Hello, and welcome to Western SIEV Episode two hundred and ninety six, The
Virgin Queen. There was no issue more important throughout the early years of Elizabeth's
reign than whom she would marry. It was assumed she would, but as
we will see today, Elizabeth would quite literally shocked the world when she determined
to remain unmarried throughout her reign, with major repercussions later on. Well,
those repercussions are for a future episode. For now, let's get back to
our story where we left off the coronation. On the morning of her coronation
eve, Queen Elizabeth was wearing a robe made of twenty three yards of cloth
of gold and silver, trimmed with ermine and overlain with gold lace, one
of the four she had ordered for her coronation. On her head, she
had a golden cap ringed with a princess's crown. Outside, light flakes of
snow were drifting down. The sky, as always in London, was a
leaden gray, but the corti airs in the Queen's vast retinue glowed in rich
satins and velvets, glittering with jewels. The magnificent procession formed with over a
thousand mounted dignitary, and Elizabeth walked to her waiting litter, which was lined
with white satin and trimmed with gold. Before climbing in, she prayed aloud,
quote, Oh, Almighty and Everlasting God, I give thee most hearty
thanks that thou hast been so merciful unto me to spare me to behold this
joyful day. Thou hast dealt as wonderful and as mercifully with me as thou
didst with Daniel, whom thou delivered out of the den from the cruelty of
the raging lions. Even so was I overwhelmed, and only by THEE delivered
end quote. It was an apt prayer, by the way, as lions
in the tower menagerie were just then making their presence known by roars and growls.
Having reiterated her conviction that God himself had brought her to the throne,
the queen finally entered his litter and made herself comfortable on eight enormous cushions.
The whole event had been planned as a propaganda ex sized, intended to cement
the harmonious relationship between Elizabeth and her people and Harold the New Age that was
beginning. As the Queen's entourage made its way through the city, she was
met with a variety of specially designed pageants at every turn and stop. Many
of these took almost direct jabs at Queen Mary and her Catholic leanings. London,
after all, was a Protestant bastion. Elizabeth greeted these displays with smiles
and approval. It was clear to all whose side she was on. Throughout
the pageants and processions. It was also clear that Elizabeth was intimately interested in
her subjects. She would converse with those who took part in the pageants afterwards,
and even gasp, listen to their complaints. To many present, this
was being a bit too comfortable for a monarch, but it made the common
people love her evermore. By days end, Elizabeth was exult, lost it
and collapsed into her bed at Westminster, where she slept that night. Elizabeth's
coronation day was January fifteenth, fifteen fifty nine. Her coronation was remarkable,
both for its opulence and the fact that it was the last in England's history
to be conducted in London. All of the major peers of the realm were
present, and everyone was in high spirits. After the ceremonies were all ended,
there was a traditional Lavish banquet at Westminster the next day. Elizabeth remained
in bed, exhausted from the festivities. The scheduled tournament went ahead anyway.
Now that she was firmly established on the throne, Elizabeth turned her attention to
the urgent matters of state that we debated in her first Parliament. Two issues
seemed likely to dominate the session, the controversial always subject of religion, and
the more delicate matter of the Queen's marriage. For most people, it wasn't
a question of whether she would marry, but whom she would marry. Link
to this was of course, the ongoing issue the tutor succession, which had
existed in politicians' minds for four decades now, because it wasn't clear who would
succeed in the event of Elizabeth's early death. On the political front, there
were hopes that a peace would be concluded with France, thereby frustrating those who
wished to support the Dauphenine Mary Stuart dynastic claims and removing the necessity for French
troops to remain in Scotland. Such a peace was rendered all the more necessary
by the news that on the sixteenth of January, Mary and her husband had
begun styling themselves the King and Queen of England. Yet it was also necessary
that England maintained its friendship with Spain in order to safeguard lucrative trading links between
the two powers, and of course, to obtain protection against French ambitions.
It was obvious to the Queen from the first that her sin success in the
field of diplomacy would depend on playing off those two bitter enemies, France and
Spain. Lack of money was a major problem that would have to be addressed.
Elizabeth's annual income was about two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, out of
which she had to finance the needs of court and government and pay off Queen
Mary's debts two hundred and sixty six thousand pounds. Prices arising all the time,
Elizabeth so set herself to live within her means and practiced the most stringent
economy and selling off multiple crown lands. As a result, her annual expenditure
never once exceeded three hundred pounds throughout her entire reign. Elizabeth was finally able
to open Parliament on the twenty fifth of January. Back in Mary's reign,
one of her first acts in Parliament as queen had been to declare herself legitimate.
