Elizabeth I – Born on this day in 1533

Happy birthday to Queen Elizabeth I who was born at 3pm on 7th September 1533. She was, of course, the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn.

News of Anne's pregnancy was common knowledge at court by February 1533. In the middle of February, in open court, Anne told her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, that if she wasn't pregnant soon then she would go on a pilgrimage after Easter (Chapuys to Granvelle, 23 February 1533, Vienna Archives, P.C. 228, ii. Fol. 43). Then, on the 22nd February, Anne came out of her apartment into the hall and, spotting Thomas Wyatt, told him that she had had a violent desire to eat apples a few days before and that when she told the King he'd said that it was a sign that she was pregnant, but she denied it. She then burst out laughing. (Chapuys to Granvelle, 23 February 1533, Vienna Archives, P.C. 228, ii. Fol. 43) She obviously knew that this would be gossiped about and was perfectly happy for her pregnancy to be hot news. At her coronation, on 1st June 1533, Anne was heavily pregnant.

Anne took to her chamber on 26th August 1533 and Elizabeth's birth appears to have been straightforward, although she wasn't the hoped-for prince and a letter announcing the birth of a prince had to e changed. A celebratory tournament was cancelled, but her birth was proclaimed, choristers sang a Teu Deum and a lavish christening was organised, which took place at the Church of Observant Friars in Greenwich on the 10th September 1533.

Elizabeth became queen on 17 November 1558, at the age of 25, following the death of her half-sister Mary I. She rose above her illegitimacy and the taint of being an alleged traitor's daughter to be a great queen: Elizabeth I, Gloriana.

Portrait: Portrait of Elizabeth I of England in Parliament robes with a column decorate with medallions representing the cardinal virtues of Justice, Prudence, Temperance and Fortitude and theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. Artist unknown.