On this day . . . January 15th

January 15^th 1559

Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey

Elizabeth, the daughter of King Henry VII and Anne Boleyn was the third Tudor child to be crowned monarch of England following her half-brother Edward VI and her half-sister Mary. The lavish coronation was planned on the advice of John Dee, an astrologer, mathematician and astronomer, who deemed January 15^th to be the most auspicious date and 12pm the most promising time for her coronation.

As per tradition, Elizabeth’s coronation procession began at the Tower of London, the same place where her own mother was imprisoned and beheaded and where she herself had been imprisoned a few years earlier – we can only imagine what was going on in Elizabeth’s mind. During her coronation procession Elizabeth was welcomed wholeheartedly by her citizens and was greeted with 5 pageants.

Elizabeth I reigned as Queen for 44 years, from November 17^th 1558 until March 24^th 1603 and it was during the Elizabethan era that English drama flourished and England enjoyed a time of relative peace and prosperity.