The AQA course begins in c1568, ten years after Elizabeth became Queen, but it is helpful to understand how her early experiences affected her.

Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. In order to divorce his first wife (Catherine of Aragon) and marry Anne, Henry had taken control of the English Church from the Pope in Rome. Elizabeth was therefore the symbol of the Break with Rome and was brought up as a Protestant. This meant that she was always going to be unpopular with Catholics.

When Elizabeth was just two and a half years old, her mother was executed by Henry on trumped up charges. Elizabeth barely saw her father but she was described as highly intelligent and was given an excellent education by her tutor Roger Ascham; she could speak many different languages.

Elizabeth had a difficult time during the short reigns of her siblings and was suspected of treason by both of them. She was accused by her brother, Edward VI, of plotting with Thomas Seymour (who was executed for treason) and then later, during the reign of Mary I, she spent some time in the Tower of London in the wake of Wyatt's Rebellion.

By the time that Elizabeth became queen, aged 25 in 1558, she was already experienced in the dangerous world of politics and understood the charged religious atmosphere in England; this made her cautious.

GCSE Elizabethan England 1568-1603 AQA

Elizabeth's Childhood