Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth was the second child of Henry VIII of England, by his second wife, Anne Boleyn. The couple were secretly married sometime between the winter of 1532 and late January of 1533. In later life Elizabeth reported to the Venetian ambassador that she had been told it was the earlier date, possibly in November.[2] Elizabeth was born in the Palace of Placentia(as in the pic below) in Greenwich, on 7 September 1533. She was named for her paternal grandmother Elizabeth of York. Upon her birth, Elizabeth was the heiress presumptive to the throne of England despite having an older half-sister, Mary; Mary was not considered by Henry VIII to be a legitimate heir because Henry annulled his marriage to her mother, the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon. Although the popular rumour would have it that Mary disliked her younger half-sister, in fact they appear to have been fond of one another. However their relationship suffered when the two women were placed in opposite camps by religion and politics.
Henry(as in the pic below) required a legitimate son in order to continue the Tudor succession (he had an acknowledged illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, by Elizabeth Blount, but the boy, who lived 1519–1536, was ineligible to succeed due to his bastardy), but following Elizabeth's birth, Queen Anne was unable to provide such an heir, and instead suffered at least two miscarriages, one in 1534 and another at the beginning of 1536. The latter miscarriage was swiftly followed by the downfall of the Queen, who was arrested on 2 May 1536, imprisoned, and executed (beheaded) on 19 May 1536 after being convicted of treason; incest with her younger brother, George Boleyn; and witchcraft. Historians debate the exact reason why Anne fell from power, but it is generally agreed that she was innocent of the charges against her, and that her death was orchestrated by her political rivals.
Elizabeth, nearly three years old when her mother died, was declared illegitimate and lost the title of princess. She also lost the money and gifts her mother had routinely showered upon her. After Anne's death, she was addressed as the Lady Elizabeth and lived separately from her father as he married his succession of four more wives. In 1537, her father's third wife, Jane Seymour, gave birth to a son, Prince Edward(as in the pic aside), who became the heir apparent to the throne.

The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul, a manuscript translation from the French by Elizabeth at age 11, presented to Catherine Parr in 1544. The embroidered binding with the monogram KP for "Katherin Parr" is believed to have been worked by Elizabeth.
Elizabeth's first governess was Lady Margaret Bryan, a baroness whom Elizabeth called "Muggie". At the age of four, Elizabeth acquired a new governess, Catherine Champernowne(as in the pic aside) (later Lady Catherine Ashley), whom she often referred to as "Kat". Champernowne developed a close relationship with Elizabeth and remained her confidante and good friend for life. Matthew Parker, her mother's favourite priest, took a special interest in Elizabeth's well-being, particularly because a fearful Anne had entrusted her daughter's spiritual welfare to Parker before her death. Parker later became Elizabeth's first Archbishop of Canterbury after she became queen in 1558. One companion, to whom she referred with affection throughout her life, was her cousin, the Irishman Thomas Butler, later 3rd Earl of Ormonde (d. 1615).
Elizabeth was resourceful, determined, and exceedingly intelligent. She loved learning for its own sake. Like her mother and father, she was flirtatious and charismatic. She also inherited their sharp tongues and fiery tempers.
Henry VIII died in 1547 and was succeeded by Edward VI. Catherine Parr, Henry's last wife, married Thomas Seymour(as in the pic aside), 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, Edward VI's uncle, and took Elizabeth into her household. There, Elizabeth received her education under Roger Ascham. She came to speak and read six languages: her native English, as well as French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, and Latin. Elizabeth was an avid reader and often spent hours reading Greek or Latin literature. Under the influence of Catherine Parr and Ascham, Elizabeth was raised as a Protestant.
