Princess Elizabeth Tudor was born in 1533 to King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Although Elizabeth was the only child of Henry and Anne’s marriage, it was not certain she would inherit the throne. She had a half-sister, Mary, from her father’s previous marriage and would gain a half-brother, Edward, from his next. She also had a female cousin (also named Mary) poised to inherit the throne of Scotland, although many people argued any woman would make a poor ruler at a tumultuous time in England’s history.

Elizabeth ascended to the throne in 1558 and ruled until her death in 1603. Under her rule, England grew in political, economic, and cultural power; William Shakespeare produced some of his best-known plays during Elizabeth’s reign, including Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, and Hamlet. Though she faced considerable pressure to marry and have an heir, Elizabeth resisted these calls, fearing that doing so would mean ceding power to a husband. Consequently, her reign was both the capstone and end of the Tudor dynasty; her successor would be the son of her cousin Mary Stuart, James VI of Scotland (afterward James I of England).