The Tudor Dynasty - British Monarchy Family History
British Monarchy Family History
 
 
 The Tudor Dynasty was the ruling royal house of England and Wales (and Ireland from 1542) for one hundred and eighteen years from 1485 until 1603, after Henry Tudor defeated King Richard III at the battle of Bosworth in August 1485.  
The death of the Yorkist king and the defeat of his army saw the end of the War of the Roses, a series of civil war battles fought between the dynastic houses of York and Lancaster for thirty years between 1455 to 1485.  
The name of the war comes from the emblems which were shown on the king's banners when they rode into battle, the white rose for the House of Lancaster and the red rose for the House of York. 
The colours of these two royal houses were brought together on the emblem of the Tudor Dynasty, in the form of the red and white Tudor Rose.  
Of the six Tudor monarchs only one of them was actually born to reign, King Edward VI, the nine year old son of King Henry VIII.  
 
HENRY VII 
Henry was born on January the 28th 1457 at Pembroke Castle in Wales. 
He was the son of Edmund Tudor, the first Earl of Richmond and his wife Lady Margaret Beaufort.
Henry was crowned king on the 30th of October 1485 at Westminster Abbey in London and would be the last king to gain the throne of England by way of a victory on a battlefield.  
 
Henry was known to be a tall dignified man with blond hair and blue eyes who had a confident yet friendly manner.
Henry's reign is probably best remembered for restoring political stability and civil peace upon the country after the long bitter years of the civil war known as the War of the Roses, fought between the two previous reigning royal houses of Lancaster and York.  
  
Henry was widowed in February of 1503 and was left disconsolate by his wife Elisabeth of York's death. This led to a general decline in both his mental and physical health leading to his ultimate demise from tuberculosis at the age of 52 He died on the 21st of April 1509 at Richmond Palace in Surrey. 
He was later interred alongside Elisabeth, who had died six years previously, at Westminster Abbey in London. 
 
ELISABETH OF YORK
  
To unite the two previously warring families of Lancaster and York the newly crowned King Henry VII married Elisabeth of York on the 18th of January, 1486, at Rennes Cathedral in France.  
Although their marriage was one of convenience it would appear that it did go on to become a love match. 
 
Elisabeth was born on the 11th of February 1466 and was the first born daughter, and after the untimely death of her elder brothers the former King Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, better known as the 'Princes in the Tower', became the rightful heir of King Edward IV of England and his wife Elisabeth Grey, nee Woodville.  
  
Elisabeth was known to have been a quiet, gentle and kind woman who disliked public office, preferring instead to spend her time unobtrusively taking care of her children at Eltham Palace near Greenwich. 
Apparently Elisabeth had red hair, more popularly known as ginger, a family trait that would be passed on to most of her descendants, the most notable of which were her son Henry and her grand - daughter Elisabeth. 
 
Elisabeth died at Richmond Palace on her 37th birthday (11th of February 1503) after contracting a fever a few days after giving birth to her seventh child, a daughter called Katherine, who also died a few days after her birth.  
Elisabeth would later be interred in Westminster Abbey.
 
King Henry VII and Queen Elisabeth had seven children, although only four survived into adulthood, and one of them would become a future King of England.  
Their children were; 
Arthur, Prince of Wales (1486 - 1501) - He married Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Fernando V, King of Spain and Isabel, Queen of Castile. 
The betrothal of the young couple was made when the princess was just three years old and the prince was only two. Their marriage took place on the 14th November 1501 but it lasted only five months before Arthur died during an epidemic at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire on the 2 April 1502. 
Arthur Prince of Wales was interred at Worcester Cathedral, and as was the custom at that time, neither his mother Elisabeth nor his wife Catherine were in attendance. His father the King did not attend either, as it has been said that he was too overcome with grief.
 
Margaret - (1489 - 1541) - Margaret was born on the 29 November 1489.  
During her fifty two years she married three times and gave birth to seven children, but only two of them would grow into adulthood, including one who would become a future King of Scotland.  
Her first marriage was to King James IV of Scotland, in 1503, when she was just thirteen.
They had six children, including one who would be born posthumously after his father's death, but only their son James, would survive infancy. He would later become King James V of Scotland, who is better known as the father of Mary Queen of Scots and grandfather of King James VI of Scotland / King James I of England.  
This marriage ended with the death of James IV of Scotland at the battle of Flodden Field in 1513.
 
