The Lady Elizabeth
By Henry Tudor

She understands me well enough
Her brain is full of clever stuff.
Her brother and sister still love her so
They do not consider her a foe.

Poor old Edward, sick of breath
Won’t live long, an early death.
From her position on the wall
She watched as Mary began to fall.

And Mary’s throne, did she berate
By marrying Spain, that people hate.
So the people sick of fire and death
Told poor Mary in one whole breath.

Give us back old Harry’s Church
We were freer then, not in the lurch.
The smoke never cleared, the people never cheered
And Mary the Queen never revered.

She took the gauntlet to the throne
Elizabeth, finally came home.
She will fight the Spanish, from their claim
And England’s land they’ll never gain.

She’ll be the greatest monarch seen
She’s not a lady, she is Our Queen!



Q1.
Hi Elizabeth
I realise your website is new and you are working hard to get it up and running, but I could ask your Father in his website, www.HenryTudor.co.uk , I thought I'd ask you instead.
Is it true the the rymne Goosy Goosy Gander was a product of the reformation?

About time too, thought you would never get to the point. I've grown old waiting.

Yes! The nursery rymne was a product of the mid 1500's. It was about priest-holes, not the priest hiding from the soldiers but the Priest hiding to keep an eye on the house residents religious antics.

Goosie goosie gander where shall I wander,
Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,
I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.

You cannot blame that one on the Tudors!

Q2.
Did you hate your Father?

Not exactly hate him, he saddened me that he couldn't stop the death of my Mother in that hideous manner. He gave the job to his councillors to find evidence to rid himself of my Mother, for that I cannot forgive him. He was weak in the face of public anger against her for not having a son after losing the Queen they all loved dearly, Katherine. My Sister Mary has much more to hate Henry than me, he took away her Royalty as he did mine, he reduced her Mother to a poor Lady and he took away her church. I didn't find the whole truth about my Mother until I was about 8 year's old, at the time of Queen Catherine Howards execution it was. I remember it so clearly now, I asked why she was being killed and was told she had betrayed the King as my Mother had! I asked if my Mother had died the same, no-one would answer me to my face, I had to be told by my friend and Lady in waiting the terrible truth. Then I hated Father, but my hate turned to sadness when my intelligence accepted his weakness, his fear of showing too much mercy and for bowing to the wishes of his court and the peoples opinions.
My position must not be seen as a time for revenge, I am to be the monarch who began growth, who brought the country out of the darkages. Revenge can take many a new route to the goal, I can write the history books.

Q3. Was Dudley really your boyfriend?

I never had a boyfriend as Queen of England. Remember we Royals are two persons!
I did have a boyfriend as Elizabeth Tudor and yes, it was Dudley. My other self is my private life and must not enter the Royal side at any time. My Father only ever gave in to the private side in his life and that was when he married Jane as Henry Tudor before he married her again as King Henry VIII. Well I am the same, I am married to England and I will be a faithful wife.
Robert would have been my choice as a husband and a father to children but circumstances prevailed and we never took it any further than very good friends. I think I insulted him politically though, when I suggested to Mary Stuart that she could marry Robert and that would bring her nearer to my succession with the approval of my court. He went cold in our friendship after that. Instead she went and married that weasle Darnley who had the Henry IX title firmly fixed in his head.

Q4. Is it true that you were scared of mice and rats?

Oh! Why ask that question? I hate those horrible creatures. I will stand on chairs at the thought of them near me. Going down the river in a barge to the water gates at the Tower of London was the worse journey of my life. You call it "traitors gate" now and it even had a bad reputation in my day. Mary had sent me there and I thought I would never come out again alive. There were rats in the river, near the slipway their presence will haunt me for the rest of my life. Y'know I'm sure that these vermin have something to do with plague, but I am just so scared of their fast movements, their dirty hairs and their apparent lack of fear.
Please don't ask me any more horrible questions like that again.

Q5. Is it true about the Ring you gave Essex?

Yes I gave Essex a Ring but the story of his death because he couldn't get the ring to me in time is made up and romanticised. He plotted against me and had to die for the crime of treason, it upset me so much. The ring was a symbol of our friendship, or to put it correctly, a symbol of his closeness to the throne and of his position as close advisor to me. A position he eventually abused.

Q6. Are Black and White Tudor houses the correct colour?

