ABSTRACT
Elizabeth was born on 7 September 1533 in Greenwich Palace in a large ornate bed once given to England as tribute by the King of France, which her father had ordered taken out of storage for the occasion. Yet few Catholics were to gain much pleasure from that coincidence, for Elizabeth was, quite literally, the child of the English Reformation. Henry’s last wife was to prove to have the most influence on her, becoming the closest person to a real mother the girl had ever known. Emotion, far more than political sagacity, prompted Elizabeth not only to remain a virgin, but to turn her unfulfilled love for one man into an affair with the whole of her people. The queen wooed her subjects through a series of pageants, processions, and displays. Elizabeth, however, had to suffer many scars before enjoying the sweetness of her patrimony.
