“I do not think anything is more enjoyable to this Queen than the treating of marriage, although she assures me herself that nothing annoys her more. She is vain, and would like all the world to be running after her.”
But enjoying courtship and actually marrying were two different things to this 16th-century queen. Early in her reign, the Scottish ambassador Sir James Melville showed great insight into her character when he stated, "Madame, I know you will never marry. For if you marry you will be but queen of England; now you are king and queen both."
Adding further to the uncertainty of the foreign negotiations were Robert Dudley's determined courtship and his position as her favourite. Elizabeth's relationship with Dudley was different from those with her foreign suitors. She knew him well, and apparently had intense feelings for him. His prospects for marrying the queen came not from the suitability of his birth but from Elizabeth's personal affection for him. (The rumours that spread about Elizabeth's sexual misconduct throughout her reign almost entirely centred on her relationship with Dudley.) But Elizabeth, whatever her emotions, kept them sufficiently under control as to not make such a potentially divisive marriage.
Elizabeth’s councillors were constantly arguing over possible suitors for Elizabeth to marry, but there seemed to be no suitable Englishmen for her and there was obviously going to be major problems e.g. if she married a foreigner, they could be Catholic and this would create a major problem seeing as, Elizabeth was Protestant, and if he attended mass in public rather than privately, there would probably be an uproar from the public.
Some historians believe Elizabeth chose not to get married because it gave her a sense of freedom.
Possible reasons for Elizabeth not getting married is the fact that she had had such a troubled childhood and had watched he father and mother separate, and he mother (Anne Boleyn) be beheaded as a result of the split, so Elizabeth may have felt, in order to avoid such troublesome mishaps occurring, she would avoid getting married altogether.
Another factor which would cause problems if Elizabeth did get married was what her husband’s title would be and what their children would inherit. Also if Elizabeth did get married and she was unable to have children and she died, the country would be left with her new husband to rule, and her councillors would not have enjoyed this.
Susan Doran believes that Elizabeth did want to get married but reasons such as her abused childhood and political image meant that she couldn’t face it.
Elizabeth knew she couldn’t defy the majority of her council and subjects. She had also seen her sister, cousin and father all marry, and the majority of these marriages ended in disaster.
Twice during her reign she was going to get married, in the 1560s to Robert Dudley and in 1578-1580 to Francis of Anjou. But both times she was met with strong opposition from her councillors and other people.
Lord Burghley opposed to Elizabeth marriage to the Duke of Anjou saying that she was too old to have a baby, if she did have a baby she could die in birth and also, if she got married to him and was unable to produce an heir, they would be left with the Duke. And this would be a major problem as he believed that everyone hated France. He also claimed that the new king may try to get rid of Protestantism.
On the two occasions when she would have been willing to wed, Archduke Charles in the late 1560s and Henry of Anjou in 1571-72, some kind of consensus was drawn up.
A marriage treaty was drawn up by Elizabeth’s councillors in 15 , Elizabeth was furious by this, she couldn’t believe that her councillors were trying to tell her what to do and in a response to their treaty she said it was not right for the to rule the head, meaning that her councillors could not tell the Queen what she could and could not do.
Another example of when Elizabeth’s marriage plans were questioned and objected, was when she discovered a book had been written against the French marriage in a sharp and ‘stinging’ style (out of fear that the religion would be changed) “the gulf wherein England will be swallowed by the French marriage”. William Camden described Elizabeth’s as furious in reaction to the criticism of the marriage. She punished the author, John Stubbs and the man who dispensed copies of the book, William Page by cutting their right hands off. The problem of this is that Stubbs and Page did not probably write this book on their own will, but it was probably Elizabeth’s courtiers such as Cecil and Dudley that put them up to it.
In conclusion there is sufficient evidence to suggest that Elizabeth remained single because her councillors couldn’t agree on a suitable husband, this is shown through the continuous consensus’ and opposition against suitors that arose.
Cecil threatened to resign if Elizabeth married Dudley. Dudley was always opposing and getting anti-marriage groups together, this was probably for political and religious reasons mentioned earlier.
Elizabeth wisely and deliberately avoided marriage, thereby avoiding foreign and domestic entanglements that might have drawn her or the country into dispute.
Marriage in Elizabeth’s reign became a decisive issue as it encouraged factions; 1560s Sir Howard and his people were very opposed to Dudley as a potential suitor.
For whatever reason it may be, it is quite clear Elizabeth chose never to marry. If she had chosen a foreign prince, he would have drawn England into foreign policies for his own advantages (as in her sister Mary's marriage to Philip of Spain); marrying a fellow countryman could have drawn the Queen into factional infighting. Elizabeth used her marriage prospects as a political tool in foreign and domestic policies. However, the 'Virgin Queen' was presented as a selfless woman who sacrificed personal happiness for the good of the nation, to which she was, in essence, 'married'. Late in her reign, she addressed Parliament in the so-called 'Golden Speech' of 1601 when she told MPs: 'There is no jewel, be it of never so high a price, which I set before this jewel; I mean your love.' She seems to have been very popular with the vast majority of her subjects.
Elizabeth was disgusted by the idea of marriage. The more romantic feel it was because she couldn't marry the man that she really loved, Robert Dudley. When Elizabeth became Queen, Dudley was married, and then his wife died under mysterious circumstances a few years later. Although Robert Dudley was cleared of any wrong-doing in the matter, Elizabeth could not marry him because of the scandal that would no doubt arise. Or perhaps it was a combination of both. Regardless of the reason, Elizabeth never married, but managed to successfully play her suitors off of one another for about 25 years, gaining alliances and wealth from gifts on the possibility of marriage. The one serious contender for her hand was the Duke of Alençon of France, but negotiations failed eventually.
Elizabeth never decided not to get married, and only subscribed to the myth of the ‘virgin queen’ as it was the last option.
Many people have chosen to see Elizabeth's public self-presentation as a Virgin Queen as a sign of some inadequacy. Marriage had many potential difficulties, and if Elizabeth married she ran the risk of people perceiving her husband as the real ruler. Marriage could also have led to the embarrassment that had dogged her sister Mary with her hysterical pregnancies, or to the risks of dying of disease related to childbirth, as were the fates of her step-mothers Jane Seymour and Katherine Parr.
Certainly there were both personal and political costs to marriage. Ultimately, however, Elizabeth made the right choice; while on the throne, England flourished, and her reign ushered in a new Golden Age for Britain.