Not a silly question! As a matter of fact they are not, they should be silvery grey wood and cream wattle and daub.
Now why are they Black and White? It's all down to those Victorians. A Folly.
In the industrial revolution the making of iron and steel moved from Wood/Charcoal to Coal/Coke for fueling the blast furnaces. Now to make Coke, you take coal and heat it in a closed oven, the tar all melts out to leave behind Coke.
The Victorians were left with tons of Tar, why they didn't cover the cobbled streets with the stuff I'll never know. They made soap, paint, a form of plastic like bakelite. They decided in their wisdom to paint the old wooden structures to "protect" them from the weather. Alas, this just made matters worse because the wood couldn't breathe and dry out, so it rotted quicker. They did however realise their error and when they painted the railway sleepers they dipped them fully in the molten tar.
No wonder Victoria always wore black eh!

Q7. Is it true that you gave your closest courtiers Nicknames, and that this became a status symbol?

Yes.
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester,  "eyes",
William Cecil was "spirit",
Robert Cecil was "pigmy" or "elf",
Sir Christopher Hatton was "mutton" or "lids",
Francis Walsingham was "moor",
She even nicknamed her political suitor, Francis, Duke of Alencon, was "frog".

The funniest nickname of all was by accident!

Walter Raleigh introduced himself with a West Country accent. "......Wa'ter Raleigh" instead of pronouncing the letter L.
So I called him "Water".

The fact that these people got so close to me and I afforded them a personal nickname became their qualification in social circles and so became a high status.

I mentioned Sir Christopher Hatton, well I rewarded him with the house in London that the Bishop of London had previously occupied. He loved flowers and gardening, his house became a fashionable place to live and only rich merchants could afford to live there, usually diamond dealers from Holland. They called the area around Sir Christophers house "Hatton Gardens" and even in 2005 it is still the centre of the Diamond trade.

Q8. Did you like the Potato that Walter Raleigh brought you from America?

Hmm. Think about it! It takes 6 weeks to sail from the Americas, a Potato ,I believe, will rot in that time. Walter brought over some Potato's and sailed to his estate in Ireland first , Youghal near Cork. He planted them as seed potato's and grew a crop, he then repeated this over most of his land after he had tested the local population. Walter then brought potato's to my court 2 years after he had originally collected them. My cook did not know how to cook them and thought the white bulbus bit at the bottom was not the vegetable so she threw the actual potato away, cooking the green stems and leaves. Did you know that the plant end of a potato is poisonous! Well the first time I tasted a potato plant all my court was sick! Walter was out of favour for a short while until he explained how to cook the actual potato. The next time I ate the potato was with Walter himself to make sure he survived.

Q9. The clothes you wore seemed to be very flamboyant and uncomfortable, why did you choose such clothes?

Obviously a man.
To be a popular Queen was not hard after the ruinous Mary, the people wanted to see me so I gave tham a spectacle to view. Other monarch's across Europe were waiting for me to fail, some were hoping for me to fail, so to dress in the best materials, flamboyantly showing them I am a successful Queen and that the people loved me, was the main aim of this appearance. After a while of course it becomes excepted that I would create a fashion for other dignitries to follow insted of that French look that they used to copy.
I must say thought that in summer it was uncomfortable due to the heat and those collars are so stiff that make my neck ache, we women suffer for our fashion!


Q10. From Judith, What were you really like?

I will tell you in installments.

Hi Judith

When I was young my Mother, Ann, died. I can only remember her vaguely because I was only about 2 years old, she was nice and loved me a lot, and it was when I was 8 years old I found out how she had died. I had found out my step mother Queen Catherine Howard was executed for treason and someone told me that my Mother had died the same way! This really upset me; I found out my Father, the King had not tried to stop the execution because he had already found another woman for his wife. She was called Jane. I began to fear and hate my Father after that.
My sister Mary was also mean to me, her Mother Queen Catherine of Aragon had been divorced from father and had just died alone away from the people she loved, I came along and she resented my presence. Not just jealousy but the fact that I was not a Roman Catholic like her, I was in the new Church of England and that made matters worse between us. When my brother was born, Edward, we all thought that Father would settle down now and forget the problem of heir to the throne, but no Edwards Mother, Queen Jane she died only 14 days after the birth. The worse thing that happened to Mary was that Father ordered her to look after Edward and me like a nursery nurse, when she was a real princess, her hatred of me and Father just got worse to the extent that she became focussed on revenge. When Father died, Edward was now King of England but he was too young to rule so his Uncles, the brothers of Jane Seymour looked after England. They were Protestants and that changed the country too much in one go. Edward died young and then his cousin was put on the throne to try and keep Mary off it, we all knew she would change the church back to Roman Catholic, marry a foreign King and take revenge on the people who had upset her the most.
Young Lady Jane Grey was Queen for only 9 days, the Seymour’s and Greys had put her there as a Protestant Queen, she really did not want to be Queen at all and because she was the grand daughter of King Henry’s sister Mary Tudor, she became the logical choice of the Protestants. Mary took the throne back and Jane was executed for treason along with her Father and Uncles. Queen Mary was a nasty person, she took revenge on her old enemies, she forced me into near-solitary confinement and I even ended up in the Tower of London. She married the King of Spain, but never had children; she executed Protestant clergy and anybody who supported them. She was called “Bloody Mary” after the blood on her murderous hands. I thought I was going to be killed but one day when I the Tower I found out Mary had died. I came out of the Tower of London, Queen Elizabeth I.
I decided that my life would be long and dedicated to healing the country of the mess my family had caused; I would not marry, not have children and not castigate people for their religion.

