Princess Elizabeth Tudor was born September 7, 1533, at Greenwich Palace, England to King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth’s gender was a disappointment to the King. He wanted a son and heir. King Henry VIII had recently divorced his first wife Catherine of Aragon, because she had not given him a suitable heir. Henry married Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s mother, after years of courtship during the divorce proceedings. Anne may have already been with child at the time of the formal wedding on January 25, 1533, which followed a secret wedding in France the previous November. However, Boleyn also failed to provide the king with an heir. Later in 1536, Boleyn was accused of adultery and treason. She was executed when Elizabeth was only two years old.
After her mother’s execution, Elizabeth’s position was precarious. She was declared illegitimate and thus unable to inherit the throne. Her title changed from Princess Elizabeth to Lady Elizabeth. In her childhood, she lived at various country estates under guardianship rather than at the king’s court.
Lady Margaret Bryan, Elizabeth’s great-aunt and sister of Anne Boleyn’s mother, was given full charge of raising Elizabeth. Two other women, Kat Ashley and Blanche Parry, served Elizabeth, with Ashley as governess and nurse. When Elizabeth was seven years old, her formal schooling began, likley under the direction of Katherine Champernowne.
When Elizabeth’s half-brother Edward was born in 1537, they shared the same nursery and many of the same tutors. Unusually, Elizabeth learned from male tutors as she was taught jointly with her younger brother. Some of the tutors included Sir Anthony Cooke, Sir John Cheke, William Grindal, and Roger Ascham. Ascham used a humanist curriculum for his students, which were published as a book called
When her father married his sixth and final wife, Katherine Parr in 1543, Elizabeth’s life improved. At Parr’s urging, the ten-year old Elizabeth was brought back to the court and, through the Act of Succession in 1544, was retitled as Princess. Parr was also an enthusiastic Protestant and may have help shape Elizabeth’s strong commitment to the Church of England.
In 1547, Henry VIII died and was succeeded by Edward VI, Elizabeth’s nine-year-old younger brother. Elizabeth continued living with her stepmother Katherine Parr. The King’s will had left Elizabeth rich, so she became a target for men seeking a high advantageous marriage. Thomas Seymour took aim at Elizabeth. Seymour was the brother of Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset, Edward VI’s Lord Protector. Thomas Seymour intended to marry one of Henry VIII’s daughters, either Mary or Elizabeth, to strengthen his political power. However, his suit was rejected by the Royal Council. He married the widowed queen Katherine Parr instead.
Princess Elizabeth lived with Katherine Parr, and the hitorical record indicates Thomas Seymour took liberties with Elizabeth. Seymour entered Elizabeth’s bedchamber before she rose, teasing and tickling her as Elizabeth retreated under the bedclothes. Parr enjoyed her husband’s mischief, and one time she held Elizabeth down in the garden while Seymour used scissors to cut Elizabeth’s gown in pieces. When Parr found out Thomas Seymour’s flirtation was causing scandal, Elizabeth was sent away to stay with Kat Ashley’s sister in Hertfordshire.
In 1549, Seymour was imprisoned due to the suspicion of attempting to marry Princess Elizabeth, encouraging pirates, receiving stolen goods, and plotting to obtain control of the king’s person. Due to the potentially intimate relationship between Seymour and Princess Elizabeth, she was put under interrogation but was publicly exonerated. Seymour was executed later that year.
When Edward VI died in 1553, Elizabeth’s Catholic half-sister Mary Tudor inherited the throne. Elizabeth was in a precarious position again. In 1554, Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower of London under suspicion of involvement in Protestant insurrection. Later she was moved to a royal property in Oxfordshire, Woodstock Palace, where she spent almost a year under house arrest. In 1558, Mary I died, and the accession of the throne came to Princess Elizabeth. She became Queen Elizabeth I, the last monarch of the Tudor period.
