Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Elizabeth—strong, clever, and Protestant—steered England on an Anglican course.
She holds a royal orb symbolizing that she's queen of the whole globe. When 26-year-old
Elizabeth was crowned in the Abbey, her right to rule was questioned (especially by her
Catholic subjects) because she was considered the bastard seed of Henry VIII's unsanc-
tioned marriage to Anne Boleyn. But Elizabeth's long reign (1559-1603) was one of the
greatest in English history, a time when England ruled the seas and Shakespeare explored
human emotions. When she died, thousands turned out for her funeral in the Abbey. Eliza-
beth's face on the tomb, modeled after her death mask, is considered a very accurate take
on this hook-nosed, imperious “Virgin Queen.”
The two half-sisters disliked each other in life—Mary even had Elizabeth locked up
in the Tower of London for a short time. Now they lie side by side for eternity. The Latin
inscription ends, “Here we lie, two sisters in hope of one resurrection.”
• Continue into the ornate, flag-draped room up a few more stairs, directly behind the
main altar.