Q10.
From Judith
What really happened to Lady Dudley?

Robert Dudley was married to Amy Robsart when he became my constant companion. Amy was a faithful wife but quite sick with Breast Cancer which was kept secret from their own household. She died after a fall down some stairs in a state of fever at the same time that Robert was back home with her. Many cruel tongues put two and two together wrongly and spread rumours that Robert had pushed Amy to get her out of the way so he could be closer to me. Far from the truth, Robert was heartbroken by his wife’s death, he knew there was never to be a romantic future with me so why the rumours? I tried to clear his name many times, gave him more responsibilities in the Royal household, I even offered his hand in marriage to my cousin, Mary Queen of the Scots to show I recognised her position regarding future English and Scottish rule. Robert eventually married again, to my delight, to a lovely Lady called Lettice Knollys who was also my friend and confidant.
There is always be vindictive people out there who are trying to bring you down for their own personal gain, Robert and Amy were victims of their sharp tongues.


Q11. Can you write some of your poetry for me?

Two Poems I enjoyed writing

On Monsieur's Departure

I grieve and dare not show my discontent,
I love and yet am forced to seem to hate,
I do, yet dare not say I ever meant,
I seem stark mute but inwardly do prate.
I am and not, I freeze and yet am burned,
Since from myself another self I turned.

My care is like my shadow in the sun,
Follows me flying, flies when I pursue it,
Stands and lies by me, doth what I have done.
His too familiar care doth make me rue it.
No means I find to rid him from my breast,
Till by the end of things it be supprest.

Some gentler passion slide into my mind,
For I am soft and made of melting snow;
Or be more cruel, love, and so be kind.
Let me or float or sink, be high or low.
Or let me live with some more sweet content,
Or die and so forget what love ere meant.

Queen Elizabeth's most famous, and perhaps most accomplished, poem.
It is popularly known as "On Monsieur's Departure", but there is no evidence
to connect it with the departure from England of the Queen's last political suitor,
Francis, Duke of Alencon.




Now Leave And Let Me Rest

Now leave and let me rest. Dame Pleasure, be content-
Go choose among the best; my doting days be spent.
By sundry signs I see thy proffers are but vain,
And wisdom warneth me that pleasure asketh pain;
And Nature that doth know how time her steps doth try,
Gives place to painful woe, and bids me learn to die.

Since all fair earthly things, soon ripe, will soon be rot
And all that pleasant springs, soon withered, soon forgot,
And youth that yields men joys that wanton lust desires
In age repents the toys that reckless youth requires.
All which delights I leave to such as folly trains
By pleasures to deceive, till they do feel the pains.

And from vain pleasures past I fly, and fain would know
The happy life at last whereto I hope to go.
For words or wise reports ne yet examples gone
'Gan bridle youthful sports, till age came stealing on.
The pleasant courtly games that I do pleasure in,
My elder years now shames such folly to begin.

And all the fancies strange that fond delight brought forth
I do intend to change, and count them nothing worth.
For I by proffers vain am taught to know the skill
What might have been forborne in my young reckless will;
By which good proof I fleet from will to wit again,
In hope to set my feet in surety to remain.

Q12. From Beth
Can you show me the last letter you recieved from Robert Dudley just before he died. Can you also translate it for me to read.



Q 13 to Q 20
Dear Elizabeth
I would be forever grateful if your grace would take the time to answer my questions.

1. Have you ever hated your father the late Henry VIII for what he did to your mother?
2. Did you ever pay any tribute to your mother during your long 45 year reign as queen?
3. Did you ever love your sister Mary?
4. If things were different and you never became queen would you have married?
5. Why did you choose James as the next person in line to the throne? Why did you not have an heir to prevent this?
6. Do you think that if you had a male heir he would have tried to outshine you in the people’s hearts and minds?
7. If you did marry, who would have you really have married?
Please your Grace, answer my questions because it would make my day.

