November 1558 and the crown was finally Elizabeth’s. She had survived and was finally Queen of England, crowned on 14 Jan 1559.

Elizabeth I was crowned by Owen Oglethorpe, Bishop of Carlisle, because the more senior prelates did not recognise her as the Sovereign, and, apart from the archbishopric of Canterbury, no less than 8 sees were vacant.

Of the remainder, Bishop White of Winchester had been confined to his house by royal command for his sermon at Cardinal Pole’s funeral; and the Queen had an especial enmity toward Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London. With a touch of irony, she had ordered Bonner to lend his richest vestments to Oglethorpe for the coronation.

1. She was a talented child

Mary was born on 18 February 1516 to the English King Henry VIII and his first of six wives, Catherine of Aragon. Mary was the only one of their children to survive beyond infancy, and despite the fact she was not a boy (and therefore an heir), she was doted upon in early childhood. The young Princess proved to be an asset to her royal parents: by the age of 9, she was already highly educated (reading and writing in English, Spanish, French and Latin) and an accomplished musician.

A British school portrait of Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536). (Image credit: National Trust / CC).

2. Princess of Wales?

By 1525, it became clear Catherine and Henry would not have any more children together. With Mary as his only legitimate heir, Henry dispatched her to the Welsh border, where she set up court at Ludlow Castle.

Whilst it is not certain, it appears that Henry’s decision to do this suggests he was thinking of giving his daughter the title ‘Princess of Wales’. Mary returned to her father’s court some time in 1528.

3. Familial relations became difficult

By the late 1520s, Henry’s eye had fallen on one of Catherine’s ladies in waiting, Anne Boleyn, and he began to petition the Pope for an annulment. Mary, like her mother Catherine, was a devout Catholic and saw no theological argument for the marriage being invalid. Relations at court between Mary and her father became increasingly strained, and Henry refused Mary access to her mother in order to try and pressure her into submission.

When Henry did finally split from Catherine, establish the Church of England and marry Anne Boleyn, these actions forced him to declare Mary illegitimate (a bastard): she was stripped of her household and servants and eventually sent to wait on her new half sister, the baby Princess Elizabeth.

4. Her Catholic faith brought her trouble

In 1536, Anne Boleyn was beheaded and Mary had a new step-mother, Jane Seymour. Jane was keen to reconcile Henry and Mary, but in order for Henry to accept his daughter and reinstate her in the succession, he required her to sign a document recognising him as head of the Church of England, acknowledge his first marriage was unlawful and she was illegitimate, and most importantly, deny papal authority.

After much deliberation, Mary agreed to sign the document. She was quickly reinstated at court, with a household, several palaces and access to the privy purse.  

Mary’s subsequent step-mothers, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, also made attempts to restore harmony within Henry’s family. When Henry died in 1547, Mary’s half-brother, Edward, became king: he was a staunch Protestant, and Mary left court in order to practice her Catholic faith less noticeably.

However, this did not sate the young king, who persistently demanded her to drop her faith and convert or risk being cut out of his will and the line of succession: Mary refused equally persistently, aware that her actions could spell serious trouble.

5. She nearly did not become queen

Edward died unexpectedly in 1553, leaving the crown to Lady Jane Grey, a distant relative, rather than to either of his half-sisters as stipulated in the Succession Act. Mary had fled to her estates in East Anglia, a Catholic stronghold, and proclaimed herself Queen. She quickly rallied support from Catholics and loyalists, and attempts to put Lady Jane on the throne quickly fell through.

Mary arrived in London in August 1553, and was crowned in October. Jane – widely believed to be a pawn in a bigger political game – was imprisoned in the Tower of London and convicted of high treason. Her life was initially spared, but once it became clear she was a potential figurehead for rebellion, Mary had her executed.

Delaroche, Paul; The Execution of Lady Jane Grey as imagined by Paul Delaroche. (Image Credit: City of London Corporation / CC).

6. She restored the Catholic faith

After years of Protestantism and Catholic persecution under her father and half-brother, Mary restored England to Catholicism, sweeping away many of her father’s laws and reforms and restoring church doctrine. Reaching a settlement with the Pope took months as much of the land (and wealth) previously owned by the Catholic Church had been redistributed by the Crown.

Moreover, these changes were welcomed by many. Catholicism was still widespread, although it had often been hidden, in England, and the return of old practices and customs was popular in many areas.

7. The nickname ‘Bloody Mary’ was given posthumously

Leading Protestants were imprisoned, and persecution of Protestants began under the Marian regime, although this was by no means unusual: religious persecutions took place under all the Tudor monarchs. Mary had around 280 dissenters executed, normally by burning at the stake – she gave them the opportunity to convert right up until execution. Those who didn’t, and maintained their faith, were heralded as martyrs.

John Foxe, an Elizabethan polemicist, further cemented the idea in his work, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, which helped popularise the idea of Mary being particularly bloodthirsty.