Her second marriage was to Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus in 1514. This union produced one daughter Margaret (1515 - 1578).  Margaret would have this union annulled in 1527. 
Her third marriage was to Henry Stewart in 1528. There were no children from this union and it ended with the death of Margaret from a stroke in 1541.
After her death Margaret was interred at the Carthusian Priory of St John in Perth, Scotland.   
 
Henry - (1491 - 1547) - King Henry VII still intent to develop strong bonds with Spain arranged for his second son Henry to marry Catherine, the widow of his eldest son. The death of the Prince of Wales was to herald the reign of one of Britain's most infamous monarchs.  
Henry would go on to marry six times and father three legitimate offspring, all of whom would become future monarchs and non of whom would produce heirs. 
Elisabeth - Born 2nd July 1492 - Died 14th September 1492. 
Mary (1496 - 1533) - Mary was born on the 18th of March 1496. In 1514 at the age of eighteen she was sent to France to marry King Louis XII, but their union would last only three months, after it is believed Louis died in the pursuit of securing a much sought after male heir. Mary did not become pregnant and left France having produced no heirs. 
 
The following year Mary would marry her previous lover, the twice widowed Charles Brandon (1484 - 1545), 1st Duke of Suffolk. Their union produced three children, Frances (1517 - 1559), who went on to marry a Henry Grey (1517 - 1554) in 1533 and produced three daughters, the eldest of which was Lady Jane Grey (1537 - 1554) who grew up to become the ill fated, nine day Queen Jane in 1553. Their other two children were Eleanor (1519 - 1547) and Henry 1523 - 1534). 
This marriage ended with the death of Mary on the 25th of June 1533 when she was thirty seven years old. She was interred at St Mary's Church in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. 
 
Edmund - Born 21st February 1499 - Died 19th June 1500.  
 
Katherine - Born 1503 - Katherine, along with her mother, died a few days after her birth.
There were no recorded illegitimate children of King Henry VII. 
  
HENRY VIII 
 
Henry was born on the 28th of June 1491 at Greenwich Palace, the second son of King Henry VII and Lady Elisabeth York.   
 
He was crowned king on the 24th of June 1509 at Westminster Abbey and his reign oversaw many sweeping changes across the country, including the formation of the English Navy, now known as the Royal Navy, the instigation of the metal cannon, the construction of vast shipyards on the River Thames at Woolwich in 1512 and Deptford in 1513, the formation of the Church of England in 1533, the Dissolution of the Monasteries between 1536 and 1540, the Laws of Wales Act in 1535 which formally incorporated the principality with the Kingdom of England and the commission of several royal palaces.  
Henry also became King of Ireland in 1542.  
Despite being elemental in these many changes Henry is probably better remembered for his six wives and for fathering three monarchs.  
 
As a young man Henry was an amiable, articulate man who was a renowned sportsman and athletic, but owing to a leg injury would become obese and ill tempered in his later years. It has also been claimed that he suffered from gout, leg ulcers and Type II Diabetes. This all helped to bring about his death at the age of only fifty five after a thirty eight year long reign.  
 
He died on the 28th of January 1547, the same date as his father's birth date, at the Palace of Whitehall in London.  
He was later interred at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle alongside his third wife and mother of his only legitimate son and heir Jane Seymour.  
 
CATHERINE OF ARAGON
 
Henry's first marriage was a marriage of convenience to his brother's widow Catherine, as his father was intent on keeping peace with Spain. 
Catherine of Aragon (1485 - 1536) was born in Alcala de Henares in Spain on the 16th of December 1485 and was the daughter of Fernando V, King of Spain and Isabel, Queen of Castile. 
She married Henry at Greenwich Church on the 11th of June 1509 after a papal dispensation allowed the widowed, Catholic Catherine to marry the brother of her dead husband. This was granted after Katherine proclaimed her marriage to Arthur had never been consummated owing to his ill health.  
Catherine had many pregnancies during her twenty four year marriage to the King and gave birth to six babies but only one would survive into adulthood. 
They were; Elisabeth born in January 1510,  Henry, Duke of Cornwall born January - February 1511, a still born son in 1513,  Mary born on the 18 February 1516, who would become a future Queen of England and a stillborn daughter in November of 1518. 
Henry was actually a devoted and dutiful husband to Katherine but after twenty years he became evermore frustrated at the lack of a male heir. This led to the annulment of their marriage in 1533 with Catherine being separated from her daughter Mary and forced to leave court.  
Catherine died three years later in Kimbolton Castle, Huntingdonshire on January 7 1536 and was later buried at Peterborough Cathedral under her new title the Princess Dowager.  
  
