Elizabeth I and Her Enemies

Born in 1533 to King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was declared illegitimate when her mother was beheaded. Restored to the line of succession with the help of Henry’s final wife, Catherine Parr, Elizabeth spent years thwarting the attentions of Catherine’s new husband, Thomas Seymour. Later, Elizabeth’s sister, Queen Mary, accused Elizabeth of treason in a plot to take the throne.

Elizabeth became queen at the age of 25, but her reign was far from safe. As a high-profile Protestant monarch surrounded by Catholics in Europe, Elizabeth was pressured to marry and produce a Protestant heir, drawing the ire of her Catholic cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots.

As Europe was being torn apart in a religious war, Elizabeth faced her greatest threat yet: Philip II of Spain, the Catholic king who built the Spanish armada, the most powerful military fleet in the world. After Philip’s defeat, Elizabeth was adored by her subjects, but there remained one enemy she was powerless to defy: old age.