8. She was abandoned by her husband

Mary was 37 when she became Queen, and if she was going to produce an heir, she would need to marry and have children relatively fast. Whilst Parliament was keen on her marrying an Englishman, Mary had set her sites on Philip of Spain, the heir to the throne of Spain. The match was not popular at home, and revolts and rebellions took place on its announcement.

There was no precedent for the marriage of a queen regnant, and Philip was forced to submit to a humiliating set of terms, including not being able to act without his wife’s consent. The two married in July 1554, in what was a politically advantageous match rather than a love one.

Following the marriage, Philip spent little time in England, much to Mary’s disappointment and wrote on her eventual death that he felt ‘reasonable regret’.

A portrait of the then Prince Philip of Spain by Titian, sent to Mary Tudor prior to their marriage. (Image Credit: Museo del Prado / CC).

9. She lost Calais

On one of Philip’s brief stints in England, he encouraged Mary (and England) to support a Spanish war against the French. This move was unpopular in England before it even started, and even more so when, in January 1558, English forces took Calais, which had been the last remaining English possession in France.

This proved embarrassing and upsetting for England, but for none more so than Mary herself – supposedly on her deathbed, she said ‘I die with Calais on my heart’.

10. Her legacy is being reassessed

Mary died in November 1558, potentially from a form of uterine or ovarian cancer, aged 42. She never produced an heir, and so as per the Act of Succession, the crown went to her half-sister, Elizabeth, who promptly reversed much Marian policy – including her religious settlement.

Today, historians have reassessed her legacy enough to acknowledge that she made important reforms in commerce and the navy, which smoothed Elizabeth’s path in the future. Her achievements in navigating Tudor politics and successfully being crowned the first Queen of England in the face of intrigue and adversity deserve remembering.

Henry enacted radical changes to the English constitution, expanded royal power and broke with the Catholic Church in the English Reformation.

But he is perhaps most famous for having six wives. Though married to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, for nearly 25 years, Henry’s next five marriages lasted less than that combined.

Best remembered in rhyme form; ‘divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived’; two of Henry VIII’s marriages were declared annulled, two of his wives were beheaded and another of them died after giving birth to his only son. But his final wife, Catherine Parr, outlived him and their marriage.

Here are Henry VIII’s six wives in order.

1. Catherine of Aragon

Catherine is best known today for her role in sparking the King’s excommunication from the Catholic Church and the Reformation. Married to Henry for a quarter of a century, however, there is much more to her.

The daughter of Spanish monarchs Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, Catherine was a political catch.

Betrothed at the age of three to Arthur, Henry’s older brother and the heir apparent to the English throne, her position became uncertain when, in 1502, her husband died just five months into their marriage.

Half of Catherine’s dowry had already been paid to Arthur’s father, Henry VII, so the English king faced the dilemma of how to pay it back.

Catherine was effectively held a prisoner with little money to her name while the issue was debated. But in 1507, six years after Arthur’s death, she became the ambassador of the Aragonese Crown to England.

In doing so, she also became the first female European ambassador in history.

Catherine of Aragon

Image Credit: Attributed to Joannes Corvus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Two years later, Catherine married Henry VIII – who was five years her junior – shortly after he had ascended the throne. This marriage between a man and his brother’s widow required, and was granted, dispensation by the Catholic Church.

The couple’s marriage was eventful for Catherine. In 1513, she served as regent for six months while Henry was away in France. During this time she oversaw an English victory against Scotland at the Battle of Flodden, but she also gave birth to a stillborn child.

Catherine suffered multiple miscarriages and stillbirths. She bore the king’s first child, a boy, only to see him die 52 days later. Her only child to survive to adulthood was a daughter born in 1516, Mary; who went on to become queen.

Catherine suffered another miscarriage in 1518, but one year later Henry had a son by a mistress named Elizabeth Blount. The boy was named Henry Fitzroy, and is Henry’s only confirmed illegitimate child. Blount was not, however, Henry’s only mistress during his marriage to Catherine.

It was his infatuation with Anne Boleyn, one of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting, from 1526, which set into motion a chain of events that would not only see the end of Catherine and Henry’s marriage, but also lead to England’s Protestantisation.

Henry tried to have his marriage to Catherine annulled to marry Anne. He argued that their marriage had been invalid because of Catherine’s marriage to his brother. Devout Catherine rejected this, saying that she and Arthur’s relationship had never been consummated.

Possibly pressured somewhat by Catherine’s nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the Pope refused. In response the king assumed supremacy over religious matters and turned his back on the Catholic Church.

Henry’s marriage to Catherine was eventually annulled on 1533 and Catherine was banished from court as Dowager Princess of Wales. She lived out the rest of her days at Kimbolton Castle in Cambridgeshire where she died in 1536. Her daughter Mary was forbidden for visiting her or to attending her funeral at Peterborough Cathedral.

Catherine never accepted the end of her marriage to Henry as legitimate, always seeing herself as England’s rightful Queen and Henry’s wife.

2. Anne Boleyn

With the extraordinary events of her life unparalleled in British history, Anne Boleyn is undoubtedly the most famous of Henry’s wives.