Elizabeth wondered whether she should do the same. After all, Henry,
her father, had divorced her mother as well, but Elizabeth did not.
She was declared the rightful claimant to the throne in Henry the Eighth's Will,
and so for now she let those sleeping dogs lie. The succession was another
sensitive issue. The Tutors were not a fertile family, and there was a
relative paucity of suitable heirs to replace the Queen should she die childless. The
fifteen forty four Act and Henry the Eighth's Will provided that after Elizabeth, the
crown should pass to the heirs of his younger sister, Mary, Duchess of
Suffolk. Mary had left two daughters, Francis and Eleanor Brandon. The elder
Francis had produced three daughters, one of whom had been the ill fated Lady
Jane Gray. The two other daughters were Lady Catherine and Lady Mary Gray,
aged nineteen and fourteen in fifteen fifty nine. Both were Protestants, but Elizabeth
really disliked them, especially Catherine. It was said, quote the Queen could
not abide the sight of her end quote. She was particularly suspicious of their
dynastic pretensions, and perhaps with cause, for in fifteen fifty nine there were
rumors that King Philip, aware that Lady Catherine Gray had the strongest claim to
the English succession, was plotting to abduct her and make her the wife of
his heir, the insane Don Carlos that we met a few episodes ago.
Catherine was well aware of Elizabeth's dislike, and in March fifteen fifty nine revealed
to the Spanish ambassador that she knew her cousin did not wish her to succeed.
Nor was the Queen much more enamored of Lady Mary Gray, who she
referred to as a hunchback dwarf. Many people frankly shared Elizabeth's antipathy towards the
Gray sisters, and some argued that their father's treason in supporting Northumberland had rendered
their claim to a place in the succession forfeit. Anyway, so none of
this matter. Next in the Suffolk line, after the Gray sisters came Margaret,
the only child of Eleanor Brandon, who was married to Henry Lord Strange,
later Earl of Derby. In Queen Mary's time, some people had viewed
Margaret as a likely successor to the throne, in view of the fact that,
unlike the Gray family, she had not taken part in Northumberland's treacherous coup
back in fifteen fifty three, when he tried to supplant Lady Jane for Queen
Mary. Despite the fact that Margaret had no desire at all to be Queen,
Elizabeth insisted on her coming to court often quote as one very near in
blood to us end quote, but really to keep an eye on her.
Another possible claimant was Henry Hastings, descended from Edward the third. Henry never
once raised his claim, however, he served Elizabeth faithfully his entire life.
Of course, there was another claimant, France and its King, Henry the
Second, believed that Mary Stuart Mary Queen of Scots, was the rightful heir
to the English throne. In reality, however, she had no legitimate claim
to the throne for a number of reasons. Not that that mattered. Of
course, Elizabeth was never going to let that happen. Elizabeth, in fact
hated discussing the succession, which I suppose makes sense given that that would mean
discussing her death. Elizabeth also knew that if she named an heir, all
she was likely doing was appointing the figurehead of her next revolt, and she
Elizabeth would often remark, had enough of those as it was. Of course,
the obvious illusion to all of this was for Elizabeth to marry and have
children. On February fourth, in fact, Parliament drafted a resolution asking the
Queen to marry as soon as possible. The petition reminded Elizabeth that it'd be
better for her and quote her kingdom if she were to take a consort who
might relieve her of those labors which are only fit for men end quote.
When she heard these words, the Queen was plainly astonished at the boldness approaching
such a delicate issue. She heard and recovered herself and responded graciously, saying,
quote in a manner most unpleasing pleasing to me is the apparent goodwill of
you and my people end quote. She then went on to state that she
had decided to stay single, despite being offered marriage by quote end quote,
the most potent of princes. She considered that she already had her kingdom,
who was both her husband and her child. She stated, quote, I
am already bound unto a husband, which is the Kingdom of England. End
quote. She went on to assure her comments that she would do as God
directed her. She had never been inclined toward marriage, but wouldn't rule it
out completely. If she did marry, she would not do anything prejudicial ever
to the commonwealth, and she would choose only a husband who quote would be
as careful for the preservation of the realm as she was herself end quote.
As for the succession, the queen promised that the realm would have an heir.
