Celebrating the new Queen! Elizabeth I's grand coronation
- Sira Barbeito
- 8 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Mary’s cheeks used to be reddish and full of life. In other worlds, eons ago, she was called the pearl of the kingdom by her parents, King Henry VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon, and at court. Her beauty and grace were praised and from an early age she has been engaged to many important personas all throughout Europe.
She became the first woman to rule England by her own right but she has also lost Calais and that monumental loss has not helped with her medical condition.
She has not been feeling well as of lately and she tells so to one of her ladies-in-waiting, Jane Dormer, nearing the end of August of 1558. Mary is alone while her husband tangles up excuse after excuse in order not to come see her after what turned out to be two false pregnancies that broke her heart, their marriage, and her hopes to leave England in good Catholic hands. Now her protestant sister, whom she loves but has a rocky relationship with due to their respective mothers and their father as well as their opposing beliefs, will inherit the throne she fought so hard to preserve. Their little brother Edward had reigned for a short period of time, consolidating Henry VIII’s new Church of England and handing Mary a country divided by faith. She has tried with all her might to protect the souls of her people and guide them back to what she thinks is the true faith, Catholicism. She restored contact with Rome and married into the Spanish royal family. But now, she is aware she has run out of options.
On 28th October and under her physician’s care, Mary I adds a codicil to her will naming Elizabeth as her successor, having agreed with her that she will preserve the Catholic faith and not reverse to Protestantism. Elizabeth, of course, said whatever was necessary for her to claim the throne and Mary finally dies alone, with no loved ones around her. Philip, her husband, has lost some family members and says he cannot attend the funeral in England; her cousin Reginald Pole is so sick and feeble that he dies after hearing about her passing; her brother, mother and father are dead and her sister might be a bit angry after she said Henry VIII was not her true father some months earlier. Not much of a comfort system she had set up.
Elizabeth received her coronation ring at Hatfield House all the while their cousin, still living in France but being the Scottish Queen, Mary Stewart, wore white in sign of mourning and thought she was the rightful heir to the English Crown. Elizabeth debated what steps should she take after the several changes to her status within the last decades since her mother’s passing. There were two Acts of Succession that marked both Mary and her as bastard daughters not deserving any right to Henry’s crown and one Act of Succession that had restored them into the line of succession but with no correction on their legitimacy status. So it was to be expected that some part of her must’ve wanted to set the record straight as soon as possible and declare herself Henry VIII’s rightful heir and princess when reaching the throne, though she was advised not to do so by Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, who claimed that "the English laws have long since pronounced, That the Crowne once worn quite taketh away all Defects whatsoever" so she needn’t act on it and should just let it run its course.
Elizabeth was twenty-five years old when the council and other peers gathered around her to swear their allegiances. She was twenty-five years old too when she said her first speech as Queen using the was not sovereign's "two bodies": the body natural and the body politic:
“My lords, the law of nature moves me to sorrow for my sister; the burden that is fallen upon me makes me amazed, and yet, considering I am God's creature, ordained to obey His appointment, I will thereto yield, desiring from the bottom of my heart that I may have assistance of His grace to be the minister of His heavenly will in this office now committed to me. And as I am but one body naturally considered, though by His permission a body politic to govern, so shall I desire you all ... to be assistant to me, that I with my ruling and you with your service may make a good account to Almighty God and leave some comfort to our posterity on earth. I mean to direct all my actions by good advice and counsel.”
On 12th January 1559, Elizabeth followed in her mother’s footsteps as she slowly travelled via Thames to the Tower of London, where all monarchs stayed before their coronation. Anne Boleyn had done the same back in 1533, only three years shy of her beheading. And just like her, Elizabeth had also been imprisoned within those same walls some time during her sister’s reign, just like Anne was. Only one of them made it out alive though it must have felt pretty ominous to walk upon those stones that had seen such high highs and such devastating lows for them both.
Two days later, Elizabeth started her procession from the Tower of London to Westminster Abbey kicking off the celebrations and long list of rituals that were due for her coronation after carefully choosing the most auspicious date alongside her astrologer, Dr John Dee.
The most important part would obviously be the ceremony at Westminster but the processions through the streets were also a key point. People could get a glimpse of their new monarch and she ought to leave a good first impression if she intended for everyone to forget she was Anne Boleyn’s daughter. Mastering her public image would be one of the forefronts of her long-lasting reign.
She wore hand-me-downs from Mary alongside a brand-new bodice and her hair down, quite like her mother almost twenty-six years prior. She was accompanied by “gentilmen, Barons, & other the nobilitie of this realme, as also with a notable trayne of goodly and beawtifull ladies, richly appoynted” and stopped along the way to watch the many pageants and musicians. Money was spent in decorating the streets with cloth and lively trumpets, fountains overflowed with wine and cheer was felt all throughout the city while everyone gathered to see their Queen. Riding behind her, as would prove to be a habit between them, was Robert Dudley leading the procession that followed. He may have been dazzled by her stunning appearance up the canopy, hair dancing on the wind, reddish gold and white clothing framing her body, almost like a regal angelic apparition.
As part of the Reformist air, she was tentatively bringing back in with her, she received an English copy of the Bible which she reverently kissed in front of everyone, promising to read it.
The very next day, Catherine Carey (her cousin, Mary Boleyn’s daughter), Lady Knollys and Lady of the Bedchamber, as well as two of her daughters, Lettice and Elizabeth, stood by Elizabeth as she regally walked the short distance from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey in order to get her long-awaited crown. Preceding her was the Duke of Norfolk holding St Edward's Crown and Bishop Owen Oglethorpe was set to officiate the mass.
That January had snowed and it was a cold morning, so she was properly protected by a canopy over her head and a comfortable carpet under her feet. She once again had no choice but to reuse Mary’s attire and cover it with a red and gold mantle of embroidered silk which she would wear until she changed to another red number, covered this time by a golden mantle. She kept tiptoeing between Catholicism and Protestantism all over the ceremony, taking her Communion out of public sight and having the gospel read not only in Latin, as was Catholically custom but also in English.
Elizabeth was rapidly anointed and crowned under St Edward’s jewel before some of the noblemen swore allegiance to her before God. She then made her exit holding the ornamental orb and sceptre and the big crown in her hands, hair long and sun kissed as she departed.
Now was time to enjoy the banquet, which would go on for more than ten whole hours before the planned jousts and celebrations had to be postponed due to Elizabeth’s health as it seemed she had caught a cold the day before while out on the snow. Her ever-present servant and rumoured lover, Robert Dudley, would be one of the greatest competitors of those tournaments.
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