Marriage

• She was 25 when she took the throne, and people wanted her to marry: Securing succession, Alliance, and Stability
• Potential matches: Robert Dudley

  • 24 Jun 1532 - 4 Sep 1588 (Age 56) he was Elizabeth’s Master of the Horse, her well-known favourite, childhood friend, and key figure in her court
  • Son of a traitor and a puritan; also he was married to a woman who died under suspicious circumstances - scandal of rumors claiming he murdered her
• Potential matches: Phillip II of Spain

  • 21 May 1527 - 13 Sept 1598 (Age 71); Phillip was 6 years older, his reign: 12 September 1580 - 13 September 1598, was married to Elizabeth’s I half sister Mary I and wasn’t particularly fond of her - being sort of unbothered by Mary’s death
  • Would secure an alliance with Spain, with trade and colonial benefits but may give a foreign power control of England and he was very Catholic - Elizabeth was protestant
• Potential matches: Francis Duke of Anjou

  • 18 Mar 1555 - 10 Jun 1584 (Age 29); 22 years younger than Elizabeth
  • Her council, were deeply divided about the anglo-french alliance - not to mention he was a (moderate) Catholic but it came with political benefits, and Elizabeth seemed attracted and eager to marry him
  • The two quickly became very close, and he was given the name ‘frog’ affectionately, yet it was hazardous to bear children at her age and eventually pragmatically decided the union unwise
• Potential matches: Earl of Essex

  • 10 Nov 1565 - 25 Feb 1601 (Age 35); 32 years younger than Elizabeth
  • Initially he was a favourite of the queen, and was made a member of her privy Council, but he disobeyed the queen’s orders and almost allowed a Spanish fleet to reach England; luckily a storm dispersed them
  • Burst into Elizbeth’s bed chamber and he pushed a rebellion against her once his sweet wines monopoly wasn’t renewed
• Potential matches: Erik VIX of Sweden

  • 13 Dec 1533 - 26 Feb 1577 (Age 43); coronated: 29 June 1561, regarded as intelligent, artistically skilled, and politically ambitious
  • Was mentally unstable which eventually led to insanity, he was violent and paranoid - not a great partner, his paranoid behaviour was mostly the result of feeling judged and ridiculed
  • Biggest pressure was his marriage to his commoner mistress, had he married Elizabeth he may not have struggled so much and been deposed by his brother’s rebellion (reign: 29 September 1560 - January 1569)