March 24 – Robert Rich and Penelope Devereux, an unhappy marriage and The end of Queen Elizabeth I

It was the end of the Elizabethan age the end of the Tudor dynasty, and the beginning of a new one for England and her subjects, Elizabeth’s death does sound rather like pneumonia to me, in nursing the illness is deemed the kind mans illness, as it allows the patient to slip away peacefully and the old queens passing was described as thus, like a ripe apple from a tree as one contemporary noted, before she lay on her cushions she went into like a semi trance state, it was said she would stand for some time in her apartment staring into space with one finger in her mouth, then her ladies tried to persuade her to go to bed, she declared she wished not to as she was afraid she would not leave it, this fear is common in the ill and elderly today, so they brought her cushions were she laid on the floor and conducted her business from there, she must have looked a pitiful sight and after several days they persuaded her to retire to her bed, she must have been exhausted to have given in, and it was then maybe, her ministers and other visitors saw her as she really was, divested of her regalia her make up and jewels and red wigs, they saw instead the harsh reality of their queen, an old lady with hollow sunken cheeks toothless and nearly bald with scanty white wisps of hair, the magnificent queen was gone in her place was a tired old lady, Gloriana was no more, death beckoned and Elizabeth closed her eyes and left this eternal realm for a spiritual one, her legacy lives on to this day, her many paintings adorn the walls of many a stately home an art gallery and museum, in school her main achievement is the victory over the Spanish Armada, the Golden Age is probably more a myth than reality more Tudor propaganda than fact, but the arts and literature did flourish under her, and it was an age of great exploration, and she did build the navy up into a power which her father had began but her forty four year reign was an achievement in itself, as Claire states, she ruled alone without a husband, her sisters reign had been a disaster, hundreds of years before, the Empress Matilda had caused anarchy and had lost her crown to her cousin, she never regained it, so Elizabeth really was remarkable, she had shown she was a formidable ruler she ruled with her head not her heart and for a woman that was unique, and that was the secret of her success, RIP Queen Elizabeth 1st.