Elizabeth I was the Queen of England and Ireland, and is one of the main protagonists in The Queen's Lover and features in several of the Tudor series of novels. Elizabeth is the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn and is born during the events of The Other Boleyn girl. After the death of her mother she is reduced to the rank of a royal bastard and is known as Lady Elizabeth. Henry VIII's subsequent wives make attempts to reconcile Henry with his daughter, most notably Catherine Parr who becomes very close to Elizabeth and takes her into her household. When Mary I takes the throne people begin to look to Elizabeth as Protestant alternative to Mary and her position as heir presumptive endangers Elizabeth's life on more than one occasion. Elizabeth survives the ruthless court intrigues and after Mary's death Elizabeth succeeds her to be crown as Elizabeth I. Elizabeth would go on to have have one of the longest and most successful reigns of a British Monarch with her reign being refereed to as England's "Golden Age".
Physical Appearance[]
In her late teens, Elizabeth was already taller than her older sister, Mary, and was beautiful in a confident and imposing way that made her shine: her flaming red hair was described as a "great mane" that she often wore loose so that it flowed around her shoulders, and she dressed in a simple yet elegant manner that emphasised her grace and dignity. As she matured and grew increasingly confident of her ascension to the throne, she became "a radiant sparkling beauty" whose very presence, copper hair, and pale skin seemed to shine, and her black-brown eyes would dance at someone's laughter at her jesting.
Even in her thirties, Elizabeth was revealed to have retained her beauty, though it had been marked by time and experience: her colour was steady due to her having developed the inability to be surprised, her russet hair had faded with age, her dark eyes had become hard, and there was something in her face that revealed her to be "a woman who has known some passion but no kindness".
Trivia[]
- Elizabeth's rise and fall in fortunes are similar to those of her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth of York - both were born Princesses, beloved by their respective fathers whom they adored. Both were later declared illegitimate, though given the courtesy title of Lady Elizabeth. Last but not least, despite all the obstacles they encountered, both ultimately became Queens of England.
- Elizabeth is a descendant of Melusina the Water Goddess, and therefore may have inherited the ability to cast magic - during the battles between England and the Spanish Armada, the Spanish ships were sunk by a storm, and though it was never confirmed by Gregory, it could serve as possible evidence that Elizabeth had inherited supernatural powers from her divine ancestress, for her paternal great-grandmother, Elizabeth Woodville, could also summon storms to thwart her enemies.
- Though Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn, was accused of seducing Henry through witchcraft, it was, ironically, Henry's maternal grandmother and her family who were practitioners of true magic.
- Despite being known as "The Virgin Queen", Elizabeth was shown in the novels to have taken lovers: Thomas Seymour and Robert Dudley.