ANNE BOLEYN 
Henry's second wife was Anne Boleyn (1501 - 1536). It is unclear when Anne was born but it is recorded that she was born at Hever Castle in Kent and was the daughter of nobleman Thomas Boleyn and his wife Elizabeth Howard. 
Anne met Henry whilst working as a lady in waiting to Queen Katherine and they were married at a secret ceremony on the 25th of January 1533. 
 
Anne gave birth to one child during their three year marriage, a daughter called Elisabeth, on the 7th of September 1533.  
Their marriage ended after Anne, rightly or wrongly, was accused of adultery. She was executed privately on the 19th of May 1536.  
She was later interred in an unmarked site of the Chapel Royal of St Peter Ad Vincula in the Tower of London.    
 
 
Henry's third wife was Jane Seymour (1508 - 1537).  
Jane was born sometime in 1508 and was the daughter of John Seymour and his wife Marjery Wentworth. 
Jane had been conducting an affair with Henry for some time and like Anne before her had also been a lady in waiting to Queen Catherine.
Their formal betrothal of marriage was made just twenty four hours after the execution of Anne Boleyn and they married ten days later at the Palace of Whitehall on the 30th of May 1536.  
 
Jane produced Henry with his long awaited male heir, Edward, on the 12th of October 1537 but sadly died just twelve days later on the 24th of October 1537.  
Jane was later interred in St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle in Berkshire and is the only one of Henry's six wives that he chose to be buried alongside.  
 
ANNE OF CLEEVES 
 
Henry's fourth marriage was another marriage of convenience, this time to Anne of Cleeves (1515 - 1557).  
Anne was born on the 22nd of September 1515 in Dusseldorf, Germany and was the daughter of John, Duke of Cleeves and his wife Maria of Julichberg.  
They were married at Greenwich Palace on the 6th of January 1540 two years after the death of Jane Seymour.
 
Henry was not happy with the union as it would appear that he found his new bride wholly unattractive, even going as far as calling her 'The Flanders Mare'.  He had their marriage annulled after just seven months.
 
Anne was given Hever Castle and the title of ' King's Sister'  in her divorce settlement. She went on to live quite happily there until her death on the 16th of July 1557.   
She was later interred in Westminster Abbey.  
 
KATHRYN HOWARD 
Henry's fifth wife was Kathryn Howard (1523 - 1542).  
Katherine was born in London sometime in 1523 and was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and his wife Joyce Culpepper.  
Henry married Kathryn at Oatlands Palace in Surrey on the 28th of July 1540. 
 
As with Henry's previous wives Kathryn had also been a lady in waiting to a previous wife of Henry's, this time to Anne of Cleeves.  
Kathryn was also the cousin of Henry's second wife Anne Boleyn.  
Within a year of this union rumours were rife over Kathryn's promiscuity and infidelity.
As these findings were deemed correct Kathryn was executed at Tower Green on the 13th of February 1542 and laid to rest beside her cousin Anne Boleyn in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London.  
 
 
Henry's sixth and final wife was Catherine Parr (1512 - 1548).  
Katherine was born in London sometime in 1512 and was the daughter of Sir Thomas Parr and his wife Maud Green.  
The twice widowed Catherine, who was named after Henry's first wife Catherine of Aragon, had previously been married to noblemen Sir Edward Burgh and John Neville before she married Henry on the 12th of July 1543 at Hampton Court Palace. 
The union was to last just two and a half years before Katherine was widowed on the 28th of January 1547.  
 
Within months of Henry's death, possibly in the April or May of 1547, Katherine married for a fourth time, this time to nobleman Thomas Seymour.  
 