Henry may have endured a seven-year courtship and far-reaching political and religious upheavals in order to marry his second wife, but that didn’t stop him having her executed less than three years later.

Anne was born c.1501 to Sir Thomas Boleyn and Lady Elizabeth Howard, and spent much of her youth in France, returning in 1522. She was reported to be fluent in french, a talented musician and to dress in line with French fashions.

Anne was previously betrothed to Henry Percy, but this engagement had been broken off when it did not gain the support of his father, the fifth Earl of Northumberland. Henry VIII, himself, had formerly taken Anne’s sister, Mary, as a mistress.

Anne refused to become the King’s mistress, forcing him to wait through the seven years of courtship until they could marry. In 1532, Henry made Anne the Marquessate of Pembroke, and the pair married formally in January 1533, after a secret ceremony two months earlier.

After going through so much to secure the marriage, the King’s change of heart was likely due to the fact that, like Catherine, Anne seemed unable to bear him a son. After giving birth to Elizabeth I in September 1533, she suffered several miscarriages.

Henry began to look elsewhere for a woman to bear him a son – and he found this woman in Jane Seymour. Anne was less able to accept Henry’s infidelities than her predecessor, and reportedly became enraged and jealous when confronted with evidence of her husband’s affairs.

A month after Henry began courting Jane, he ordered Anne to be investigated for high treason and she was sent to the Tower of London.

After being tried on charges of adultery, incest and treason, Anne was found guilty (most likely wrongly) by a jury which included her once fiancee, Henry Percy. The treason charge alludes to alleged plots to kill the King, but also likely the risk to succession that would be created by a Queen having an affair.

Five men were found guilty of adultery. Among them was Anne’s brother, George, hence the charge of incest. All were executed on Tower Hill.

She was beheaded four days later, on 19 May, on Tower Green. In her final speech she did not admit guilt but instead alluded to her innocence and, perhaps to keep her daughter in Henry’s favour, prayed ‘God save the King, and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never.’

3. Jane Seymour

Henry’s love for – or at least infatuation with – Anne may have sparked the Reformation, but Jane is commonly thought to have been his favourite wife. This is most likely because Jane gave him what none of of his other wives could: a son who lived.

Like Anne, Jane had served as a lady-in-waiting to the queen she would replace. They also shared a great-grandmother. As did Henry’s future wife Catherine Howard.

Portrait by Hans Holbein, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Image Credit: Hans Holbein the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Jane was not as highly educated as either of her predecessors. Her peaceful and gentle personality, starkly contrasting with that of her predecessors, reportedly lent itself to peacemaking efforts at court – ironic given the circumstances that surrounded her marriage to Henry.

She married the Tudor King in May 1533, just days after Anne had been beheaded.

Her marriage to Henry was overshadowed by the need to give birth to an heir, with some suggesting that this was a factor in the delay of her coronation.

Jane gave birth to a son in October 1534. He would grow up to be King Edward VI, but she would not live to see this. After developing post-natal complications, she died less than two weeks after his birth, aged 29.

Jane is attributed with reconciling her husband to his first daughter, Mary, during their short marriage. Her connection to her step daughter was such that Mary acted as chief mourner at her funeral.

Jane was the only one of Henry’s wives to be given a queen’s funeral, despite never having had a coronation, and was the wife who Henry chose to be buried with upon his own death in January 1547.

4. Anne of Cleves

Henry’s last three wives are less famous than his first three, a matter not helped by the fact that each shares their name with a predecessor.

Not only this but Henry’s last three marriages were far less dramatic than his first three (though this is certainly relative given that his fifth wife was beheaded). None of these final three marriages resulted in any children.

In the case of Anne of Cleves this last point is hardly surprising given that her marriage with Henry went unconsummated. The King proved far less enamoured with his fourth wife than he had with her predecessors.

Henry married Anne in January 1540, though negotiations for the marriage are believed to have begun shortly after Jane’s death in 1534.

The daughter of the Duke of Cleves and Count of Mark, Anne was considered a politically expedient match by Henry’s advisers. She was only just older than Henry’s oldest child, Mary, and had no formal education.

After marrying Anne in January 1540, Henry had their marriage annulled just six months later, citing its lack of consummation as well as his wife’s previous engagement to another man, Francis, Duke of Barr and later Lorraine. Henry blamed the marriage going unconsummated on Anne’s appearance but this slight didn’t stop the pair later becoming close friends.

Anne’s acceptance of the annulment seemed to win her favour with Henry and she subsequently became an honorary member of his family, known as “the King’s Beloved Sister”. Her generous settlement included Richmond Palace and also the home of Henry’s former in-laws, the Boleyns, Hever Castle.

Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1539. Oil and tempera on parchment mounted on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Like Jane, Anne had a good relationship with Henry’s eldest daughter. In 1553 she accompanied her former step daughter to Whitehall, Mary’s new residence as Queen. Anne also reverted back to her former religion, Roman Catholicism, in line with the new Queen.

