Elizabeth I's final days - Blog
"Robin, I am not well"
In the early hours of the 24th March, 1603, 113 years of Tudor rule came to an end as the first Queen Elizabeth took her final, laboured, breath.
The end of the Tudor dynasty came in a place so symbolic of its beginning, Richmond Palace. A royal palace had stood here since 1125 and Henry VII had favoured it when he became king, spending much time here. The court was here at Christmas 1497, when a fire broke out requiring them to be evacuated. Henry took advantage of the situation to build a new place for himself on the site, naming it Richmond Palace after the title he had held as he had entered the battlefield at Bosworth on 22nd August 1485. It remained a favourite palace of Henry’s and he died here, in April 1509. His granddaughter would do the same.
At Whitehall Palace, Christmas 1602, Elizabeth was suffering with a severe sore throat. She constantly sipped a drink to soothe it and yet could still speak no louder than a whisper. She reported to her Godson, Sir John Harington, that she was eating little. She was also becoming forgetful, supposedly uninvited guests were turned away for having no appointment despite the Queen having summoned them. Depression and anguish were also evident in the Queen and the mere mention of the name of the Earl of Essex, who had been executed the previous February, had her weeping and beating her chest with her fist. There was more heartache to come for Elizabeth.
Her father’s obsession with the succession was the mirror opposite in Elizabeth. Henry VIII didn’t seem to stop talking about it, Elizabeth, on the other hand, wouldn’t talk about it at all! Such was her fear that to name a successor would immediately create a reason and figurehead for rebellion, she avoided it for her entire life. Any attempt by those in the line of succession, all of whom had been female, to marry and have children had been ruthlessly counteracted. At the end of December 1602 Elizabeth got news that there had been moves afoot for the great-grandchildren of her father’s sisters, Margaret and Mary, Arbella Stuart and Edward Seymour (Lord Beauchamp), respectively, to marry. In reality Edward’s father, the Earl of Hertford, had been horrified when a messenger from Arbella came to him proposing the arrangement. He had recognised that the best way for him and his family to survive the inevitable regime change was to put his full support behind James VI of Scotland, who he was sure would be the next ruler of England. The day after Arabella’s message arrived, Hertford sent a messenger to Robert Cecil, the Queen’s leading minister, to inform him.
By mid-February Elizabeth had moved to Richmond Palace. A visiting Venetian ambassador noted how Elizabeth was covered in pearls. Their terse exchange, regarding English Piracy, was reminiscent of the quick-witted and sharp tongue of Elizabeth who chastised “the Republic of Venice” for only ever asking for something. She even played the female card asking if “my sex has brought me this demerit.” She was showing no signs of ill health, despite clearly looking old. Her once slender hands however were swollen and a few days later the coronation ring had to be cut off. As a symbol of her marriage to the kingdom, this was seen as a bad omen - her reign was coming to an end.
The anniversary of Robert Deveraux, Earl of Essex’s execution, on 25th February, saw Elizabeth retreat to her private chambers, away from court, for a few days. When she emerged she was melancholy and rambling which convinced Cecil that she had ‘some strange vapours to her brain.’
Her melancholy turned to anxiety as she suspected all around her of looking to her successor (whoever that may be). On the 9th March she was described as eating little and that her mouth and throat were dry and her chest hot. Elizabeth couldn’t sleep and had spent the previous three days walking the gardens in summer clothes and refusing to rest.
At court, and further afield, thoughts were turning to what may happen at the moment of Elizabeth’s death, which was surely close. Would France or Spain take the opportunity to invade? Henry IV of France was facing the prospect of a final end to the ‘Auld Alliance’ between Scotland and France and the unification of Scotland with England, neither of which he relished! Philip III of Spain was willing to back anyone other than James VI of Scotland, who he considered to be a liar to Catholics.
For the Queen’s council however, it was the prospect of a civil uprising from the poor which was the overriding concern. The council convened at Richmond on the 15th March and were in continuous session, discussing how any potential revolution would be dealt with.
Elizabeth was not sleeping and was very weak. Her only noticeable physical symptom was a slight swelling on her glands under her jaw, which burst and reduced. By the 17th March, still refusing to go to bed, Elizabeth was sitting on cushions on the floor of her bedchamber, her gaze fixed on the ground and a finger in her mouth. The youngest grandson of her late aunt, Mary Boleyn, Sir Robert Carey, visited her on Saturday 19th March. She took his hand and said sadly, ‘Robin, I am not well’. Her melancholy was deep. She had been correctly informed that many members of her court had begun secret communications with James of Scotland. Carey, though thankfully Elizabeth did not know, was one of them and had already promised to ride to James himself with the news of the Queen’s passing when that day came.
Elizabeth did not attend chapel the following day, remaining on her cushions from which she refused to move for a further two days and nights. Finally, on the evening of the 23rd March she allowed herself to be lifted into bed. She had not yet written a Will and therefore, legally, that of her father was still extant. Henry VIII’s will barred descendants of his sister Margaret’s line from the Crown. The only way her Privy Council, who were all in favour of James’ succession, could overcome this obstacle was for Elizabeth to name her successor. That afternoon her councillors went to her. They asked her to raise her finger at hearing the name of her favoured successor, for her throat was so sore and she was beyond speech. What happened next, as put by a court servant, made no difference. Whether Elizabeth had not moved an inch, or had managed, as some claimed, to put her hand to her head to indicate a crown on hearing James’s name, it was James who would be reported as having being chosen by the Queen.
Once Elizabeth’s last formal duty had been performed, the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift, and her other chaplains went to Elizabeth’s bedside to pray with her. When they took their leave she was left alone with her ladies, and it was with them that she died shortly before 2am on the 24th March, 1603.
The civil war, invasions and uprisings many had feared did not transpire. A sharp increase in food prices in the city was short-lived and the crowds to which the announcement of Elizabeth’s death and declaration of James VI of Scotland as her successor, was delivered accepted the news with apathy. They couldn’t be sure what the new king would bring but few wished Elizabeth had lived longer either.
Thanks for this.. the story of her last days and eventual death is so sad, given the life that she lived..