Yet who that air was she did not specify. If she remained single,
she continued, she was certain quote that God would so direct mine and
your counsels, that ye shall not need to doubt of a successor who may
be more beneficial to the commonwealth than he who may be born of me,
considering that the issue of the best princes many times degenerate end quote. All
of this, she was implying that any son of her body might conspire to
overthrow her a mere woman, a thing which probably few among her patriarchal advisors.
Would even lift a finger to prevent. At best, frankly, pressure
might be put upon her to abdicate in favor of any son. Concluding,
then, she declared, quote in the end, this shall be for me
sufficient that a marble stone shall declare that a queen, having reigned such a
time, lived and died a virgin quote. And thus it was from this
statement that was born the legend of the Virgin Queen, upon which Elizabeth would
capitalize to full advantage, and which would achieve essentially cult status in the years
to come. Six days later, a copy of Elizabeth's response was read to
Parliament. The Commons was aghast. If Elizabeth did not Mary, then there
would be no answer to the succession issue, and if that were the case,
then the tenuous religious compromise might be undone. If Elizabeth wanted to protect
her Protestant subjects, William Cecil told her that she needed to marry. Cecil,
in fact, remained wary of the idea of a woman ruling the kingdom.
He believed she should marry and start having children. That was proper.
Her husband could rule in her name as was natural. But to a large
extent, Elizabeth was just being careful she had witnessed the major headaches Mary's marriage
to Philip had brought. There were political advantages to staying single. Sure,
a foreign prince might protect England, but he might also view England as a
mere satellite, as a means to pay for continental wars, or as a
pawn in a game against a larger opponent. Regardless of the reason, Elizabeth
assumed, probably rightly, that any husband would see her and her kingdom as
second tier entities and spend much of his time elsewhere. What she wondered would
be the point of that. Of course, she could marry an Englishman,
but that avenue had pitfalls of its own. Marrying someone from court would buy
necessity, elevate that man's family. Factions would form, as they had throughout
the later years of Henry the Eighth's reign. If those factions grew in power,
it might be right back to the Wars of the Roses. And if
everyone could agree on at least one thing, it was that no one wanted
to go back to the Wars of the Roses. But most of all,
Elizabeth didn't want to lose her freedom. Keep in mind that Elizabeth had just
finally gained her autonomy after living in forced seclusion for years, she didn't want
to go back to the shadows. Elizabeth was highly intelligent. Wives were supposed
to be obedient and subservient to their husbands, Yet Elizabeth was also supposed to
be the queen of her kingdom, and that wouldn't be an easy dance to
pull off. Philip had been frustrated when Mary did not follow his advice.
The whole situation seemed to guarantee either a total loss of autonomy for Elizabeth or
a guarantee of marital strife the queen wanted neither. Writers have endlessly speculated that
there was a more fundamental reason for Elizabeth's hesitation to marriage. Robert Dudley later
told a French ambassador that from the age of eight, the queen had declared
that she would never marry. She had been eight when Henry the Eighth's fifth
wife, Catherine Howard, had been executed for adultery, and this may have
awakened a painful awareness of how her father had similarly killed her mother. When
she was fifteen, the man who had probably been her i'll say first least
love interest or maybe lust interest, Admiral Seymour, had gone to the chopping
block. It's possible that these events so traumatized her that she could only equate
marriage and even courtship with death. She herself told the Scott's Envoy in fifteen
sixty one that certain events in her youth made it impossible for her to regard
marriage with anything like security. She blamed this on the marital problems of her
father and her sisters. She wrote, quote, some say that this marriage
was unlawful, that one was a bastard, and some other to and fro
as they favored or misliked. So many doubts of marriage was in all hands
that I am in awe of myself to enter into marriage fearing the controversy end
quote. In addition to this, of course, the tragic experience of her
sister Mary, and the unhappy example of many marriages amongst the various peers of
England cannot have failed to deter the Queen. This was an age of arranged
marriages, and many well born persons suffered in incompatible unions. Some, such
as the Earls of Worcester, Derby and Shrewsbury, even separated from their wives.
In each case, Elizabeth was acted as an unofficial marriage guidance counselor insisting
without success on reconciliation. Fear of childbirth might also have played a role.