Anne died in 1557, outliving all of the other five wives and Henry himself. She is the only one of Henry’s queens to be buried in Westminster Abbey.

The political adviser who arranged the marriage did not fare so well, however; Thomas Cromwell was executed on 28 July 1540, the same day that Henry married his next wife.

5. Catherine Howard

Henry’s marriage to Catherine Howard came close to matching the drama of his earlier partnerships – perhaps unsurprising given that his teenage bride was a first cousin of Anne Boleyn.

Catherine’s life had been turbulent even before Henry came on the scene. As one of the many wards of her father’s stepmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, she began at the age of 13 to be involved in repeated sexual contact with her music teacher, Henry Mannox.

Later, Catherine had become embroiled in an extramarital affair with the Dowager’s secretary Francis Dereham.

After the Dowager Duchess found out, Catherine was sent to court to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves. This position had been secured for her by her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, who saw an opportunity in Henry’s lack of interest in Anne. The King was certainly attracted to Catherine’s youth, looks and vivacity.

The pair were married in 1540. In the spring of the following year, however, Catherine is alleged to have begun an affair with a favoured courtier of Henry’s named Thomas Culpeper. Their meetings were reportedly organised by Jane Boleyn, the widow of Anne Boleyn’s executed brother George.

By autumn, rumours about Catherine’s conduct were abundant and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, learned of her alleged affair with Culpeper, as well as her previous relationship with the Dowager Duchess’s secretary, Dereham.

Cranmer saw this as his chance to reduce the influence of his political rival, the Roman Catholic house of Norfolk. He launched an investigation into Catherine’s alleged affairs and she was detained and questioned in November 1541.

Rather than admitting to the earlier affair and possible precontract with Dereham, which would have allowed for her annulment and banishment, Catherine maintained that the relationship was not consensual.

Charged with high treason, both Culpeper and Dereham were executed in December 1541.

In order to find Catherine guilty of a crime, the Royal Assent by Commission Act 1541 was passed. It became treasonous to fail to disclose premarital sexual relations to the monarch within twenty days of marriage, or to incite a person to engage in adultery as the Queen consort.

Within months, Catherine had gone the same way as her cousin Anne, executed for high treason. On her route by barge to the Tower of London she likely have passed under the impaled heads of her reported lovers, Culpeper and Dereham, on London Bridge.

Catherine was probably about nineteen years old.

Jane Boleyn was also executed and both were buried in unmarked graves at the Tower’s parish chapel alongside Catherine’s cousins, and Jane’s sister-in-law and husband: Anne and George Boleyn.

6. Catherine Parr

Henry’s sixth and final wife – and his third named Catherine – was perhaps his luckiest. She married Henry in July 1543, just four months after Catherine Howard was beheaded, and went on to outlive him – though only by a year.

Catherine Parr had been married twice before, being titled Lady Burgh and then Lady Latimer, and married again around six months after Henry died, making her the most married English queen.

This is not Catherine’s only claim to fame: she was also the first queen of both England and Ireland.

A portrait of Catherine Parr (1512–1548)

Image Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The third Catherine had begun a romantic relationship with Jane Seymour’s brother, Thomas, when she caught the eye of Henry. But she considered it her duty to marry the King instead.

In 1546, Catherine, who held strong Protestant sympathies, faced a plot to get rid of her by anti-Protestant officials.

These officials tried to turn Henry against Catherine and even drew up a warrant for her arrest. But Catherine outwitted them and successfully reconciled with her husband, avoiding the same fate as her unlucky predecessors.

She also differed from her predecessors being 30 years old, and a scholar. She became the first English queen to write and publish a book under her own name in 1545, with Prayers and Meditations.

When Henry died in 1547, he left provisions of £7,000 a year for Catherine to support herself, and for Catherine to be treated as Queen Dowager, still in possession of her courtly clothes, jewels and such.

Catherine’s final husband was her previous interest and the uncle of the new king, Thomas Seymour. Seymour is reported to have also had interests in the future queen, Lady Elizabeth, who lived with the married couple.

This rumour was included in evidence which resulted in Seymour’s execution in 1549 for treason This came after his wife’s death, for in August 1548, Catherine had given birth to her only child and died several days later from suspected childbed fever.

However, under the roof of her former stepmother, Catherine Parr, the teenage Princess Elizabeth was nearly engulfed in a scandal which could have cost her everything.

The Seymour Scandal, as the episode has been dubbed, saw Catherine’s husband, Thomas Seymour, make advances on Elizabeth as part of a wider plot to seize the throne – a potentially deadly mix of sexual intrigue, power and conspiracy.

Princess Elizabeth

Henry VIII died in 1547, leaving the crown to his 9-year-old son, the new King Edward VI. Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, was appointed as Lord Protector, to act as regent until Edward came of age. Unsurprisingly, the position came with a lot of power and not everyone was happy about Somerset’s new role.

