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Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 - 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Also known as Good Queen Bess, The Virgin Queen or Gloriana, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Her half brother Edward VI and half-sister Mary I held the throne before her. Known for her relative religious tolerance, one of Elizabeth’s first actions as Queen was to create an English Protestant church, of which she was Supreme Governor. Elizabeth’s rivalry with Mary, Queen of Scots became infamous as many saw the two Queens as symbols for Protestantism and Catholicism respectively. Mary was imprisoned by Elizabeth in May 1568 and was eventually beheaded in 1587. In politics, she was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been, one of her mottos being video et taceo (“I see, and say nothing”). In foreign policy she was also moderate, carefully manoeuvring between the great powers of France and Spain. However, by the mid-1580s war with Spain became inevitable, and Elizabeth’s rousing speech at Tilbury on 8 August 1558 is credited as helping England defeat the Spanish Armada: “…I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.” Elizabeth’s reign is known as the Elizabethan era, and is famous for producing some of the greatest English writers including William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. Elizabeth, as a female monarch, is acknowledged as being a powerful and charismatic performer who carefully negotiated her public image. Elizabeth would never marry and produced no heir, giving rise to her nickname The Virgin Queen. Elizabeth’s 44 years on the throne provided stability for England and created a new sense of national identity.

Featured as Elizabeth I: Laoise Murray (The Tudors, 2010), Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth, 1998 and Elizabeth: The Golden Age, 2007), and Vanessa Redgrave (Anonymous, 2011).