Queen Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and his 2nd wife Anne Boleyn. Anne Boylen was beheaded, charged with adultery, and therefore Queen Elizabeth was seen as being the “bastard” daughter of the King.

Most people didn’t expect her to rule England, but after Queen Mary (‘Bloody Mary’) died, she reluctantly named Elizabeth I as her successor.

Mary Tudor was a staunch Catholic, and Elizabeth was Protestant — but if the only other option was to hand England over to another European ruler, Elizabeth I was probably seen as the lesser of the evils.

Was She Really a Woman?

It’s common knowledge that Elizabeth never married and never produced an heir — which was a wild concept for that time! A woman’s worth was almost entirely her ability to bear children. You can imagine, then, that was a pretty big deal that she never got married either. This wasn’t for the lack of effort on the part of her advisors — the reasons for her unmarried status is surrounded by a whole other scandal. More on that later though…

There was a lot of speculation about Elizabeth’s sex. There were rumours flying around, in and out of the English court, if Queen Elizabeth was not actually a man.

This would explain why she never married and never had children…right?!

There are some stories about how when Elizabeth was a child, she and another boy grew up together, and that she died very young after falling ill. The servants who were minding the children became so afraid that they would be punished for her death, that they dressed the boy up as Elizabeth and it was him who later grew up to become the Queen!

Scandal and Affair

Royal stories are never complete without some scandal! This scandal relates to Elizabeth remaining unmarried, or at least a speculated reason as to why she may have never married.

There are historical accounts that suggest that she had an affair with Robert Dudley, who was the 1st Earl of Leicester and one of her leading statesmen.

Dudley often stayed at court and was well-known for being a favourite of the Queen’s. There’s also talk of Elizabeth having favoured him so much, she had his bedchamber moved next door to hers.

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So why didn’t they just get married and live happily ever after?

Well as a queen, Elizabeth would have been expected to marry someone with far more power — a King. (Remember, marriages then were about alliances and less about love.) Also, Robert Dudley was already married!

Wool Hats For Everyone and Purple Only For Some

There were a lot of seemingly crazy laws in England during the time of Elizabeth’s rule. Maybe it’s because she needed to assert her power as a Protestant queen, who was also seen as unfit to rule (being a “bastard” and being unmarried).

In 1571, parliament enforced a law that anyone above the age of 6 had to wear a woollen hat on Sundays and holidays. The idea was to protect the local wool trade and wool hat production, which was beginning to suffer as this type of headgear was becoming less fashionable.

The law was later repealed because they didn’t see it as having been effective.

There was also a law put in place that stated that only royalty was allowed to wear the colour purple. This colour was designed only for the richest and most powerful. There would have been a stiff penalty for anyone else wearing this colour anywhere in England.

A Real Beauty…Perhaps not

Imagine Queen Elizabeth I, in her elegant gowns, covered in Jewels. Her pale skin, and beautiful hair adorned with a crown…well, at least this is the image we’ve been portrayed through the paintings of her — or should I say painting!

Confused? Let me clear this up.

First off, Queen Elizabeth was actually considered to be quite unattractive. It was said she had very bad skin, which is why she began to paint her face and hands white, with a lead-based make up. Her head was likely shaved, as many women of that time shaved their heads and wore wigs to prevent lice, which was rampant back then.

It’s also said that Queen Elizabeth was never a fan of having her portraits painted because they didn’t make her look beautiful enough — until one day a portrait was painted that she approved of. After that, all other paintings of Queen Elizabeth I are said to be paintings of that painting!

There’s so much more!

It would take days to write about all the scandals and rumours about Queen Elizabeth I. The fact she remained unmarried and childless let peoples’ mind wander and come up with wild stories. These rumours and stories went beyond the English Court, and all throughout Europe.

There were many strange laws made during Elizabeth’s reign, from Purple legally only being worn by royals to the Woollen hats.

These royals never fail to entertain, it’s just that sometimes you need to dig a bit deeper to find the fun stuff!