Young Bess
and Elizabeth were suspected of plotting against the king. Elizabeth was questioned, but was never charged. Seymour however, after an attempt to kidnap the boy king, was arrested and eventually executed for treason. Elizabeth was reported to have said, upon hearing of the Lord Admiral's death: "Today died a man of much wit, and very little judgment."
Reports of the young King's declining health spurred on those who did not want the crown to fall to the Catholic Mary. It was during this time that Guilford Dudley married Lady Jane Grey, who was a descendant of Henry VIII's sister Mary, and was therefore also an heir to the throne. When Edward died in 1553, Jane was proclaimed Queen by her father and father-in-law, who rallied armies to support her. However, many more supported the rightful heir: Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon.
Nine days after Jane was proclaimed Queen, Mary rode into London with Elizabeth. Jane Grey and her husband Guilford were imprisoned in the Tower.
Shortly after becoming Queen, Mary was wed to Prince Philip of Spain, which made the Catholic Queen even more unpopular. The persecuted Protestants saw Elizabeth as their savior, since she was seen as an icon of "the new faith". After all, it was to marry her mother Anne Boleyn that Henry instituted the break with Rome. Because of this, several rebellions and uprisings were made in Elizabeth's name, although she herself probably had little or no knowledge of them. However, Mary sensed the danger from her younger sister, and imprisoned her in the Tower.
The story of Elizabeth's entry into the Tower is an interesting one. She was deathly (pun intended) afraid of the Tower, probably thinking of her mother's fate in that place, and when she was told she would be entering through Traitor's Gate, she refused to move. She had been secreted to the Tower in the dark so as not to raise the sympathy of supporters. That night was cold and rainy, and the Princess Elizabeth sat, soaking wet, on the stairs from the river to the gate. After her governess finally persuaded Elizabeth to enter, she did so and became yet another famous prisoner of the Tower of London.
When it appeared that Mary had become pregnant, Elizabeth was no longer seen as a significant threat, and the aging Queen let her return to Hatfield House, under semi- house arrest.
Mary Tudor was nearly 40 years old when the new of her "pregnancy" came. After a few months, her belly began to swell, but no baby was ever forthcoming. Some modern historians think that she had a large ovarian cyst, and this is also what lead to her failing health and eventual death in November 1558.
News of Mary's death on November 17, 1558 reached Elizabeth at Hatfield House. Elizabeth had survived and was finally Queen of England.
Queen At Last
When Elizabeth took the throne, she was immediately descended upon by suitors. However, as we all know, she never married. One of the most obvious questions [next page]