After four husbands and at the age of thirty seven Katherine became pregnant for the very first time in her life. She gave birth to a girl, Mary (1548 - 1550) on the 30th of August 1548, but would fall ill soon after the birth with puerperal fever, *  which claimed her life just six days later on the 5th of September 1548.  
 
Katherine was later interred at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire.   
  
MARY BOLEYN 
 
As well as having six wives it is widely believed that Henry also had at least seven mistresses during his lifetime. 
 
Henry's first mistress was Anne Stafford, Countess of Huntingdon (1483 - 1544) with whom he had a year long affair one year into his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.  The affair caused such a scandal at court that Anne was exiled to a convent for the rest of her life by her enraged husband.  
Henry's second mistress was his younger sister's French teacher, Jane Popincourt, whom he met in 1514.  
One year later he would meet Elizabeth Blount, whom he conducted a five year affair with and led to her bearing him his first son, Henry FitzRoy Blount, who was born in 1519.  
In 1521 Henry would began his most notorious affair however, when he entered into a five year romance with the sister of the woman he would later marry, Mary Boleyn (1499 - 1543). 
Mary Boleyn (1499 - 1543) was the elder sister of Henry's second wife Anne Boleyn. 
Henry conducted a five year affair with Mary between 1521 and 1526 and during this time she produced two children, but as she had married courtier William Carey (1500 - 1528) in 1520 it is unclear as to whether these children were Henry's or William's. 
The children were Catherine Carey (1524 - 1569) who married Sir Francis Knollys and went on to have fourteen children, one of which was Lettice Knollys, the future wife of Robert Lord Dudley, a court favourite of the future Queen Elisabeth I 
And Henry Carey (1526 - 1596) who married an Ann Morgan and went on to have five children.  
 
Mary was widowed in 1528 and remained single for six years until she married landowner William Stafford (1500 - 1556) in 1534.  
She bore him two children, Edward (1535 - 1545) and Anne born in 1536.  
Mary died on the 19th of June 1543 and was probably buried in the parish church of Rochford in Essex. 
 
Henry's only recognised, illegitimate child was Henry Fitzroy Blount (1519 - 1536) who was born to his long term mistress Elisabeth Blount.  
Elisabeth, commonly known as Bessie, was born at Kinlet in Shropshire sometime in 1498. She was the daughter of Sir John Blount and his wife Catherine Pershall. 
Bessie met Henry whilst working as a maid of honour for Queen Catherine when she was just a teenager and went on to conduct an eight year affair with him.  
The affair resulted in the birth of a son Henry Fitzroy, who was born on the 15th of June 1519. 
The affair with Bessie ended soon after the birth of young Henry after Prince Henry had begun an affair with Mary Boleyn. 
 
On the 18th of June 1522 Bessie entered into an arranged marriage with Member of Parliament, Gilbert Talboys, with whom she had three children. They were; 
Elizabeth (1520 - 1563). 
Robert (1528 - 1542).
 
Bessie died of consumption sometime in January of 1540 at the age of forty two. She was later interred alongside her husband at Kyme Church in Lincolnshire.   
 
HENRY FITZROY BLOUNT
 
Henry Fitzroy Blount was born on the first of June 1519 and was given the title of first Duke of Richmond and Somerset.  
He married Lady Mary Howard (1519 - 1557) the daughter of Thomas Howard, the uncle of Henry's fifth wife Catherine Howard, and his wife Elizabeth Stafford, in 1533, but their were no children from this union.   
Henry died from tuberculosis at the age of only seventeen on the 23rd of July 1536. King Henry died three years later having been left disconsolate by his death.   
 
As well as Henry FitzRoy Blount it is widely believed that King Henry VIII also fathered three other illegitimate children by way of three short term affairs, they were;  
Thomas Stukley (1520 - 1578) born to a Jane Stukley nee Pollard. 
Etheldreda Malte (1527 - 1559) born to a Joan Dingley. 
John Perrot (1528 - 1592) born to a Mary Perrot nee Berkely.    
                                                                   
EDWARD VI 
 
Edward VI was born on the 12th of October 1537 at Hampton Court Palace. He was the son of King Henry VIII and his third wife Jane Seymour. The King's joy in securing his first male heir however was short lived, with the death of Jane from Puerperal Fever *  twelve days after the birth.
 
