Elizabeth was Queen of England from 1558-1603. During that time England was a strong country and she was a successful queen.
Many people thought Elizabeth would not last long without a powerful husband but they were proved wrong. In fact Elizabeth was very clever in not choosing a husband. She didn’t choose a husband because she didn’t want anybody taking over her throne. There were four men that she could have married but said no to. The first man was Philip of Spain. Philip of Spain had married Elizabeth’s sister Mary and was expecting Elizabeth to say yes to his proposal. Elizabeth turned him down though because she didn’t want to marry the same man as her sister and also Philip was a devout Catholic. The English didn’t like foreigners and hated Catholic ones even more. There had been a rebellion when Mary had married Philip. This was another reason why Elizabeth decided not to marry Philip.
Another man whom Elizabeth could have married was Charles of Austria. She decided against him as well though because she thought that he would use England to fight his own wars and she didn’t want England to get caught up in other countries squabbles. Elizabeth could have also married a wealthy nobleman from a powerful English family but decided against him too as if she had married him then the other noblemen could have got jealous and started a rebellion. She was also clever in not marrying a nobleman because if she kept them all guessing then they would all remain loyal as they would all think that they had a chance to get some wealth and power. The last man of which she turned down was Robert Dudley who was a good looking man and whose wife had just passed away. Elizabeth turned him down too though as she thought that he might take the chance to steal her throne away from her.
Even though Elizabeth was very clever in not choosing a husband that would take over all her power, some sexist historians will argue that although Elizabeth didn’t have