Princesses Mary and Elizabeth found themselves somewhat lost after Henry’s death: his will had returned them to the succession, meaning they were Edward’s heirs, now in line for the throne. Mary was a grown woman at the time of Henry’s death and remained fiercely Catholic, whereas Elizabeth was still just a teenager.

Princess Elizabeth as a teenager by William Scrots, c. 1546.

Image Credit: Royal Collections Trust / CC

Within weeks of Henry’s death, his widow, Catherine Parr, remarried. Her new husband was Thomas Seymour: the pair had been in love for years and had planned to marry, but once Catherine had caught Henry’s eye, their marriage plans had to be put on hold.

Catherine’s stepdaughter, Elizabeth Tudor, also lived with the pair at their home, Chelsea Manor. The teenage Elizabeth had gotten on well with her stepmother before Henry VIII’s death, and the two remained close.

Inappropriate relations

After Seymour moved into Chelsea Manor, he began visiting the teenage Elizabeth in her bedroom early in the morning, before either of them were dressed. Elizabeth’s governess, Kat Ashley, raised Seymour’s behaviour – which apparently included tickling and slapping Elizabeth whilst she was still in her nightclothes – as inappropriate.

However, her concerns were met with little action. Catherine, Elizabeth’s stepmother, often joined in with Seymour’s antics – at one point even helping to hold Elizabeth down while Seymour cut her gown to shreds – and ignored Ashley’s concerns, disregarding the actions as harmless fun.

Elizabeth’s feelings on the subject are not recorded: some suggest that Elizabeth did not reject Seymour’s playful advances, but it seems hard to imagine that the orphaned princess would have dared challenge Seymour, the Lord High Admiral and head of the household.

Scandal brewing

At some point in the summer of 1548, a pregnant Catherine reportedly caught Seymour and Elizabeth in a close embrace, and she finally decided to send Elizabeth away to Hertfordshire. Shortly after, Catherine and Seymour moved to Sudeley Castle. Catherine died in childbirth there in September 1548, leaving all her worldly possessions to her husband.

Catherine Parr by an unknown artist, c. 1540s.

Image Credit: Public domain

However, the scandal had already been set in place. The newly widowed Seymour decided that marriage to the 15-year-old Elizabeth would be the best way of furthering his political ambitions, granting him more power at court. Before he could follow through on his plan, he was arrested trying to break into the King’s Apartments at Hampton Court Palace with a loaded pistol. His precise intentions were unclear, but his actions were perceived as seriously threatening.

Seymour was questioned, as were those associated with him in any way – including Elizabeth and her household. Under immense pressure, she denied charges of treason and of all and any romantic or sexual involvement with Seymour. She was eventually exonerated and released without charge. Seymour was found guilty of treason and executed.

A sobering lesson

Whilst Elizabeth was proved to be innocent of any intrigue or plotting, the whole affair proved to be a sobering experience. Despite still only being 15 years old, she was viewed as a potential threat and the Seymour scandal had come dangerously close to tarnishing her reputation and ending her life.

Many consider this to be one of the most formative episodes in Elizabeth’s life. It showed the teenage princess exactly how dangerous a game of love or flirtation could be, and the importance of having a completely untarnished public image – lessons which she would carry with her for the rest of her life.

On 7 September 1533, Henry VIII was preparing to announce the birth of a son – his long-awaited male heir – when a second daughter, Elizabeth, arrived instead. Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn, soon fell out of favour with her husband and the young princess’s life changed forever when the king executed her mother on 19 May 1536.

Living in a world dictated by the whims of her father, Elizabeth could never be too certain of her position –or her life. But despite all this, she rose to become known as one of England’s greatest rulers, a legacy that continues today. Here are 10 facts about this extraordinary monarch.

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1. She was multilingual

Elizabeth was highly educated by numerous governesses and tutors. Alongside calligraphy and music, she also learnt languages and was fluent in English, French, Latin and Italian.

Henry’s final wife, Catherine Parr, took an interest in Elizabeth’s education. Under Catherine’s care, Elizabeth learned the art of public speaking – something that was highly unusual for women at that time. Elizabeth, however, excelled at it and would go on to become known for her captivating and inspiring speeches.

2. She was nearly executed by her half-sister

Following the sudden death of Elizabeth’s younger brother, Edward VI, in 1553, no one was quite certain who would succeed him. Both Elizabeth and her elder sister, Mary, each had supporters for their claim to the throne. After Mary, a strident Catholic, ascended to the throne in July 1553, Protestants continually rebelled.

In 1554, Mary imprisoned Elizabeth for two months following Wyatt’s Rebellion, which sought to overthrow the queen. Elizabeth escaped execution by assuring Mary that she did not know anything about the rebellion. Mary kept her sister under house arrest for nearly a year before recalling her to court in 1555.

3. She was a patron of the arts

A major factor in Elizabeth I’s reign becoming known as England’s “Golden Age” were the major artistic works being produced at that time. Elizabeth enjoyed music and theatre and in 1583 created Queen Elizabeth’s Men – a royal troupe that went on to entertain her court frequently.