Edward came to the throne up on the death of his father in January 1547 at the age of nine. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on the 20th of February of that year, becoming King of England and Ireland and as England's first Protestant King.  
As England's very first Protestant king Edward's reign is probably best remembered for his radical Protestant reforms which, along with his Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, resulted in the total reformation of the Church of England and the introduction of the Book of Common Prayer, which is still in use to this day.
 
Edward's reign was overseen by a regency council, which had been arranged by his father prior to his death, which was at first headed by his uncle Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset (1500 - 1552) who acted as Lord Protector between 1547 and 1550 and from 1550 until his death in 1553 by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who unlike his predecessor, did not become Lord Protector but instead headed a privy council.
 
Despite having been a robust child Edward would become terminally ill in 1553 at the age of just fifteen, thus spurring his council to draw up a Devise for Succession, in an attempt to prevent Catholic backlash against his Protestant reforms.
Edward named his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as his successor and heir, therefore totally excluding his half sisters the Catholic Mary and the Protestant Elisabeth.
 
Edward died from tuberculosis on the 6th July 1553 at Greenwich Palace. He was buried alongside his grandfather King Henry VII in Westminster Abbey on the 8th of August of the same year.  
 
LADY JANE GREY 
 
Edward VI's decision to name Lady Jane Grey as his successor culminated into one of the most tragic tales of the British monarchy. 
Lady Jane Grey was born at Groby Old Hall in Bradgate Park in Leicestershire and was the eldest daughter of Henry Grey, the Marquis of Dorset and his wife Lady Frances Brandon, who was the daughter of Henry VIII's younger sister Mary, sometime during the Winter of 1536 / 1537.
Through her mother she was the grand-daughter of King Henry VII and grand niece of King Henry VIII. She also had two sisters, Lady Catherine Grey and Lady Mary Grey, all of whom would grow up to marry high ranking nobility.
 
GUILDFORD DUDLEY 
 
After a sad and lonely childhood at the hands of her abusive mother, at the age of ten Lady Jane was sent to be the ward of Catherine Seymour, King Henry VIII's widow.  
Whilst living with Catherine Seymour she was betrothed to Guildford Dudley (1535 - 1554) the fourth son of John Dudley the first Duke of Northumberland and his wife Jane Guildford. The Duke of Northumberland was the most powerful political figure in the country at the time and a staunch Protestant. 
Jane married Guildford on the 21st of May 1553 at Durham House in Nortumberland at a triple wedding ceremony along with her sister Catherine, who married the Earl of Pembroke, and Catherine Guildford who married a Henry Hastings. 
The true and rightful heir to the throne at that time was Mary Tudor who chose Jane to be one of her first victims of the suppression of Protestantism by using Jane's father's involvement in the Wyatt Rebellion to have both Lady Jane and her husband wrongfully charged with high treason.
 
They were duly arrested and their trial was held on the 13th of November 1553 at the Guildhall in London. They were both tried and found guilty and put to death. 
Between their trial and execution the young couple were held in the Tower of London before Dudley was executed at a public execution on the morning of the 12th of February 1554, followed by Jane's private execution later that same day.
They were buried along side one another in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London.
 
Jane has since been posthumously regarded as a political martyr.   
 
MARY 
Queen Mary was the fourth Tudor monarch and first Queen Regnant of England.  
She was the first child of King Henry VIII and the only surviving child of Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon.  
She was born on the 18th of February 1516 at Greenwich Palace in London.
 
Mary was crowned on the first of October 1553 at Westminster Abbey. Upon the abdication of her father-in-law in 1556 Mary also became the Queen of Spain, the Queen of Naples and the Queen of Jerusalem.  
Her reign is probably best known for restoring England back to Catholicism after the two short reigns of her Protestant half brother King Edward VI and her cousin Lady Jane Grey.
During her reign she had over three hundred religious dissidents burned at the stake in an act known as the Marian Persecutions,which went on to earn her the title of Bloody Mary.   
 
