Queen Elizabeth I

From the moment Elizabeth became queen there was one question that everyone was asking - who will she marry? It was unthinkable that she would not marry. As the last of her dynasty Elizabeth was expected to produce the next heir, especially as she was young, and in a sexist age that thought women could not govern, a husband was considered necessary to help her rule.

In the early weeks of Elizabeth's reign her court buzzed with suitors. The new queen received offers of marriage from King Philip of Spain, Prince Erik of Sweden, Archduke Charles, from English noblemen like the Earl of Arran, and from Sir William Pickering. Indeed, Sir William was so confident of being chosen that he reputedly made great demands at court. Elizabeth showed no enthusiasm for any suitor, and immediately rejected King Philip's proposal, but she allowed the other suitors to remain hopeful while her advisors discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each match.

From a very young age Elizabeth is said to have favoured the single life. Given the deadly matrimonial escapades of her father, King Henry VIII, who beheaded two of his wives and divorced two more, this is hardly surprising. However, there is a danger of reading history backwards. Just because Elizabeth never married does not mean she never considered it. There may have been suitors she was serious about. The marriage of a queen regnant was a complicated affair and either politics or religion made every suitor controversial. Elizabeth did not want to repeat her sister's mistake and make an unpopular marriage. Another complication was that a husband, particularly a foreign king or prince, would expect a say in the governing of the country and this was unacceptable to Elizabeth and her government. This made marrying a native nobleman an attractive choice but to do so could cause jealousy and resentment and ultimately civil unrest.

Erik XIV of Sweden

Erik of Sweden proved a popular choice with Protestants, as he was a religious reformist, but unpopular with Catholics. Nevertheless, he was Elizabeth's foremost suitor for a few years and his sister, Princess Cecilia, even visited England to press his suit. But Erik was not a particularly wealthy monarch, or a powerful figure on the stage of Europe, so his suit ultimately came to nothing. The Archduke Charles was also considered seriously for a few years but, as a Catholic, his religion proved an insuperable obstacle.

Complicating the 'marriage matter' further was Elizabeth's apparent affection for Lord Robert Dudley, son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, and Master of the Horse. It was rumoured everywhere that the Queen was in love with him, even though he was already married, and some were of the opinion that he would divorce his wife so he could marry Elizabeth. Because the Queen seemed to favour him above all men, Lord Robert was hated by many of her ambitious courtiers, and marriage to him became impossible when his young wife was found dead at the bottom of a staircase. Few people believed her death was an accident, even though an inquest judged it one, so had Elizabeth married him she would not have survived as queen. However, Lord Robert remained a suitor for many years, as he sincerely believed he was in with a chance, and wooed the Queen with spectacular entertainments at Kenilworth Castle in 1575.

Robert Dudley
Earl of Leicester

By the late 1570s interest in marrying Elizabeth had dwindled, as she was now in her forties, but there was one serious contender for her hand in these years, Francis, Duke of Alencon. He was the son of Catherine de Medici, Queen Mother of France, and brother to the French King. He was considerably younger than Elizabeth, and a Catholic, but England was in need of an ally due to the threat posed by the mighty Spanish Empire. So serious were the negotiations that the duke even came to England to woo Elizabeth in person. The Queen seemed very taken with him, even though he was not as handsome as some of her past suirors, and openly declared that she would marry him. This declaration pleased all those who wanted her to marry, even if there was little prospect of an heir, but greatly alarmed those who did not want her to marry a French Catholic. A man named John Stubbes wrote a pamphlet against the marriage, for which his right hand was cut off, and Sir Philip Sidney was banished from court for a while for advising the Queen in a letter not to marry the duke. Once again politics and religion ultimately made the marriage impossible. For the first time in her reign, Elizabeth seemed genuinely saddened at the opposition to a royal suitor, allegedly bursting into tears in a council meeting, but had Elizabeth truly wanted to marry Francis then she could have overriden the opposition like her sister, Queen Mary, had.

Francis
Duke of Alencon

The Alencon courtship was Elizabeth's last. For over twenty years she had been courted by the most eligible men in Europe but none of them had won her hand. Now she was in her fifties, with her childbearing years behind her, so she could no longer play 'the marriage game' the ways she always had. For whenever England was in need of friends, Elizabeth was able to offer herself in marriage to a potential ally, stringing out the negotiations for months or years, securing their support against enemies in the meantime. It was now almost certain that Elizabeth would never marry, and while this left the succession crisis unresolved, it ended the divisive 'marriage matter' and freed the Queen's statesmen from burdensome negotiations.

At the beginning of her reign Elizabeth declared that 'it would please me best if, at the last, a marble stone shall record that this queen, having lived and reigned such and such a time, lived and died a virgin". And so, the never married daughter of a much married father, would have her wish come true: history would forever remember her as the Virgin Queen.


LIST OF ELIZABETH I'S SUITORS