Meanwhile, playwrights William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe and composers Thomas Tallis and William Byrd were all entertaining audiences during Elizabeth’s reign.

4. She was concerned with her public image

During her reign, Elizabeth took 25 royal progresses throughout England. This helped to endear the Queen to her people. Elizabeth refused to ride in a carriage during these progresses, and, instead, rode on horseback.

5. She executed her cousin

English Roman Catholics wanted a Catholic monarch on the throne and many rebellions during Elizabeth’s reign were attempts to make the country Catholic again. When support turned to her Catholic cousin Mary, Queen of Scotland, Elizabeth acted to defend her position, imprisoning her rival.

After keeping Mary imprisoned for 19 years, Elizabeth eventually had her cousin executed at Fotheringhay Castle on 8 February 1587.

6. She inspired her men to defeat one of the greatest naval powers of the time

Elizabeth gave a rousing speech at Tilbury in 1588, right before her men set out to meet the Spanish Armada.

I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England, too, and think foul scorn that… any prince of Europe should dare to invade the borders of my realm. … I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.

Following this speech, her men destroyed half of the Spanish Armada.

7. She helped develop the Church of England

Following Henry VIII’s split from the Roman Catholic Church, Elizabeth was raised Protestant and went on to rule as a Protestant queen, also serving as Supremer Governor of the Church of England. During her reign, she introduced a new Book of Common Prayer and had an English translation of the Bible published.

8. She defied parliament and never married

Elizabeth I painted as the Virgin Queen by Steven van der Muelen.

Elizabeth is famously known as the “Virgin Queen”. Yet in 1566, parliament attempted to force her to marry. Elizabeth refused, declaring that she had married her country and had no intention of marrying a man in the future.

The queen was true to her word and never did marry, though rumours circulated about an affair between Elizabeth and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.

9. Sir Walter Raleigh named an American colony after her

During the reign of Elizabeth, European nations sent explorers across the Atlantic Ocean in search of land and riches. In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh reached the shores of North America and named the colony Virginia after his Virgin Queen.

10. She was the last Tudor monarch

Succession problems plagued nearly every Tudor monarch. Choosing to remain unmarried, Elizabeth had no children to succeed her. After her death in 1603, she was succeeded by James VI of Scotland – son of her executed cousin Mary – who began the Stuart dynasty.

Arranging her own match in Henry Percy

Long before she became Queen of England, Anne was involved in a scandal regarding another Tudor noble, Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland. While in their early twenties the pair fell in love, and in 1523 were secretly betrothed. Without the consent of Percy’s father or the king, when the news broke their respective families, along with Cardinal Wolsey, were horrified at the lovers’ plan to arrange their own affairs.

Medallion of Henry Percy (Image Credit: CC)

As was often the case for noble marriages, Anne and Henry Percy were already intended to marry other people, whose wealth and status would further their family’s ambitions and settle necessary political disputes. Percy’s father in particular refused to permit the match, believing Anne unworthy of her son’s high status. Ironically, Henry VIII’s own interest in Anne may also have been a reason they did not wed.

Nevertheless, Percy conceded to his father’s commands and left Anne to marry his intended wife Mary Talbot, with whom he would unfortunately share an unhappy marriage. His continued affections may be seen however, in an anecdote from Anne’s trial in which he stood jury. Upon hearing that she was condemned to die, he collapsed and had to be carried from the room.

French influence

Due to her father’s diplomatic career on the continent, Anne spent much of her childhood in the foreign courts of Europe. Chief of these was at the French court of Queen Claude, in which she cultivated an interest in literature, art, and fashion, and became well-versed in the courtly game of love.

Queen Claude of France with various female relatives. Anne spent 7 years at her court. (Image Credit: Public Domain).

Thus upon her return to England in 1522, she presented herself as the perfect female courtier, and quickly drew attention as a stylish and intriguing young woman. Contemporaries revelled in her fashion-forward appearance, while her iconic “B” necklace still intrigues viewers of her portraiture today. 

Anne was an excellent dancer and singer, could play a number of instruments, and engaged people in witty conversation. In her first court pageant, she dazzled in the role of “Perseverance”, a fitting choice in light of her long courtship with the king. Her bright presence at court is summarised by French diplomat Lancelot de Carle, in which he states that in her ‘behaviour, manners, attire and tongue she excelled them all’.

It is not therefore difficult to imagine how such a woman could attract the attention of Henry VIII.

Marriage to the king

Anne sent shockwaves through the court when it was revealed she was to marry Henry VIII. For a king to keep mistresses was a commonality, for him to raise a woman to queenship was unheard of, particularly when a much-loved queen already sat on the throne.

By refusing to become Henry’s mistress as her discarded sister had been, Anne defied convention, cutting out her own path in history. As England was still under the thumb of the papacy, the process of divorce would not be easy, and took 6 years (and some world-altering events) to undertake.

‘Henry’s Reconciliation with Anne Boleyn’ by George Cruikshank, c.1842 (Image Credit: Public Domain).

