Why did Queen Elizabeth I never get married?

Elizabeth I was known as the Virgin Queen.

(PLVN) – Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), an outstanding queen of the Tudors dynasty of England. During her reign (1558-1603), England reached its peak. Accordingly, England established a state religion, stable domestic politics, developed economy, gained hegemony at sea, and developed power in the East. The Queen created diplomatic and political miracles, but why did she never marry?

The Queen is famous for her beauty and power.   

Elizabeth I was born on September 7, 1533 at Greenwich Palace, the daughter of King Henry VIII of England, and her mother was Anne Borlin, a former court lady. This marriage was not recognized by the Catholic Church. Henry VIII had been married to Borlin for only 3 months when Elizabeth was born, so Elizabeth was considered an illegitimate child.

According to the rules of the Catholic Church, Elizabeth could not become a Catholic. When Elizabeth was 2 years old, her mother was sentenced to death by Henry for not giving birth to a prince. Elizabeth was orphaned from a young age, but she was very intelligent. Living in the royal court, she was well educated, studious, widely read, and knowledgeable. She was said to be fluent in many foreign languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, and French. 

In 1553, Elizabeth’s half-sister Mary ascended the throne as Queen of England, known as Mary I. A fervent Catholic, Mary I was very dissatisfied with the religious reform of King Henry VIII. Upon her accession, she restored Catholicism and brutally suppressed Protestants.

Reconstructed photo of Queen Elizabeth I as a young woman 

At that time, people called her Bloody Mary. Already hating Elizabeth, Queen Mary suspected her of participating in the Protestant movement and tried to lock her in the Tower of London. In 1558, Queen Mary I died, because she had no children, the new bourgeoisie emerged, the new nobility, and the English Protestants supported Elizabeth to become queen. At that time, she had just turned 25. 

Political Intrigues

When she ascended the throne, Elizabeth was still unaware of the power she had. With a slender, gentle figure, an oval face, sparkling eyes, and a polite and gentle speech. Because of those lovely features, and being at her most beautiful age, Elizabeth I was the object of European princes’ pursuit and infatuation. The courtiers also asked her to marry quickly. But Elizabeth remained indifferent to all of them. 

Elizabeth thought that her marriage was tied to political factors. The struggle for European hegemony at that time was between Spain and France. Avoiding an alliance with one of these great powers was in England’s interests. Therefore, Elizabeth thought carefully to balance between the great powers, taking advantage of the contradictions, weakening the two most powerful powers to find the growth and development of England at that time.

Elizabeth’s first suitor was her brother-in-law Philip II, king of Spain. Philip II had long been in love with Elizabeth. During her imprisonment, he had paid her special attention. But Spain was a Catholic country that was somewhat stubborn and conservative, even stagnant, so Elizabeth thought that marrying Philip II would endanger England.

As an illegitimate child, she had just ascended the throne, and the legal status of the Queen of England had not yet been established. Meanwhile, Spain had an important position at that time, especially with its vast colonial system throughout the Americas thanks to its expeditions. 

The most beautiful, powerful and brilliant woman in England never married in her entire life.  

Elizabeth was clearly pleased with Philip II’s proposal, but she knew that Philip was a powerful figure and that England had to win his heart. Elizabeth believed that marrying him would displease the Protestants and the new bourgeoisie and nobility. In addition, Elizabeth also believed that marrying into an alliance with Spain and opposing France was not in England’s interests.

Thinking is doing, Elizabeth used the excuse of converting to Catholicism to refuse Philip II’s marriage proposal. Later, Elizabeth often used her marriage to sway the major countries in Europe, seeking benefits for her England. Solely holding the number 1 position at sea, England under Elizabeth not only consolidated the economy but also had a military consciousness, intending to strengthen the construction of the Navy and Army. Building an army requires a lot of money.

Thanks to fiscal tightening, England had plenty of money to rebuild its army. Queen Elizabeth inherited the technical progress, fully accepted Drake’s experience in building an army and new tactics of fighting at sea, allowing the British Royal Navy to quickly develop into a naval force that could rival the Spanish Navy.

Queen Elizabeth accepted Drake’s strategic view that “offense is the best form of defense”, and approved Drake to command a fleet of ships, first go to the port of Spain, find each part of the enemy fleet, use all his ability to damage the enemy ships, and prevent each part of the fleet from reaching Lisbon to assemble.

Due to constant harassment by small warships, many Spanish fleets fell into a state of fatigue because they could not pursue. On July 19, 1588, the “invincible fleet” consisting of 130 Spanish warships, transporting 23,000 soldiers and 2,500 large cannons, prepared for the battle to determine the number 1 position at sea.

In preparation for war, the British side imprisoned Catholics, rebellious nobles, and threw rioters into prisons; assembled militia, trained in weapons, and resisted the enemy on land; collected taxes to build large ships to increase the cost of the ships; and mobilized the fleet and appointed commanders. When the invincible fleet entered the English Channel, Queen Elizabeth put aside everything to think about peace, bringing the people’s enthusiastic resistance to the necessary height.

The Queen arrived at the battlefield, she loudly said to the soldiers: “God bless you!” At this time, the soldiers all knelt down to pray. The Queen rode in a beautiful carriage, holding a short stick in her hand, inspecting the troops, she spoke to the soldiers, using skillful words to stir people’s hearts: “My beloved subjects, I have not come here to rest and sightsee, because now is the central stage and climax of the campaign.

I have devoted my most important strength to protecting the loyalty of my subjects and the good will of my cause, so I come to you.” Hearing the Queen’s encouraging speech, the soldiers’ emotions rose even higher, and their courage increased manifold. On July 21, the two sides met at the Inquili Strait and launched successive attacks on the Spanish fleet, which was defeated and forced to leave White Island.

On the 27th, the Spanish fleet arrived at the Strait of Dover and anchored on the Galais Sea. Following the east of the English Channel, the English ships entered first and attacked the Spanish warships several times. Although there were casualties, they were not significant.

On the evening of the 28th, the British sent eight ships carrying artillery to break into the port of Galais, where the invincible fleet was docked, causing the invincible fleet to fall into chaos. Early the next morning, the British ships took advantage of the victory to pursue and launch a fierce battle. In the end, the excellent skills of the sailors and the powerful accuracy of the artillery severely damaged the invincible fleet, causing Spain’s dream of meeting with the Parma fleet to go up in smoke.

On the way back, the Spanish fleet encountered a great storm, causing the loss of more than half of its ships and two-thirds of its soldiers. Therefore, England became the winner. The English navy defeated the invincible Spanish fleet, creating a huge impact on the history of modern European civilization and world history. In England, the dominant position of Protestantism was further consolidated, and the weakening of the Spanish military led to the success of the Dutch Revolution, establishing the Interprovincial Republic (ie the Netherlands).

Therefore, England replaced Spain as the hegemon of the sea. Merchants continuously crossed the great seas, discovered new trade routes, opened up markets and colonies. They were in the far East, established the East India Company, and made England rapidly develop its sea trade, creating great achievements.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Walter Rolli, an explorer in the North American continent, opened up new colonial areas, and each new place he opened up was immediately called “Virginia”. The reason for calling it “Virginia” is based on the meaning of “the land of the virgin”, which is to commemorate Elizabeth “the Virgin Queen”. To this day, the state of Virginia still exists in the United States, which is a testament to this memory. However, after this sea war, the war between England and Spain has not ended, with the sea and land areas as the center, the two sides continue to fight, but the sea war helped England to reach a prosperous beginning, thereby opening the stage for the latest era of the British Empire.