Childhood

7th September 1533 – Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, gives birth to Elizabeth at Greenwich Palace.

10th September 1533 – The new Princess Elizabeth is given a lavish christening at Greenwich Palace.

15th May – Anne Boleyn is tried and foundguilty of treason (by adultery, incest and plotting the King’s death) and sentenced to death by burning at the stake or beheading.

18th May 1536 – Cromwell announces that Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn has been found to be null and void, leaving Princess Elizabeth a royal bastard.

19th May 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s mother, is beheaded by a French swordsman at the Tower of London after being found guilty of treason. The majority of historians believe that Anne was innocent of all charges and that it was a conspiracy instigated by Thomas Cromwell.

30th May 1536 – Henry VIII marries his third wife Jane Seymour.

1st July 1536 – Mary (Elizabeth’s half sister) and Elizabeth are both officially declared illegitimate.

12th October 1537 Jane Seymour gives birth to Edward, the future Edward VI.

15th October 1537 – Prince Edward is christened.

24th October 1537 – Jane Seymour dies after complications following childbirth. Henry VIII mourns the death of his “true wife”.

6th January 1540 – Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves but the marriage is annulled within 6 months because Henry finds her unattractive.

28th July 1540 – Henry marries a teenage Catherine Howard, cousin of Anne Boleyn, on the same day that Thomas Cromwell is executed.

1541 – Henry VIII is declared to be King of Ireland and Head of the Church in Ireland.

13th February 1542 – A young Catherine Howard is executed at the Tower of London after being found guilty of treason by adultery. The young Elizabeth was said to be distressed by the death of her stepmother.

8th December 1542 – Birth of Mary Stuart (Mary Queen of Scots), daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise, and granddaughter of Margaret Tudor (Henry VIII’s sister).

14th December – Mary Queen of Scots comes to the throne of Scotland after the death of her father.

12th July 1543 – Henry VIII marries his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, who works hard to bring Henry’s daughters back to court to reunite them with their father.

28th January 1547 – Death of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I’s father. Edward VI is only 9 years old so he becomes King but his uncle Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, is made Lord Protector of England.