At the age of thirty seven Mary married Prince Phillip of Spain (1527 - 1598) the son of Charles V Holy Roman Emperor and Isabella of Portugal, at a ceremony at Winchester Cathedral on the 25th of July 1554.
During their short five year marriage Mary was to suffer two phantom pregnancies. Because of the humiliation that this caused at the time Mary's mental health began to suffer leading in turn to physical health problems. Mary died childless at the age of forty two from a supposed pituitary tumour at St James's Palace in London on the 17th of November 1558 and was later interred in Westminster Abbey.  
 
KING PHILIP II OF SPAIN 
 
Prince Phillip of Spain (1527 - 1598) was born at Vallodolid in Spain on the 21st of May 1527 and was the eldest  child and only son of Charles V Holy Roman Emperor and Isabella of Portugal. 
During his lifetime Philip, who was known as Philip the Prudent, would become not only the King of Spain but the King of Portugal between 1581 and 1598, the King of Naples and Sicily between 1581 and 1598 and the Prince Consort of England and Ireland between 1554 and 1558. It was during Philip's reign that Spain would reach it's peak in terms of world power, an era known as the Golden Age. Philip's military had also conquered lands on every continent and it is after King Philip II that the island nation of the Philippines were named. 
 
By all accounts Philip was a pleasant and amiable man who was a dutiful and loving husband, not only to his second wife Mary, but to all four of his wives. 
  
MARIA, PRINCESS OF PORTUGAL 
Philip was already a widow when he married Mary in 1554 as he had previously been married to another of one his cousins, Maria, Princess of Portugal (1527 - 1549) the daughter of King John III of Portugal and his wife Catherine of Austria.  
They were married in a ceremony at Salamanca in Spain on the 12th of November 1543. 
Their union produced one son, Don Carlos, Prince of Asturias (1545 - 1568) but Philip would be widowed just four days latet after Maria had suffered massive bleeding during the delivery of their son.  
 
Maria was buried at the Chapel of San Lorenzo El Escorial in Madrid.   
 
ELISABETH OF VALOIS
 
After Queen Mary's death in 1558 Philip returned to his native Spain and married the fourteen year old Elisabeth of Valois (1545 - 1568) the daughter of King Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici.  
Elisabeth had actually been betrothed to Philip's son Don Carlos (both of whom were actually born and deceased in the same years -1545 & 1568 repectively) but Philip had become so infatuated with her that he decided to marry her himself.  
The couple married at a ceremony in Guadalajara in Spain sometime in 1559 and their marriage produced two daughters, Isabella Clara Eugenia (1566 - 1633) and Catherine Michelle (1567 - 1597).   
Again Philip would be widowed after the birth of a child after Elisabeth had miscarried with their third daughter on the 3rd of October 1568.She was just twenty three years old.
Elisabeth was also buried at the Chapel of San Lorenzo El Escorial in Madrid.  
 
ANNE OF AUSTRIA
After the deaths of both his son Don Carlos and his wife Elisabeth in 1568 Philip was desperate for a male heir. 
He decided to marry for a fourth time, this time to his niece Anna of Austria (1549 - 1580), the daughter of Maximillian II, Holy Roman Emperor and his wife Maria of Spain. 
They were married by proxy in May of 1570. 
Their union produced five children, one of which Philip, would grow up to become the future King Philip III of Spain.  
 
Their children were Ferdinand (1571 - 1578), Carlos (1573 - 1575), Diego (1575 - 1582), Philip (1578 - 1621) and Maria (1580 - 1583). 
 
Anna died of a weakened heart at the age of only thirty on the 26th of October 1580 and was also interred at the Chapel of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in Madrid. 
 
Phillip died n Madrid, Spain on the thirteenth of September 1598 after having suffered a long and painful death from cancer. 
He too was interred at the Chapel of San Lorenzo El Escorial in Madrid.
 
