Her Mother's Daughter: Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I, pt 1

Queen Elizabeth I is regularly associated with her father, Henry
VIII. The least likely heir became the most successful of his
children and the longest-reigning Tudor monarch. Elizabeth is
described as resembling her royal father, perhaps more than his
other two children. And Elizabeth’s fiery temper certainly
matched the historic temper of Henry VIII.

Elizabeth I and Henry VIII are certainly the most famous Tudor
monarchs, and two of the most famous monarchs of all time.
Elizabeth is reported to have linked herself firmly to her
father: “I may not be a lion, but I am a lion’s cub and have a
lion’s heart.”
 
But what of her mother? 
 
Anne Boleyn died in disgrace, by the order of her father, before
Elizabeth turned three years old. As a result, Elizabeth was
“demoted” from her position as Princess. She went from a
cherished daughter, showed off by the King to his court, to an
outcast whose governess had to beg for her clothing. All of this
was associated with the fall of Anne Boleyn. After the execution
of her mother, it seemed Elizabeth’s chance of inheriting the
throne was gone.
 
But Elizabeth did inherit. Was the royal daughter, so publicly
connected to her father, also less publicly connected to the
mother she barely knew? I think she was. 

By turning a 35-year old King into a lovesick schoolboy, refusing
to be used and cast aside as a mistress, convincing Henry VIII
that new ideas about religion were interesting instead of
dangerous, championed religious reform, and giving the world not
the expected son but a daughter who would put England on the
world’s stage, Anne Boleyn created the world her daughter would
inherit. I think she left not only a changed England but elements
of herself that would guide Elizabeth throughout her reign.


History shows us what's possible.