The Rainbow Portrait, c.1600 © Hatfield House
On this day, the 24th March 1603, the last monarch of the Tudor line sadly passed away. Daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I reigned as Queen of England for 45 years until she died at age 69. Having never married, Elizabeth left no heir to the throne upon her death. However, she was succeeded by her first cousin twice removed, James VI of Scotland. James became King of England and Ireland on the day of Elizabeth’s death.
But how exactly did Elizabeth die, and how did her cousin become king?
It is reported that the Queen was well in health until the autumn of 1602, but her death remains a hotly debated subject to this day. According to reports, it was around this time that many of Elizabeth’s closest friends and companions had died, such as her long-serving lady-in-waiting Katherine Howard and former favourite, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. Furthermore, she began to express regrets about her decision to execute her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, and it was recorded that Elizabeth “shed many teares and sighs, manifesting her innocence that she never gave consent to the death of that queene.” {1}
It may have been that the Queen became severely depressed, for she fell sick in March and remained in a "settled and unremovable melancholy", and sat motionless on a cushion for hours on end. {2} It was also noted that she “took to standing in her bedchamber up for 15 hours without assistance before collapsing onto the floor.” {1}
Another theory is that Elizabeth died from blood poisoning due to her constant use of led-based makeup, which was classed as a poison 31 years after her death. {1} Other suspected causes of her death include pneumonia, streptococcus, or cancer.
Because the Queen refused permission for a post-mortem to be conducted, we will never know the actual cause! But she died at Richmond Palace between two and three in the morning {1}, and by this point she had apparently lost most of her teeth, suffered hair loss, refused to be attended to and bathed {2}.
Within a few hours of her death, plans were already in motion and James was proclaimed king of England.
In the years leading up to Elizabeth’s death, her chief minister Robert Cecil had maintained secret correspondence with James to prepare for a smooth succession. As the son of Mary Queen of Scots and the great-grandson of King Henry VIII, James had always been in the running as a potential successor to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. {3} His coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on 25 July 1603.
As for Elizabeth, after her death her embalmed body was guarded in Whitehall Palace for three weeks, before being laid to rest on 28 April 1603. Thousands of people came to watch the funeral procession as it passed through London, and at the funeral itself an effigy of Elizabeth was placed on top of her coffin. Apparently, it looked so lifelike that it surprised the mourners who attended! {3}
The Queen was buried in Westminster Abbey, with her body being first placed in the vault of her grandfather, Henry VIII. In 1606, Elizabeth was moved to the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey, and placed beneath a monument to her erected by King James I. {3}
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