Two of Elizabeth's stepmothers, Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr, died as a result
of childbirth. Time and time again, Elizabeth would flirt with the idea of
marriage, only to back away, often at the last minute. It has
been argued that Elizabeth's aversion to marriage was that she couldn't medically bear children,
but there's no direct evidence to support that contention. Elizabeth was consistently flirtatious with
the men of her court throughout her reign. Rumors consistently flew around the Queen
that she had numerous lovers. Some even suggested that she had secret children hidden
away in different locations. There's no credible evidence to support these assertions. Even
the most foreign ambassadors, the most opposed to Elizabeth, did not believe the
Slanders. The Queen's much vaunted virginity was a matter not of personal choice but
of state policy, and in many ways it cost her, condemning her to
a lifetime of lonely isolation, emotional deprivation, and enforced chastity. She did
indeed make a virtue of what she sought to be a necessity, and sometimes
the strain showed on her. She may have teased her lovers and allowed them
certain liberties, but never more than that. It may be that the sex
act itself to frighten her in some way, that she was psychologically unable to
part anticipate. But even if this were true, it didn't alter the fact
that she felt more invincible being this persona, this idea, this virgin queen.
To remain invincible, she must not only bear the name, but also
play the part with conviction. And that meant illicit sexual intercourse was always strictly
forbidden, whatever her private feelings might have been about it. Many people believed,
and some still do, that because Elizabeth loved courtship and flirtation, she
was in some way immoral, But in fact she was hardly ever alone.
In fact, she herself would later write, quote I am always surrounded by
my ladies at the bedchamber and maids of honor end quote who slept in her
bedroom with her. Furthermore, she would write, quote, my life is
in the open, and I have so many witnesses. I cannot understand how
so bad a judgment can be formed of me. End quote. Now hardly
anyone took Elizabeth at her word when she expressed her wish to say single.
Both Parliament and the Council would behave as if the only choice of husband was
an issue, and foreign ambassadors would press the suits of various masters with good
hopes of success. Elizabeth always played along with the game. She loved nothing
more than masculine attention and flattery, and she did revel in the ritual of
courtship at least in fact, so well did she play her part that most
people were deceived into thinking that she had in fact changed her mind about remaining
celibate, and that it was only a matter of time and a matter of
choice. This view was given credence by Elizabeth's fondness for discussing her possible nuptials
or declaring that quote. She was but human and not insensible to human emotions,
and when it became a question of the well being of her kingdom,
or might be for other reasons, her heart might change end quote. Prove
advantageous for her to have European princes competing for her hand in England's friendship at
a time when the country was weak and impoverished well, they believed that they
stood a chance of marrying her, they were unlikely to stir up trouble.
In late February, the Spanish ambassador finally put Philip's marriage proposal before the Queen.
She politely declined then and there. He responded by saying that would result
in Mary, Queen of Scott's, inevitably seizing the throne. At some point.
This assertion caused Elizabeth to fly into a rage, so much so that
when she was done, she collapsed into a chair and told the ambassador she'd
need to think about it. She told him the next day that she was
inclined to accept, but needed to consult Parliament. Cecil was appalled, as
Elizabeth no doubt knew he would be. Parliament did not want Philip part two.
They hadn't wanted him the first time around. Elizabeth certainly knew that.
As we will see, Elizabeth was very skilled at giving responses that would in
the moment make the person she was conversing with optimistic, even though she knew
in the long run all she had really done was reject their request. Of
course, the other major issue facing Elizabeth upon her ascension was religion. England
had now vacillated wildly between the Catholic and Evangelical faiths. Elizabeth would prove much
more moderate. She had been taught by Protestant tutors, but she also loved
the pageantry of the old faith. Famously, she once summed up her views
on religion as follows. Quote, there is only one Jesus Christ. The
rest is all a dispute over trifles. Quote Catherine de Medici will say much
the same thing. Elizabeth was not Mary. She was no fanatic. In
fact, she despised extremists on both sides of the isle, Protestant and Catholic.
For her, the arguments of theologians and the divines were quote as ropes
of sand or sea slime leading to the moon. End quote. She told
Parliament in fifteen ninety I see many over bold, with the God Almighty making
too many subtle scannings of his blessings will, as lawyers do with human testaments.
If I were not certain that mine were the true way to God's will,
God forbid that I should live to prescribe it to you. End quote.
Early in her reign, she confided in several ambassadors that she just differed
very little from Catholics in her beliefs. She believed in the sacrament and only
dissented in a couple of things in the Mass. But we might want to
discount this because she said it at a time when she needed spain support.