ELISABETH I 
 
Princess Elisabeth was born on the 7th of September 1533 at Greenwich Palace. She was the second daughter of King Henry VIII and the only child of his second wife Anne Boleyn.
At the age of two and a half  Elisabeth was declared illegitimate after her father had his marriage to Queen Anne annulled just before her execution.
When her father died at the age of thirteen in 1547, the king's widow, Catherine, upon marrying Thomas Seymour, took the young princess into their household.
It was whilst there that it is believed that Elisabeth was sexually abused by Seymour, leading to Elisabeth's dislike of men, sex and marriage.
Because of her half sister Mary's determination to crush the Protestant faith, of which Elisabeth had been schooled, Mary had Elisabeth imprisoned in the Tower of London. After an interrogation, where she was wrongfully accused of playing a part in the Wyatt Rebellion, Elisabeth was put under house arrest at Woodstock Palace in Oxfordshire for four years between 1554 and 1558, under the guardianship of Henry Bedingfield. 
In 1555 Mary was apparently pregnant and Philip feared the outcome should Mary and her child die, leaving the British throne without an heir. This time Mary was to recover, but in 1558 Mary was to fall ill for the last time.The now King Philip of Spain sent advisers to Elisabeth in order to organise a government and talk Mary into recognising Elisabeth as her heir 
On the 15th of January 1559, at the age of twenty five, Elisabeth was crowned Queen of England at Westminster Abbey. As England's second Protestant monarch she was rapturously received by the people, and given the title ' Good Queen Bess'.
Elisabeth was robust of health and a dutiful queen, however she remained unmarried without any heirs, giving her yet another title, that of the Virgin Queen. 
Elisabeth's health remained good until the Autumn of 1602 when she lost a number of her personal friends causing her and to lapse into a deep depression. Her melancholy would in turn affect her physical health and she eventually died on the 24th of March 1603 at Richmond Palace, after having been Queen of England and Ireland for 45 years.
Her funeral at Westminster Abbey on the 28th of April 1603 was to end the one hundred and eighteen year Tudor Royal Dynasty, which paved the way for her successor, King James I, the first Stuart monarch. 
 
ROBERT DUDLEY 
 
It has been ascertained however that Elisabeth did have certain close male favourites  among her court, the most famous of which was nobleman Robert Dudley (1532 - 1588) the 1st Earl of Leicester, who was the son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland and Jane Guildford and the older brother of Guildford Dudley the husband of the Nine Day Queen, Lady Jane Grey.  
Despite having a special friendship with the queen Dudley was actually married to Amy Robsart (1532 - 1560) the daughter of Sir John Robsart and Elizabeth Scott.  
Amy died in suspicious circumstances after suffering a broken neck following a mysterious fall down a flight of stairs at her home, Cumnor Place in Oxford, in 1560. Some have said that her death was organised by Darnley in order that he could marry Elisabeth, but the ensuing nationwide scandal that followed Amy's death meant that the queen could never marry him.   
  
LETTICE KNOLLYS
 
Eighteen years after his first wife's death Dudley married widow and mother of five Lettice Knollys (1443 - 1634) the daughter of Sir Francis Knollys and Catherine Carey, the widow of Walter Devereux (1541 - 1601), grand niece of Elizabeth's mother Anne Boleyn and mother of another of the queen's favourites Robert Devereux (1565 - 1601). 
 
Darnely and Lettice were married in a secret ceremony at his home in Essex on the 21st of September 1578. Their union produced no heirs but flourished for ten years before Lettice was widowed in 1588. Throughout her marriage to Darnley Lettice had been banished from the Royal Court by Queen Elisabeth, something which didn't really bother her as she was devoted to her children and spent all of her time with either them or her grandchildren. 
 
After Darnley's death in 1588 Lettice was persuaded to marry one of his cousin's, Sir Christopher Blount. They were married in the March of 1589 and this union also produced no heirs.  
Blount, who was a staunch Catholic, was actually a spymaster and a conspirator in the rebellion of 1601. These actions led to his eventual execution for treason later in the same year, leaving Lettice once again a widow.
Despite living for another thirty three years Lettice never remarried, preferring instead to spend her time with her children and grandchildren at her country estate in Staffordshire.  
Lettice died whilst asleep in her chair on Christmas Day 1634 at the grand old age of 91.  
She had previously expressed a wish to be buried near her former husband, Robert Darnley, who had been interred in the Beauchamp Chapel of the Collegiate Church of St Mary in Warwick way back in 1588.  
Her wish was granted and she was buried alongside him in the January of 1635.
 
* Puerperal Fever otherwise known as Childbed Fever is an infection that goes on to cause septaceamia and is contracted by women after childbirth. It claimed the lives of thousands of women in olden times, but is successfully treated with the use of antibiotics today.