ROYAL VIRAGO

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 17, 21 January 1928, Page 15

ROYAL VIRAGO

"GOOD QUEEN BESS" HER LOVE OF POWER A CHARACTER STUDY If Queen Elizabeth, who earned the name of the Royal Virago, deserved such a name it must be remembered what kind of a father and mother she had. Henry VIII. had some virtues, else he would never have earned the ■• devotion of men like More, but he was also a-coarse and brutal monster. He had. six wives in succession, . and was sometimes considerate enough to kill one before he took another. Anne Boleyn, the mother of Queen Elizabeth, had been Henry's paramour before lie married her, and within three months after she »-as crowned1 he bade her shut her eyes to his unfaithfulness. He professed to be Jealous of her, aud she was brought to the block, but no vestige of the evidence now remains. All manner of vile charges were.brought against her, and her own father and uncle .were among the judges who condemned her. Anne's child,' the Princess Elizabeth, grew up with some of her mother's physical attractiveness, and a good dash of masculinity. Like her father \slie was strong, resolute, energetic, with a fierce temper, an inclination to:, cruelty and coarseness, and a passion for pageants. When she was sixteen years of age Lord Seymour, High Admiral of England, paid her attention, and the encouragement she gave him led. to a public inquiry. Elizabeth's supposed sympathy with--the Protestant cause, led Queen Mary to-have her imprisoned in the Tower, and, though quickly releas'ajL she was kept under strict surveillance at Woodstock. Her conformity to Mary's religion probably, saved her life: ■'■"-'-•■ " * ."' At the ago of twenty-five she became Queen of..England.. At this period she was "a bold '"horsewomen, a good shot, a graceful 'dance?, a skilled musician, and an accomplished scholar." Her tutor, the famous Roger Ascham, has left it on record that she'was proficient in Latin, Italian, French,, and Spanish, and read Greek every;; day. Her figure' is said to have been commanding, her face long'but queenly and intelligent, Her eyes quick and fine. She had inherited her'mother's charm, with more than her mother's beauty. •'*'■-. Her advisers were naturally .concerned about finding her a husband with'a view to providing an heir to the throne. A: queen will always have abundance <if suitors, and Elisabeth was no exception: The list included Lord Seymour, the Earl of Arrah, Philip of Spain, .who married Mary, the King of Sweden, !Henry 111. of France, Henry of N,avarre, the Archduke; Charles of Austria, and the Duke of AlenV con. The astounding revelation'furnished by letters still ' preserved. is that she" cherished a strong attachment for the Duke of Alencon, although when they first met she was '38... and he 19, and a dwarf, with a face .disfigured by smallpox. Her liking for him continued till, worn out with debauchery, he died in 1584. Her favourite in England was the Earl of Leicester, a handsome but dissolve fellow who had > murdered his first wife, Amy Robsart, deserted his second, and was somewhat liberal with proposals to poison those : who 'crossed him.. He had compromised or corrupted- most of the ladies of the Gourt. Elizabeth would certainly have married :him but for the remonstrance of the elder Cecil, her chief adviser. ..... MARRIED TO THE REALM. As the world knows she never married, and all kinds of reasons have been assigned. Scandal has been busy and tradition has it that a certain grave at Kenilworth contains the_.b.ody.._pf the., daughter of Leicester and Elizabeth.' She always claimed. the" name >f the Virgin. Queen and was clever enough- to befool all the men who laid siege to her heart. She never married because her love of power swallowed up all other emotions. Fond or flattery and of the attentions of handsome men she told them and the commons that she was married to the realm. ; Indeed she needed all her wisdom, and one might say all her cunning, to handle with any success the problems to which she became heir. When she succeeded to the Throne, the Treasury was empty, and the countrywas at war with France. Her legitimacy was doubtful. The religious question confronted her, and it must be said she temporised. The coronation service was a mixture of old and new, a compromise which1 made everybody unhappy. She soon let it be known that she was not keen on reforms. She went to Mass to please one party, and forbade the elevation of the Host to please the other. The Pope regarded her as illegitimate. England had decided to be Protestant, and she herself had no strong religious convictions'. She was the daughter of her father, and was determined to keep the sovereign at the head of the Church. She loved ceremonial and gorgeous ritual. What was she to do? Her parliament as-, sured her of the feeling of the English people, so she submitted and accepted the Prayer Book., After reigning twelve years she was obliged by circumstances to makea more decided stand. The political situation compelled her. , • Elizabeth saw political and religious priS gress o£ which she did not approve. Parliament was claiming certain privileges which had formerly belonged to the Crown, the right to consider the succea!mon, church reform, and trade. Wherever possible she gave way very tactfiilly, as in the case of monopolies, but her atti-'. tude was that of a person not leading a •great movement, but being dragged unwillingly along the upward path. IMPERIOUS TEMPER. She had an imperious temper, and would box the ears not only of the maids of honour, but of her Ministers. The Tudornotion of divine right filled her heart and v mind, and she told Parliament that her calling them together was merely an act of courtesy. The executions she caused show that she had no conception of civil and religious liberty. For a time she persecuted all religions. It was the Tidor way, and the" spirit of the age. As she grew, old she became- a very lonely woman. A traveller who saw her when she was sixty-six said she was very majestic, her face oblong, fair, but wrinkled; her eyes small yet black and pleasant, her nose a little hooked, her lips narrow and her teeth black. She wore false hair, and that red. Her hands were small, her fingers long, and. her stature neither tall nor low. She wore a white silk dress with a long train. This vain and self-willed woman, with.a thousand dresser in her wardrobe, and with a wonderful faculty for using good round mouth-filling oaths, had lost the love and reverence of her people, "owing largely to the burden of taxation; -She hated the thought of death, hunted, danced, "coquetted and frolicked at sixty-seven as she had done at thirty." She made gorgeous progresses from place to place, transacted business and scolded as of old. Her memory, failed, her temper grew worse. She" had a sword always beside her, andstabbed the tapestry with it. It was an uncomely sight, and she would give no indication about the succession, she died on 24tE; March, 1603, in her seventieth yeft is easy to say that Elizabeth was patriotic, that she refused to take sides in religion, and preferred to reign simply as Queen of England, and put national unity before all other considerations.. She gave England a high place among foreign Powers, arid secured its independence of Spain, made it a great sea Power, and gave cause ;to succeeding generations to speak with pride of "the golden .days.. of . good Queen Begs," But withal she was rather indifferent to Shakespeare, had no sympathy with intellectual and religious devel<y>raents, which succeeded in spite of her rather than with her help. The thing she supremely cared for was the Royal supremacy, and «he had her Teward —for what it was worth. '