Elizabeth did not live with her step-mother for long. At Whitsun in May 1548, she was sent to Cheshunt, the home of Sir Anthony Denny(as in the pic below), by the then-pregnant Catherine, who had become concerned about the closeness between Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour, and the behaviour of the two: Seymour's behaviour was by the standards of the time thoroughly inappropriate (on one occasion he and Catherine had cut a gown Elizabeth was wearing to pieces; on another, he entered her room when she was still in her nightclothes), and rumours claimed that Seymour had seduced his young charge, or that he had intended to marry her. Elizabeth never saw her step-mother again, although they exchanged cordial letters before the death of the latter; Catherine died of puerperal fever after childbirth on 5 September 1548. Elizabeth was then moved to the royal manor at Hatfield.
Elizabeth became implicated in Thomas Seymour's schemes to seize control of England in March 1549; when Thomas was arrested for attempting to kidnap the King, and for plotting a coup against the Lord Protector, it was suggested that she had been a party in this matter, and that she had encouraged him in his apparent ambitions to marry her. Elizabeth, though questioned by Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, was accepted as being innocent, and was not charged. Seymour, less fortunate, was convicted and executed. Later legend claimed that when Elizabeth heard of his execution, she commented, "Today died a man with much wit and not much judgment"; in fact, the story appears to be untrue.

Queen Mary I(as in the pic aside) imprisoned her half-sister, the Princess Elizabeth, in the Tower of London for suspected treason and collaboration with the traitor Thomas Wyatt
As long as Edward VI, her half-brother, remained on the throne, Elizabeth's own position remained secure. In 1553, however, Edward died of tuberculosis and assorted other ailments, aged only fifteen. He left a will, in which he attempted to nullify his father's wishes for the succession: disregarding the Act of Succession 1543, the new document excluded both Mary and Elizabeth from succeeding to the throne and declared Lady Jane Grey, granddaughter of Mary, Duchess of Suffolk (Henry VIII's sister) to be heiress. This change was part of a plan hastily thought up by the regent, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, who was determined to maintain his power and his reforms, and who had been surprised by Edward's sudden decline; with the connivance of Lady Jane's family, the Greys, Dudley married the heiress to his youngest son, Guilford Dudley. After Edward's death, Lady Jane ascended the throne, but was deposed less than two weeks later. Armed with popular support, Mary rode triumphantly into London, her half-sister Elizabeth at her side.
Mary Tudor contracted a marriage with Prince Philip of Spain (later King Philip II(as in the pic aside)), seeking to strengthen the Catholic influence in England. Wyatt's Rebellion in 1554 sought to prevent Mary from marrying Philip, and after its failure, Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower of London for her alleged involvement. There were demands for Elizabeth's execution, but few Englishmen wished to put a member of the popular House of Tudor to death. The Lord Chancellor Stephen Gardiner wanted to remove Elizabeth from the line of succession, but neither Mary nor Parliament would allow it. After two months in the Tower, Elizabeth was released on the same day her mother had been executed eighteen years earlier. She was then put under house arrest under the guard of Sir Henry Bedingfield.
Following a moderate start to her reign, the Roman Catholic Mary opted for a hard line against Protestants, whom she regarded as heretics and a threat to her authority. In the ensuing persecution she came to be known as "Bloody Mary". She urged Elizabeth to convert to the Roman Catholic faith, but Elizabeth, instead, kept up a skillful show of allegiance to suit her own conscience and ambitions. By the end of that year, when Mary was mistakenly rumoured to be pregnant, Elizabeth was allowed to return to court at Philip's behest. He worried that his wife might die in childbirth, in which case he preferred Lady Elizabeth, under his tutelage, to succeed rather than Mary and Elizabeth's next-closest relative, Mary Stuart, also known as "Mary, Queen of Scots". Mary Stuart had grown up in the French court and was betrothed to François, the French Dauphin(as in the pic aside). Although Mary Stuart was Catholic like Mary Tudor, Philip did not desire Mary Stuart to grasp the English crown because her political stance would be heavily influenced by the French. Mary Tudor died in November 1558 possibly from Ovarian cancer which also killed her mother Katherine of Aragon, leaving Elizabeth as heir to the English throne.