Such a lot of questioning, so I will try my best one at a time.

1. I never knew how my Mother died until the day Catherine Howard died on the block for high treason. I was 8 years old and I overheard someone in the court say that she died like my Mother, Anne. I then formally asked my lady-in-waiting to tell me the truth and because I was 8 years old and old enough in law to be promised in marriage and to work, she told me the facts. Yes I was very upset, I knew it was not all my father’s fault because I then understood the working of the Royal court politics and that my Mother was accused of being a witch and bewitching my father into marriage and trying to take the proceedings from the Monastery lands for her own use. I was upset and still am at the harsh treatment my Mother received and why my Father did not just divorce her, for this I will always mistrust the courts.
2. I gave my family, the Bollins (Boleyns), their land back. Hever Castle, after the death of Anna Von Kleve and my father’s confiscation. I had my favourite playwright William Shakespeare write an account of King Henry VIII in a play which lowered his prowess and increased the standing of my Mother. This was a subtle method of increasing the feeling towards Mother by the people of England as they hated her for the removal of Katherine.
3. I was frightened of Mary my sister, she was many years my senior and she hated me for what my Mother had started. When Katerina and Fathers marriage was annulled it meant Mary was illegitimate and she was demoted to the position of Lady Mary from Princess Mary. She resented this greatly, until it happened to me too, just before my Mothers execution her marriage was annulled too. Mary saw that she was going to be the next monarch because Fitzroy had died young, but along came Edward to take even this away from her. Trouble is, Mary was ordered to look after me and Edward rubbing salt in the wounds. I became scared of Mary when I saw what she had done to our cousin Jane Grey; I knew she was capable of doing it to me too.
4. I never married because; I did not want the man to take my throne as he would have. I would also be responsible for the end of the Tudor name. I had dallied with Seymour when I was a young girl, then for many years with Leicester and finally a coy relationship with a much younger man, Essex. I did not really want a husband, even when I had many men asking. See my website for their pictures and names.
5. James VI of Scotland was the only one left because of the murder of Henry Darnley, his father. I suspect Mary Stuart to have been the main culprit there. The Spanish seem to think they have a claim because of Mary’s marriage but my people would never accept this. I was Queen for 50 years; babies come between 12 and 25 years of age in Tudor times. So you see my biological clock had stopped ticking.
6. Yes. Being on the throne as a woman alone has many problems but now add a male heir into the equation and from his age of about 18 he would have been primed to take over. This would have returned the country to the status quo of male monarchs and I would have been forced to abdicate in his favour. I suppose I wouldn’t have mined had I a real family to look after.
7. I would have married Leicester, but his reputation for being a lady’s man and the suspicious way his first wife died on the steps of his house would have cast a long shadow over the relationship. Essex was far too young for me and I was well past my prime and fertility age. I suppose Darnley was a political candidate for marriage as his family and mine were well connected. He would have supported my reign but becoming King he would have stopped many of the domestic changes I put into place. Darnley was a spoilt, selfish and not too clever person so I believe I would still have been the power behind the throne.
So you see, there is really non left that I would have married.

Q.21. Hi Elizabeth
Christopher Hatton was your favourite, but always in bed debt, why did you put up with this?

I liked Christopher as a person and I respected his academic ability, but alas is management of money was poor, in fact I suspect he was a gambler.
I paid off his debts and he sold off his house, I gave him free rented accommodation in London and told Hatton to find something else to do with your mind except gambling. He took up gardening. His garden was wondrous and many rich merchants wanted to live near the House, it attracted diamond dealers from Holland and they set up their workshops near this new Chic place to live. It became known as Hatton Gardens!
Here is a picture of Christopher’s own original house at Prestiegn, lost to bad debts.

ElizabethR


Q.22. Hi Elizabeth
What treasonable things did your half brother get up to?
Hi Elizabeth, how tacky!
Ah a trick question. I like them.
It is true that I did indeed have half brothers, one Henry Carey never a traitor always one of my most loyal close courtiers, whilst the other that Thomas Stuckley he went too far with his plans to invade England and put himself on the throne. My throne!
My spies knew everything, he was talking to the Spanish and Irish who wanted to be rid of my protestant and female ways, he declare himself a direct bred Tudor and even tried to emulate Father with his stupid gung ho antics. He died after off the African coast after a battle of Alcazar, Morocco. Good riddance. Lost his head I believe.