In the meantime, Anne gained power and prestige. She was granted the Marquessate of Pembroke, elevating her to a status befitting royalty, and in 1532 accompanied the king on a successful trip to Calais to garner the French king’s support of their marriage.

Not all welcomed this marriage however, and Anne soon amassed enemies, particularly those from Catherine of Aragon’s faction. Catherine herself was furious, refusing to accept the divorce, and in a letter to Henry she damningly referred to Anne as ‘the scandal of Christendom and a disgrace to you’. 

The Reformation

Although little can be known about Anne’s true role in furthering the English Reformation, many have insinuated her as a quiet champion of reform. Likely having been influenced by reformers on the continent, she expressed Lutheran sensibilities and influenced Henry to appoint reforming bishops.

She kept versions of the Bible that were prohibited due to their Lutheran content, and gave aid to others who had fallen out of society because of their religious beliefs. Anne is also said to have alerted Henry’s attention to a heretical pamphlet encouraging monarchs to limit the corrupting power of the papacy, perhaps bolstering his belief in his own power.

Evidence of her forward-thinking may also be found in her personal Book of Hours, in which she had written ‘le temps viendra’ meaning ‘the time will come’ alongside an astrolabe, a key symbol of the Renaissance. It would appear that she was waiting for change.

Personality

As aforementioned, there are many reports of the graceful, enamouring version of Anne Boleyn. However, Anne also had a nasty temper and would not relent to speak her mind. Spanish ambassador Eustace Chapuys once reported that, ‘when the Lady wants something, there is no one who dares contradict her, not even the King himself, because when he does not want to do what she wishes, she behaves like someone in a frenzy.’ 

Similarly, upon seeing Henry gift Jane Seymour a locket holding their portraits, she duly ripped it from her neck so hard that she drew blood. With such a fierce temperament, what once attracted the king to her spirit now became intolerable. Her unwillingness to be humiliated or ignored however sees her break the mould of the meek and submissive wife and mother. This attitude would arguably be instilled in her daughter Elizabeth I, who to this day is a symbol of female autonomy and strength.

Trial and execution

Following the miscarriage of a son in 1536, the king’s patience was wearing thin. Whether constructed by his councillors to destroy Anne’s influence, ruminated by a mind obsessed with a male heir and legacy, or whether the allegations were in fact true, Anne went from queen to executed in the space of 3 weeks.

The charges, now widely understood to be false, included adultery with five different men, incest with her brother, and high treason. Upon her arrest and imprisonment in the Tower, she collapsed, demanding to know the whereabouts of her father and brother. Her father would in fact sit on the jury of the other accused men’s trial, and would by default condemn both her and her brother to die.

‘Anne Boleyn’s Execution’ by Jan Luyken, c.1664-1712 (Image Credit: Public Domain).

She was however, reportedly lighthearted the morning of 19 May, when discussing with constable William Kingston the skill of her specially hired swordsman. Declaring, ‘I heard say the executioner was very good, and I have a little neck’, she wrapped her hands around it with laughter.

Eyewitness accounts from the unprecedented execution state that she held herself with courage, delivering a speech that grew in strength as she went on, bringing the audience to tears. She implored that ‘if any person will meddle of my cause, I desire them to judge the best’, effectively declaring her innocence and moving most historians who do ‘meddle’, to believe her.

During the Elizabethan Era, the nation is considered to have been more prosperous than most of the nations in Europe, with only Spain being a true rival.

But what did England actually achieve under her rule? Here are some key developments that occurred from 1558 to 1603:

1. Becoming Queen of England

It was no easy matter to become queen. Elizabeth was the daughter of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife, and she faced challenges from a very young age.

After Anne’s execution there were several attempts to have Elizabeth removed from the line of succession, although these proved unsuccessful.

The short reign of Edward VI was followed by the brutal ruler-ship of her sister, Mary. Mary’s accession was a problem. She was a devout Catholic and began rolling back the reforms of Henry’s time, burning at the stake several notable Protestants who did not renounce their faith. As the leading protestant claimant, Elizabeth quickly became the focal point of several rebellions.

Sensing the threat Mary imprisoned Elizabeth in the Tower of London. It was perhaps only Mary’s death which spared Elizabeth her life.

2. Economic prosperity

When Elizabeth I took over the throne of England, she inherited a virtually bankrupt state. So she introduced frugal policies to restore fiscal responsibilities.

She cleared the regime of debt by 1574, and 10 years on the Crown enjoyed a surplus of £300,000. Her policies were boosted by trans-Atlantic trade, persistent theft of Spanish treasure and the African slave trade.

The merchant Thomas Gresham founded the Royal Exchange to act as a centre of commerce for the City of London during Elizabeth’s era (she gave it the royal seal). It proved to be hugely important in the economic development of England.

Sir Thomas Gresham by Anthonis Mor, c. 1554. Image credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Credit: Antonis Mor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

3. Relative peace

Elizabeth I is the ninth longest reigning British monarch, and the third longest reigning female monarch after Elizabeth II and Queen Victoria. Having grown up in a country torn down religious lines, Elizabeth understood the importance of maintaining peace and her religious policies were some of the most tolerant of the day.