She was quite capable of criticizing the Old Faith. In fifteen seventy seven,
she referred to it in a letter to German Protestants as quote the darkness and
filth of popery end quote. When she learned that King Philip was persecuting Protestants
in the Netherlands, she wrote to ask him why he cared so much what
they believed, And even later in her reign, she refused to allow Sir
Walter Raleigh's alleged atheism to be investigated. Because of all this, some accused
her of being an atheist herself. Yet she read the Bible regularly, keeping
faith in her own and very private way. She believed very much in the
strong hand of Providence. When England was threatened by Spain in the fifteen eighties,
she famously said that God has not yet decided that England shall cease to
stand. More than anything, Elizabeth hated many aspects of official religion, especially
the sermons. If a preacher went on for too long, it was not
unusual at all for her to shout at him to be quiet. There were
practical reasons, too, for her to dislike these sermons. They often serves
as subtle means for men to criticize her. This was especially true of the
radical Protestant group that would later be known as the Puritans. She consistently irritated
them by supporting the arts throughout her reign, even going so far as to
form her own company of actors known as the Queen's Men. Lucky for us,
though this was, after all, the age of Shakespeare. Elizabeth despised
clergy who married, and would often simply refuse to acknowledge their wives in public.
Now, Queen Mary had repealed Henry the Eighth's Act of Supremacy, and
when Elizabeth succeeded to the thrown, England was still technically a Catholic kingdom under
the jurisdiction of the Pope. However, most people expected the royal supremacy to
be restored by Parliament, just as some kind of Protestant religious settlement was anticipated.
Since her ascension, Elizabeth had given only hints as to her intentions regarding
the crucial issue of religion. But those hints had led people to believe that
England would once again become independent of the Catholic Church. As far as Elizabeth
was concerned, there could be only one head of the Church in England,
and that was the monarch. She believed she had been called on by the
deity to bring about quote the according and unity of these people of the Realm
into a uniform order of religion, to the honor and glory of God,
the establishing of the Church, and the tranquility of the Realm end quote.
One of her chief concerns was that public worship should be conducted in the correct
form in English, and she was to insist, much to the discos of
her stricter Protestant subjects, upon retaining some forms of Catholic ritual. She kept
candles as well as crucifixes in her private chapel, and insisted that her clergy
wear caps, capes and surpluses. She nevertheless abandoned the more elaborate ceremonies that
smacked of Rome, such as a belief in miracles, indulgences, and the
veneration of the Virgin Mary. In fact, she losed the scent of incense
in churches, but the peeria tends all the same still found much to complain
about. They kind of have a tendency to do that no matter what.
Elizabeth encouraged the worship of Saint George, though mostly to encourage nationalistic sentiments.
Though Catholics were viciously persecuted throughout her reign, Elizabeth held no personal animosity toward
them. She had a few Catholics in her household. In fact, all
these persecutions, they were political in nature, not religious. The priests who
were executed were put to death, as we will see, because of treason's
behavior, not because of what they've believed. So long as you accepted her
as the rightful Queen of England, Elizabeth was content to let you be.
In the end, she wanted loyalty and outward conformity. That was all.
On February the ninth, fifteen fifty nine, Parliament finally moved forward on the
religion issue. The first goal was to restore royal supremacy, but the first
bill was hopelessly flawed and it failed miserably. Then on February sixteenth, the
Pope in Rome declared non Catholic rulers might be lawfully deposed by their Catholic subjects
or by other Catholic rulers. This only raised further fears of a French sponsored
invasion with the aim of placing Mary, Queen of Scots, on the throne.
Elizabeth wanted a middle road. England would be Protestant, but it would
not be Puritan. The byword of her reign would be compromise. Now the
sticking point at first was all semantics. Some members of Parliament did not feel
that a woman could be the supreme head of the English Church, so with
Elizabeth's approval, they changed the name to Supreme Governor, and so it was.
On March the eighteenth, Parliament passed a new Bill of Supremacy declaring Elizabeth
Supreme Governor. The following week, Elizabeth restored the Book of Common Prayer that
had been used under Edward. Of course, throughout the early parts of fifteen
fifty nine, various ambassadors continued to press Elizabeth on the question of her marriage.
The Holy Roman Emperor sent ambassadors to see if she might wed one of
her sons, But on March fourteenth, when the Religious settlement plus a peace
treaty with France seemed all but done. She finally summoned Philip's ambassador. She
told him firmly that the answer was no, Well, she would not marry
Philip. She gave two reasons. One she felt that Philip was a heretic.
