Queen Elizabeth I
Queen Elizabeth I grew up in a complex and difficult conditions. She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Her mother died when she was only two years old. Henry VIII ordered the beheading of Boleyn based on claims that she had committed t that she had committed adultery and conspiracy. Immediately after the death of her mother, the king declared Elizabeth and her older half-sister, Mary illegitimate heir to the throne. They were however later reinstated as potential heirs.
Elizabeth I faced many problems at the beginning of her reign in 1558. The problems bordered on either how she should run the country or who she was. Elizabeth I faced problems in three major areas, including marriage, religion, and foreign politics. After assuming power, many people were worried because she was not married and childless. This could have been an issue because, as the last of the Tudor line, there was pressure on her to bear a child to continue the Tudor name and become the rightful heir after her death.
Elizabeth I assumed power when was great tension between the Roman Catholic and the Protestants. She inherited a couple of problems orchestrated by Mary. After she was rejected by people of Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots returned to England but Elizabeth kept her a virtual prisoner on suspicions that she could raise Catholic support and take the throne of England. In order to address the situation, she called for the passage of the Act of Supremacy, re-established the Act of Uniformity and the Church of England. She took a restrained approach to the religious conflict in England between the Catholics and Puritans. In 1585, Elizabeth started supporting Protestant rebellion against the Spanish in Netherlands. In response, Spain embarked on a task to overthrow protestant England, but England defeated the infamous Spanish Armada in 1588.
