Elizabeth th I hears of Mary y I’s death
The princess learnss of her half-sister’s demise, and her own ascent ent to the English throne
Forthe daughters of Henry ry VIII, 17 November 1558 was a day of tragedy and apotheosis. For months, Mary I, England’s first undisputed puted reigning queen, had been ailing. ing. After a controversial five-year reign,n, she was suffering from ‘dropsy’ (possiblysibly uterine cancer). Reporting to her husband, sband, Philip II of Spain, one observer ver warned that there was “no hope of herer life”. Early on the 17th, in bed at St James’ses’s Palace, Mary was given her last communion. munion. Moments later, she lost consciousness. ciousness. By midday she was dead.
Legend has it that Mary’s half-sister, Elizabeth, was reading beneath ath a tree at Hatfield House, in Hertfordshire, rdshire, when the council arrived with th the news. Just 25 years old, she had ad recently spent months under house arrest.rrest. Now she was queen. According to one account, she fell to her knees.. “This is the Lord’s doing: it is marvellous lous in our eyes,” she reportedly said.
Another version of the storyry has Elizabeth delivering a remarkably kably polished speech to the visiting ng delegation. “My lords, the laww of nature moves me to sorrow for my sister; the burden that is fallen upon me makes me amazed, and yet, considering g I am God’s creature, ordainedd to obey his appointment, I will ill thereto yield,” she began. Cleverly,everly, she flattered her visitors, beggingging them “to be assistant to me, that I with my ruling and you withh your service may make a good accountount to Almighty God and leave someome comfort to our posterity on earth.”arth.” With these words, Elizabeth had started as she meant to go onn – as a consummate politician.