Death Of Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I died on 24th March 1603, at the age of 69 after a reign of 45 years.
The cause of Elizabeth’s death remains a hotly contested subject.
Before her death, Elizabeth refused permission for a post-mortem to be conducted.
Some argue that this was a way to safeguard the Queen’s reputation as a virgin, however this left the cause of her death, forever shrouded in mystery.
There are however, a few theories:
* BLOOD POISONING~
Brought on by her use of a lead-based makeup known as “Venetian Ceruse” (or “the spirits of Saturn”).
This substance was classified as a poison, 31 years after Elizabeth’s death.
* STREPTOCOCCUS~
Brought on by a severe throat infection.
* PNEUMONIA or CANCER.

Close to the time of her death, Elizabeth’s coronation ring had grown into her flesh.
She had never taken it off, during the 45 years of her reign.
Her doctors insisted that the ring had to be removed, and within a week Elizabeth died.

By the late winter of 1602/3 Elizabeth was feeling unwell.
She had caught a chill after walking out in the cold winter air, and complained of a sore throat, as well as aches and pains.
Elizabeth’s emotional and physical ailments escalated to the point, that she took to standing in her bedchamber up for 15 hours without assistance, before collapsing onto the floor which her ladies-in-waiting had covered with cushions.

Elizabeth lay resignedly on her cushions, in her private apartments.
She could not be persuaded to leave them for the comfort of her bed.
“I am not well” she declared,.
But refused the administrations of her doctors.
By this point, she had lost most of her teeth, suffered hair loss and refused to be attended to and bathed.

Elizabeth communicated her instructions for who would succeed her on the English throne, with a hand gesture.
By the time succession arrangements were being made, Elizabeth’s illness had robbed her of her powers of speech.
When asked if it was her wish for James VI of Scotland to inherit the crown, Elizabeth apparently, gestured with her hands, drawing a circle around her head to indicate a crown and confirm that this was her wish.

The Queen fell into a deep sleep, and died in the early hours of the 24th of March, 1603.
It was a Thursday, the death day of her father, and her sister.
At the time of her death, she was reported to have an inch of makeup on her face.

It was with sadness that the Queen’s death was announced on the streets of London the following morning, and witnesses described the eerie silence of the stunned crowd.
For almost 45 years they had been ruled by Elizabeth, and knew no other way of life.

Elizabeth’s embalmed body was guarded in Whitehall Palace for three weeks, before being laid to rest in a lavish funeral ceremony on 28th April 1603.
Thousands turned out to watch the funeral procession, slowly make its way through the streets of London.

Elizabeth’s coffin was covered in purple velvet, and drawn by four horses draped in black.
An effigy of the great Queen, dressed in the robes of state with a crown on her head and a sceptre in her hands, lay on the coffin beneath a mighty canopy held by six knights.
The effigy was so lifelike, that it made mourners gasp.

Towards the end of her life, Elizabeth began to suffer from bouts of melancholy, following the deaths of several of her close companions, including her long-serving lady-in-waiting Katherine Howard and former favourite, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.

During her final days, Elizabeth expressed regret about ordering the ex3cution of her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots.
It was recorded that Elizabeth~
“shed many teares and sighs, manifesting her innocence that
she never gave consent to the death of that queene.”

Elizabeth I is buried in Westminster Abbey.
Her body was first placed in the vault of her grandfather King Henry VII.
However in 1606 Elizabeth’s coffin was transferred to the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey, and placed beneath a monument to her, erected by King James I.
A monument to Mary, Queen of Scots stands close by.

Elizabeth’s coffin is in the same vault as her half sister, Mary I.
The Latin inscription at the base of the tomb reads,
‘Partners in throne and grave, here we sleep Elizabeth and Mary, sisters in hope of the Resurrection.’

? Death of a Queen~painting of the crown passing from Elizabeth I to James I, by Paul Delaroche (1828)