Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I was queen of England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603. She preserved firmness in a nation rent by political and religious dissension and maintained the authority of the Crown against the growing pressures of Parliament. Became on of the few queens to die a virgin. Born at Greenwich, on September 7, 1533, Elizabeth I was the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Because of her father's continuing search for a …showed first 75 words of 497 total…

…showed last 75 words of 497 total…at it was a very dangerous policy. Had Elizabeth succumbed to illness, as she nearly did early in her reign, or had any one of the many assassination plots against her succeeded, the country would have been plunged into the confusion of a disputed succession. That the accession of James I on her death was peaceful was due as much to the luck of her survival as it was to the wisdom of her policy.