Many Questions from Jade

Dear Elizabeth.
Q.23
Why did you make James your successor if his mother tried to kill you?
James hated his Mother, she had been instrumental in the murder of his father, King Henry Darnley, my cousin.
Mary Stuart was a conniving, murderous traitor and she got what she deserved, poor old James did not deserve such a wanton Mother. James was the next in line for the Throne and he had a bonus too, he was a staunch Protestant.
Q.24
Why did it take you so long to decide what to do about Mary queen of Scots?
Killing a Queen of our own Royal blood, remember, she was the granddaughter of my Father’s sister. The fact that she was supported by the Spanish and the Pope it could have caused an invasion. In the end her execution was rushed by my own courtiers who took the signed execution order and immediately had her beheaded before I could change my mind. I wrote a letter apologising the misdeed to her son.
Q.25
Why wouldn’t you marry an Englishman?
The laws of marriage were in favour of the man, “What’s mine is mine, what’s yours is mine!” I could not bring myself to marry away my country. The only man I loved was Dudley and he had a cloudy history when his first wife died in mysterious circumstances. Who else was worthy enough to be the next King of England, None!
So I married my people and stayed as Queen and King together.
Q.26
What is the poor law?
There are three kinds of Poor people. 1. They cannot help it, it is their circumstances and so must be helped my the Manors around England. 2. There are the poor in difficult circumstances due to conditions beyond their own doing, they will be helped by the Manors to get back into work and so feed themselves. 3. Then there are the vagabonds and lazy poor, they need to be whipped and made to work, after three attempts to make them work and they fail, hang then.
Q.27
How did you clear England’s debts?
England’s debt’s were mainly caused by the excesses of my dear Father, the spending of the Seymour’s and the Dudley’s with Edward, and then the idiotic fantasies of Mary and her Church revival. I inherited a broke nation but managed to restore her wealth by hard work, trading and stealing it from the Catholic nations by way of Francis Drake and his like.
Q.28
Why did you kill your cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, when you could have just imprisoned her?
We caught her red handed passing instructions to Spain for an invasion, that is clear treason.
Q.29
Why didn’t you marry Phillip of Spain?
I would never marry a Catholic and so give away my country to another nation bent on killing me and invading.

Q.30
Hey Elizabeth...

I have a few questions for you.

Can u tell me your complete plan for the Armada!!!
Did Philip propose to you.....and if yes what did you do??

Thanks...

NM


Philip offered me his son as a husband but Yuk! The man was hideous,
Hapsburg chins do nothing for me.
I had intended never to marry as the marriage laws were aimed at men and I
would have married away England as my Sister did with Philip. he thought
he own England and came to collect with his Armada.

The plan was easy, they had large cumbersome ships, we had smaller and
Nimble ones, we mounted guns fore and aft and weaved in and out firing at
them when could not fire back with their broadside mounted cannons. We
forced them into the Channel and blockaded the southern exit, this made
them sail right around the northern coast of Britain and Ireland just to
get home. The weather was atrocious, they foundered along the northern
coasts. England and the Weather won led by Gloriana, so who needs a
husband?

Elizabeth R


Q.31. Hi Elizabeth
Who was Walter Williams, a Welshman I think.

I can tell when someone knows the answer and is just testing me.
Mr. Memory is all I should say to you. Now for the others who are not in the loop.

Walter Williams was indeed a Welshman who had a formidable memory, he could bring back exact details from a document after weeks in his head after just one reading. Now what you should now say is “what good is that?”
Take away your internet, computers, compact discs and telephones. How do we contact our underground friends in catholic countries without sending them written instructions? The other side would try to ambush our couriers, steal our documents and use them against us politically, also put our spies at risk of execution for treason.
We use our best courier ever, Walter Williams who can remember all our information, dress up as a genuine looking traveller or merchant and who can then contact our spies and give them our instructions. He was managed by Francis Walsingham who is my best political spy master.



Q.32. Hi Elizabeth

How much did you pay your spymaster Walsingham?

Not a lot for the amount of work he undertakes, £100 per year which equates to about £20,000 of your pounds. I granted to him the lease rights of the custom docks on the South coast of England, for which he needed to access anyhow in order to check the incoming visitors, he takes the rents and landing fees and pays the lease to the crown. He makes a profit of about 50%, or so he says, more like 60%. I do have the reputation of being rather tight with money, I must have got it from my grandfather Henry VII who was considered to be a miser.