Two she didn't want to. The ambassador subsequently reported the news back to
his master, who was doubtless relieved. Spain, too, was moving toward
peace with France. In fact, just weeks later, Philip announced his marriage
to one of Henry the Second's daughters. Philip, though for now, did
not give up on the goal of bringing Elizabeth and hence England back into the
Catholic fold. He began casting about for various habsburgs that might fit the bill.
Evidently, Philip had not been listening closely when Elizabeth said there were two
reasons she didn't want to get married, one of them that she didn't want
to. Early in April, England and France signed the peace treaty I just
alluded to. The terms were quite simple. Calai was to remain in French
hands for eight years. After that, all bets were off. Throughout her
reign. Elizabeth was confident she could regain England's last territorial possession on the continent.
It was her only real delusion. France and Spain signed a separate treaty,
and for a moment at least the major European powers were at peace.
Elizabeth now felt more secure and more able to proclaim England's position in Europe as
a Protestant nation. Over the Easter holidays, the Queen thrashed out the new
settlement with her lords, both spiritual and temporal, and in the end managed
to reach a compromise with the more pre Britanical reformers. Elizabeth was to have
the title Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and an act of uniformity
was to restore by law Edward's Book of Common Prayer of fifteen fifty two.
The Mass was outlawed and all services were to be in English. Transubstantiation was
denied. Anglican communicants were instead instructed to feed on Jesus Christ in their hearts
with faith, church ornaments. Investments were subject to the Queen's own discretion.
Every subject over sixteen was to be required to attend church on Sundays or be
fined twelve pence for non attendance. These fines would of course be paid mainly
by Catholic recusants, who were not otherwise molested in practice. In a few
years some were subject to petty harassment for attending or celebrating mass. Elizabeth took
time away from these negotiations and on the twenty third of April took a boat
and rowed up and down the River Thames. Hundreds of boats and barges were
rowing about her, and thousands of people were thronging at the waterside to look
upon her majesty. For the trumpets, blue drums, beat, flutes played,
guns were discharged, and squibs hurled up into the air as the Queen
moved from place to place, and thus continued until ten o'clock at night,
when the Queen departed at home. By these means, showing herself so freely
and condescendingly onto her people, she made herself dear and acceptable to them end
quote. The Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity were passed in Parliament on April twenty
ninth, fifteen fifty nine. On the eighth of May, Elizabeth approved them,
making Protestantism the official religion of the state, and establishing a form of
worship that in essence, is still in practice in England today. Of course,
both Catholics and Calvinists wanted the reforms to go further, albeit in different
directions, but the vast majority of Elizabeth's subjects applauded this compromise. Now England
just needed a spiritual leader, you see, the position of Archbishop of Canterbury
had been vacant since the death of Stephen Gardner at the end of Mary's reign.
Elizabeth wanted to offer the job to Matthew Parker, who had been her
mother Anne Milynn's personal chaplain. He didn't want it, and it took him
five months, but eventually he succumbed to the pressure and accepted. While all
this was going on, Imperial diplomats continued to press the idea of marriage into
the Habsburg family. The Emperor now intended to marry his son Charles to Elizabeth,
but the plan was flawed from the start. The Emperor assumed that Elizabeth
would convert to Catholicism after the marriage, while the English negotiators assumed Charles would
convert to Protestantism. Clearly, the two sides were not seeing eye to eye.
It only got worse from there. The Imperial Master went ahead with a
marriage proposal directly to Elizabeth. Anyway, she demurred, indicating that she did
not intend to marry, But she replied she might consider Charles if he personally
came to England to meet her. To us, that probably makes sense.
It sounds like no thing at all out of the ordinary. But in the
sixteenth century that kind of request was a non starter, and Elizabeth knew it.
The Emperor would never risk the humiliation that his son might go and then
be rejected. Moreover, Charles himself had no interest in going to England unless
the marriage was a done deal. Meanwhile, two English candidates had by that
May emerged as potential suitors. One was the forty seven year old Henry Fitzalan.
Elizabeth remembers twenty five. He is described as follows quote a flighty man
of no ability, rather silly and loudish end quote. Ouch. Elizabeth did
not take his courtship seriously. The other was the forty two year old William
Pickering, a former ambassador who just returned from abroad. He had been Elizabeth's
friend and confidant since Mary's reign. He was the most popular choice amongst those
in the Privy Council. Indeed, at this point he seemed like the only
serious choice. Elizabeth never seriously considered him, though in fact, that spring,
unbeknownst to everyone, at least at first, a third potential suitor had
emerged. He was the most serious contender of all, and probably the only
man Elizabeth ever loved. His name was Robert Dudley.