It was in sharp contrast to the previous and following periods, which were marred by religious battles between Protestants and Catholics and political battles between parliament and the monarchy respectively.

4. Stable, functioning government

Helped by the reforms enacted by Henry VII and Henry VIII, Elizabeth’s government was strong, centralised and effective. Guided by her Privy Council (or innermost advisors), Elizabeth cleared national debts and restored the state to financial stability. Harsh punishments for dissenters (within her relatively tolerant religious settlement) also helped keep law & order.

5. Victory over the Armada

Philip II of Spain, who had been married to Elizabeth’s sister Mary I, was the most powerful Roman Catholic king.

In 1588, the Spanish Armada set sail from Spain with the purpose of assisting an invasion of England to overthrow Elizabeth. On 29 July the English fleet badly damaged the ‘Invincible Armada’ in the Battle of Gravelines.

Five Spanish ships were lost and many were badly damaged. Worse soon followed when a strong south-westerly wind forced the Armada into the North Sea and the fleet was unable to transport the invasion force – gathered by the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands – across the Channel.

The famous speech delivered by Queen Elizabeth to her troops, who were assembled at Tilbury Camp, was hugely influential:

‘I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.’

The successful defence of the Kingdom against invasion on such an unprecedented scale boosted the prestige of England’s Queen Elizabeth I and encouraged a sense of English pride and nationalism.

Defeat of the Spanish Armada by Philip James de Loutherbourg, 1796. Image credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Credit: Philip James de Loutherbourg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

6. (Comparative) religious tolerance

Elizabeth’s father Henry VIII and sister Mary I had seen England torn between Protestantism and Catholicism, causing deep divides and persecution in the name of religion. Queen Elizabeth I wanted to build a stable, peaceful nation with a strong government, free from the influence of foreign powers in matters of the church and the state.

Immediately after becoming Queen, she created the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. The Act of Supremacy of 1558 re-established the Church of England’s independence from Rome and gave her the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

Then in 1559 the Act of Uniformity was passed, which found a middle ground between Catholicism and Protestantism. The Church of England’s modern doctrinal character is largely the result of this settlement, which sought to negotiate a middle ground between the two branches of Christianity.

Later in her reign she exclaimed,

“There is only one Christ, Jesus, one faith, all else is a dispute over trifles.”

She also declared that she had “no desire to make windows into men’s souls”.

Her government only adopted a hard line against Catholics when Catholic extremists threatened this peace. In 1570 the Pope issued a Papal Bull of Excommunication against Elizabeth and actively encouraged plots against her.

The 1570s and 1580s were dangerous decades for Elizabeth; she faced four big Catholic plots against her. All had the aim of getting the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne and returning England to Catholic rule.

This did result in harsher measures against Catholics, but comparative harmony was achieved throughout her reign.

Mary, Queen of Scots. Image credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Credit: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

7. Exploration

Advancements in the practical skills of navigation enabled explorers to thrive during the Elizabethan era, which also opened up profitable global trade routes.

Sir Francis Drake, for example, was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. He was also authorised by Elizabeth to raid Spanish treasure ships in the New World. In 1583 Humphrey Gilbert, a member of parliament and explorer, claimed Newfoundland for Queen Elizabeth I and in August 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh arranged for the first (albeit short-lived) English colony in America at Roanoke.

Without these astonishing feats of exploration, the British Empire would not have expanded as it did in the 17^th century.

8. Flourishing arts

Drama, poetry and art blossomed under Elizabeth’s reign. Playwrights like Christopher Marlowe and Shakespeare, poets like Edmund Spenser and men of science like Francis Bacon all found an expression for their genius, often thanks to the patronage of members of Elizabeth’s court. Elizabeth herself was also a major patron of the arts from the outset of her reign.

Theatre companies were invited to perform at her palaces, which helped their reputations; previously, playhouses had often been castigated or closed down for being ‘immoral’, but the Privy Council prevented the Mayor of London closing the theatres in 1580 by citing Elizabeth’s personal fondness for theatre.

Not only did she support the arts, Elizabeth also often featured. Spenser’s Faerie Queene, for example, contains multiple references to Elizabeth, who appears allegorically as several characters.

One of only two known portraits of William Shakespeare, thought to be by John Taylor. Image credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Credit: John Taylor, National Portrait Gallery

9. Creating the Elizabeth Golden Age

A combination of peace, prosperity, flourishing arts and victories abroad have led many historians to deem Elizabeth’s reign a ‘golden age’ in English history.: a time of expansion, success and economic growth in contrast to those who came directly before and after her.

10. Peaceful transition of power

When Elizabeth eventually died in March 1603, her advisors ensured a peaceful transition of power to her heir, the then King James VI of Scotland. Unlike previous reigns, no protests, plots or coups ensued, and James arrived in London in May 1603, to crowds and celebrations.