Unidentified painter on Wikimedia

Queen Elizabeth I is known for many things: defeating the Spanish Armada, restoring Protestantism, setting the stage for Britain's "Golden Age," and, of course, her unusual decision not to marry. Nicknamed the "Virgin Queen," Elizabeth never took a husband, a radical decision for the time, when queens were expected to secure alliances through matrimony and produce (male) heirs. What's more, her decision was anything but accidental; it was a calculated strategy to preserve her power. 

Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558 at the age of 25. The England she inherited was deeply divided, fractured by religion, threatened by rivals, and scarred by the tumultuous reigns of her father, Henry VIII, and her half-siblings. Considering this context, marriage was never a romantic choice for Elizabeth. She was determined to be the sole ruler and once famously said, "I will have but one mistress here and no master."

Power

In the 16th century, marriage, for women, almost always meant surrendering authority. Back then, a woman's property and identity were legally transferred to her husband upon marriage. A husband, especially if he were a foreign prince, would've used his influence over the throne to draw England into foreign policies that wouldn't have been in the country's best interests at the time. She saw this happen firsthand to her sister Mary when she married Philip of Spain—a deeply unpopular union. Elizabeth saw marriage as becoming secondary in her own kingdom.

She was also concerned about factionalism. Marrying a foreigner would've been an unpopular decision with her Protestant subjects and risked making England a satellite state of another power. Meanwhile, marrying an Englishman would've caused jealousy and potential civil war among other powerful noble families.

Strategy

Elizabeth realized that not being married could be used as a powerful diplomatic tool. She could dangle the possibility of marriage to various foreign princes to forge alliances and prevent rivals from rallying against England. One could say that her decision to stay single paved the way for the prosperous and relatively stable "Elizabethan Age" or "Golden Age."

Trauma

Elizabeth's decision to stay unmarried wasn't purely a strategy, however. It likely had a lot to do with her early childhood experiences. Her father, Henry VIII, was famous for her revolving marriages and brutal treatment of his wives. Her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed when Elizabeth was just two years old, accused of adultery and treason. Trust, intimacy, and marriage were never associated with safety in Elizabeth’s early life. 

Fear of childbirth

In the 16th century, pregnancy and childbirth were an incredibly perilous, high-risk endeavor, and a queen's death could plunge the country into chaos. Elizabeth probably knew that her body was not really her own, but a political liability. 

Romance without marriage

Unknown Artist on Wikimedia

Even though Elizabeth didn't marry, it doesn't mean she didn't have romance in her life. There's plenty of evidence to suggest that she was in love with her childhood friend, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Many believed she intended to marry him, but scandal, political opposition, and his unsuitability as a consort made marriage impossible. Even so, he remained close to her throughout her life, and after her death, a letter he had sent her shortly before his death was found in a case beside her bed, labelled "his last letter." 

However, marrying him proved impossible because of a scandal following the suspicious death of Dudley's wife, Amy Robsart. The public widely suspected that Dudley had orchestrated it for Elizabeth, which tainted his reputation. If the two had married after this incident, it would've confirmed the suspicions and could've cost Elizabeth the throne.

The "Virgin Queen"

Over time, Elizabeth transformed her unmarried status into mythology. She styled herself as the “Virgin Queen,” married symbolically to England itself. She famously said, "She was already bound unto a husband, which is the Kingdom of England."