Portal:Feminism/Selected biography/32

Elizabeth I (1533 - 1603) was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth (or sixth if Lady Jane Grey is included) and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born a princess, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed three years after her birth, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Along with her sister, Mary I, she was cut out of the succession by her teenage brother, Edward VI, in order to make way for the daughter-in-law of Edward's overbearing Protector and Regent, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. His will, however, was set aside, as it contravened the Third Succession Act of 1543, in which Elizabeth was named as successor provided that Mary I of England, Elizabeth's half-sister, should die without issue. In 1558, Elizabeth succeeded Mary, during whose reign she had been imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels. After the short reigns of Elizabeth's brother and sister, her forty-five years on the throne provided stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity.