Queen Elizabeth I: Looking at the Virgin Queen’s Accomplishments 450 Years Later

Queen Elizabeth I.

Elizabeth felt that even the punishment of hanging, drawing, and quartering—the normal one for traitors—was not sufficient. So these men were hanged, cut down half dead, castrated and disemboweled. Then their heads were cut off, their bodies quartered, and their heads were displayed up on poles above cities and towns and on London Bridge. Usually public executioners would wait for the men to be dead before cutting them down, but Elizabeth ordered them to suffer the full punishment.

What was the worst scandal that Elizabeth was involved in?
The worst one was when Robert Dudley's wife, Amy Robsart, was found at the foot of a flight of stairs with her neck broken—less than two years into his relationship with Elizabeth. He'd come to court, he'd supported her in her sister's reign, she made him a master of horse. They were very close. Gossip and scandal were rife. People were speculating endlessly as to what the nature of their relationship was, if he would have his wife murdered so he could marry the queen—and then suddenly, his wife is found dead. Can you imagine the scandal? It was a nightmare.

There has always been a great deal of speculation over why Elizabeth didn't get married. What do you think were the most likely reasons for her becoming the "Virgin Queen"?
She had a pathological fear of marriage. And she said she would never divulge her reasons for that to a single soul. She was under a lot of pressure to marry, as you can imagine. Her councilors, all male, all felt that the queen should get married, and that she should be preoccupied with bearing children and having a husband to rule in her name. Well, she wasn't having any of that. She once said to Robert Dudley, who wanted to marry her, "I will but have one mistress here, and no master." 

What was Elizabeth's greatest achievement?
What's remarkable is that this woman inherited a kingdom that was virtually bankrupt. She came to the throne in the eyes of most of Europe—Catholic Europe—as a bastard, a heretic, and a usurper. And she wasn't the rightful queen. Mary Queen of Scots should be on the throne. And 45 years later, she died, leaving England stable and much better off financially than it had been. She was also in a position of much greater respect and good status within Christendom.

That is an incredible achievement, considering she is a woman. This is a male-dominated age. The only example England had had before of a female ruler was her sister, Mary. And that was a total disaster. Elizabeth overcame the contemporary prejudice and fears about female government, and she showed that she had incredible strength.