Death

• She died 24th March 1603 aged 69; her rumoured last words were: “All my possessions for one moment of time”
• When asked if she wished James VI of Scotland to inherit the crown, she apparently, gestured with her hands, drawing a circle around her head to indicate a crown and confirm
• • Different theories…
  • Some say that she may have died of blood poisoning, brought on by her use of a lead-based makeup known as “Venetian Ceruse” - classified as a poison 31 years later
  • Her coronation ring had grown into her flesh - as she never had it removed during the 45 years of her reign - doctors insisted it’s removal, and within a week she died
  • Other proposed causes of death include pneumonia, streptococcus (infected tonsils), or cancer
• In her final days, Elizabeth showed regret for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots; Sir Robert Carey said that she “shed many tears and sighs, manifesting her innocence that she never gave consent to the death of that queen”
• Elizabeth Southwell, a lady-in-waiting, reported the Queen's was haunted by visions, a nail-through-the-head playing card was found on her chair; claimed the Queen's corpse was filled with noxious vapors exploded in her lead coffin - unreliable as she converted to Catholicism after her death
• Elizabeth’s emotional and physical ailments escalated to where she took to standing in her bedchamber up for 15 hours without assistance before collapsing onto the floor which her ladies-in waiting had covered with cushions, said that Elizabeth resisted lying down out of fear that she would never rise again, Elizabeth lay speechless on the floor for four days before her servants finally managed to settle her into bed