Day 8 of the Anne Boleyn Files Advent Calendar

I loved it and the theatrical part of it was amazing, now there are no such figures representing biblical characters and mythological figures in modern coronations, it must have been stunning to watch the pomp the colour and Elizabeth must especially have loved the display of herself with her parents and grandparents which as Roland states, declared her Plantaganet blood and right to rule, I had not heard about the concern regarding who would perform the ceremony, if Archbishop Cranmer were alive no doubt he would have crowned Elizabeth, it was the issue about the catholic rites of consecrating the host which proved a thorn in the side of the ceremony, Elizabeth must have been irked over what we would call today a piece of trivia, but yes England had not long buried Mary her Catholic queen and now she was about to crown a Protestant one, we can see how difficult it would have been for the Catholic clergy to perform a ceremony without the Catholic rituals that went with it, however apart from that the day went well and Elizabeth from what we see of her portrait must have looked stunning, a faerie queen no less which is how one writer later eulogised her, all clad in gold and silver and ermine with her glorious long red/ gold Tudor hair tumbling past her shoulders and down her back, in her old age she was to say she had never been handsome but I think she had inherited her mothers trick into making people believe she actually was, they both had that charisma that made them the centre of attention be they queen or commoner, she was the offspring of two dazzling personalities and like her father was approachable and knew how to woo people over, in his youth Henry V111 had appeared to the public like a glittering God, it was how he liked to portray himself, Kings were not ordinary people they possessed the mystique of majesty and they dressed the part, he would go amongst them and banter and joke and even put his arms around them, they loved him for it, no cold distant monarch was Henry V111 and Elizabeth inherited that quality of his, in striking contrast to her mother whom the people had hated they adored her daughter, who with her lily white pink and rose skin reddish hair and tall stately build reminded them of her father, she would stop to each member of the crowd who wished to speak with her and give her a posy or a little trinket, she was gracious and polite and always a popular princess now her popularity was magnified by her high office, the fires of Smithfied had ceased smouldering but there were many Londoners who must have lost loved ones in the dreadful fires, there were many Protestants who had fled abroad during Marys reign including Elizabeths cousins, the Knolleys family who would return joyfully now Elizabeth was queen, like her mother before her and countless monarchs before and since, Elizabeth however much she revelled in the ceremony, must have longed for it to end so she could return to the quiet solitude of her bedchamber, and have a scented sachet placed on her brow and a glass of sweet wine whilst her ladies fussed round her and sang softly whilst strumming from a lute, this was a day of triumph for her and it must have been a treat for the Londoners to in the bleak days of January, Christmas not long been over now they had another celebration, congratulations to Queen Elizabeth 1st, the baby girl whose sex was such a disappointment to her parents that long ago day in September and who tragically lost her mother when she was so young, had made it against all adversity to become Englands monarch, the path she had trod had been wary and fraught with danger, she had been called bastard and some had cast doubt on her parentage including her own sister who had remarked on her resemblance to Mark Smeaton, Mary was not unkind but she could not forget the insults of Anne Boleyn and as she grew older, her younger sister began to irk her with her refusal to attend mass and her facial likeness to that dead queen, Elizabeth had suffered imprisonment in the dreaded Tower and must have been tormented by her mothers sad shade, Lady Jane had not long been executed and she feared the same would happen to her, in despair she declared she would have only the French sword a tragic reference to her mother if she were condemned to die, she had then been freed but lived under the trick supervision of Sir Henry Bedinfield whom she bitterly referred to as her gaoler, we can see her childhood and teenage years were turbulent and she had had to learn absolute discretion and wisdom beyond her years, she had been the subject of possible child abuse by her stepfather Sir Thomas Seymour and suffered the pain of banishment from her beloved stepmother the gentle Catherine Parr, she must have wept on the news of her death, when young she must have suffered more on the death of her fifth stepmother Catherine Howard who had also been her cousin, it seemed the fates had guided Elizabeths footsteps to greatness for she had survived to inherit Englands ancient crown, and that day when she was sat in the chair of King Edward in the hall of Westminster whilst the symbols of royalty, the orb and the sceptre were placed in her hands and the crown was placed on her head, she must have thanked God and the holy mother and all the angels in heaven for what had come to pass, Elizabeth the discarded daughter of an executed mother, whose name invoked such strong feelings amongst her enemies and those that had loved her, was now Queen of this ancient realm of England, there had only ever been two queens before her, her unfortunate sister Mary whose reign sadly has often been referred to as a failure by some historians, though stoic and brave she made some disastrous decisions in her reign and her early death meant she could not amend those errors, and Matilda the volatile troublesome and very arrogant daughter of Henry 1st who was betrayed by her own cousin Stephen of Blois when he made a bid for the crown and successfully deposed her, she managed to win it back but she did not learn humility and alienated her once loyal barons who turned on her, she lost her crown a second time and never regained it, Elizabeth was well aware there were tough times ahead but she was determined to rule wisely by her people and together with the wily William Cecil whom she appointed her chief minister, she was a formidable ruler.