Henry VIII's Children

Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII. Her mother was Anne Boleyn. Queen Anne was very beautiful. Remember, she was the second wife of Henry VIII. He divorced his first wife Catherine, because she did not give him a son.

Anne promised that their child would be a son, so when Elizabeth was born, it was a huge disappointment. Queen Anne had three miscarriages after Elizabeth's birth and the king was not happy. Henry was convinced Anne would never bare a son, so he had her arrested for treason for some flimsy reason. She was locked in the Tower of London and four days later, she was executed. They chopped off her head!

Only two weeks later, King Henry VIII remarried. Her name was Jane Seymour and she quickly got pregnant and luckily enough had a son. Unfortunately, Jane got really sick and died a few days later.

Things did not look good for Elizabeth. She was the second daughter from a denounced marriage, where her own mother was killed by her father. In her father's eyes, she was no longer a princess. She was sent to live far away from her father. She hardly ever saw him.

But Elizabeth grew up well. She was incredibly smart and was surrounded by people who loved her. Elizabeth studied math, history, literature, astronomy and geography. She especially loved reading books in Latin and Greek. She knew five languages besides English: Italian, Spanish, Greek, and Latin.

When Elizabeth I turned thirteen, her father died. Her brother Edward became king, but he was a sick thing and did not last long. So he died when he was fifteen and the crown went to Elizabeth's older sister Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII first wife Catherine.

Now this is really important. Catherine and Mary were extremely devoted Catholics. But Elizabeth and Edward had been raised Protestant. Their father had accidentally become an important leader of the Reformation, because he wanted to divorce Catherine (Mary's mother) to marry Anne (Elizabeth's mother). The Catholic Church absolutely forbid it, so Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church and told everyone in England that he was now the leader of the church in England. But Henry VIII still was a Catholic, even though he disagreed with the Church not letting him get a divorce.

Confused yet?

Henry wanted to be in charge! He was the King! No Pope was going to tell him what to do.

Remember...Mary was now the queen, but a lot of people in England did not like the Catholic Church and the last monarch, her brother Edward didn't like the Catholic Church either. It was a very dangerous time in England because things were changing and most of the time, people in power do not like change.

So what was Mary supposed to do? She was now the queen. She decided that she was going to make everyone be Catholic again. But what if you didn't want to be a Catholic? Simple enough, Mary had those people burned at the stake! More than 250 people were killed like this and it didn't make people like Mary very much. They gave her a wretched nickname, Bloody Mary.

Not only did Mary not like people who weren't Catholic, she also did not like her half-sister Elizabeth. After all, Mary's poor mother Catherine was discarded and thrown away by Henry to marry Elizabeth's mother Anne Boleyn. This was a humiliating thing. Mary was also suspicious that Elizabeth was a Protestant and not a devoted Catholic.

So what did Mary do to Elizabeth? Simple enough. She had her thrown into jail! Elizabeth now found herself in the Tower of London like her mother before her. Things did not end well for Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth was very afraid that the same thing was going to happen to her. She had to be really careful what she said and did. The littlest thing could be the excuse Mary was looking for to be able to chop off her head.

The Tower of London

Elizabeth was kept in the Tower of London for two long months, never knowing if she would live or die. Finally, Queen Mary released her sister, but put her under house arrest for a year in a nearby palace. She was watched closely so she had to be really careful what she said and did.

Meanwhile, Mary was desperately trying to have a child. She was married to Phillip of Spain. Phillip was the son of Ferdinand and Isabella. Do you know who they were? They were the ones that gave Christopher Columbus the money to sail west, where he accidentally discovered America! Anyways, Mary wanted to have a child, but it didn't work out so well for her. Instead of getting pregnant, she got really sick with cancer and died.

On her deathbed, Mary declared that Elizabeth should be the next queen. Elizabeth was sitting under a tree reading a book when two officers came racing towards her. Can you imagine how scared she might have been? What if they were coming to arrest her again, and this time kill her? But no, the men presented Elizabeth with the royal ring. It was the one Mary had worn. Elizabeth said a prayer of gratitude, in Latin. She must have been very glad that she survived Mary's rule. Now she was queen. Elizabeth was only 25 years-old.

On January 15, 1559, Elizabeth was crowned queen of England at the famous Westminster Abbey in London.

Elizabeth had learned a lot over the past ten years. She knew how people close to her could turn against her. She would have to be careful and smart if she was going to remain queen.