 Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (Flemish), Queen Elizabeth I (The “Ditchley” Portrait), c. 1592, oil on canvas |
Majesty and Melancholy
The final decades of Elizabeth’s reign blended grandeur with sorrow. By the 1590s, she had ruled for over thirty years, weathering conspiracies, rebellion, and foreign invasion.1 Her very longevity became a symbol of stability in a kingdom scarred by religious conflict. Yet the qualities that had once secured her crown — vigilance, caution, and theatrical strength — became heavier with age, revealing the personal cost of survival.2
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The Long War with Spain
Though the Armada of 1588 secured England from immediate conquest, war with Spain dragged on for years.3 The conflict exhausted resources, strained loyalty, and tested Elizabeth’s leadership. Economic hardship, food shortages, and plague weighed on the population. Her trademark caution, once praised as shrewdness, now appeared as indecision to foreign ambassadors and advisors — but these habits reflected survival strategies forged in the trauma of her youth.4
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Loss of Counsel and the Burden of Solitude
The erosion of Elizabeth’s inner circle deepened her vulnerability. The deaths of Sir Francis Walsingham (1590) and William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1598), deprived her of trusted advisors.5 Most devastating of all was the loss of Robert Dudley in 1588. His final letter, which she kept beside her until death and called her “farewell comfort,” symbolized both intimacy and absence. Without him, she carried into old age the loneliness that had shadowed her since childhood.7
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 Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester sent this letter to the queen a few days before his death, with Elizabeth inscribing it ‘His last letter’ as a testament to her enduring affection. |
Essex: Affection, Rebellion, and Betrayal
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, briefly filled the void left by Dudley. Ambitious and charming, he became Elizabeth’s last favorite, but he lacked Dudley’s steadiness. His failure in Ireland, his defiance, and ultimately his rebellion in 1601 shattered their bond.8 Elizabeth’s reluctant signature on his death warrant left her grief-stricken. His betrayal echoed her lifelong trauma: those she trusted most would eventually abandon or betray her.9
Decline, Final Days, and Death
Elizabeth’s final years were marked by melancholy. John Clapham observed her sitting silent and motionless for hours, refusing food and rest.10 She lamented in prayer:
She resisted naming a successor, reflecting both political caution and the trauma-born reluctance to relinquish control. At last, under pressure, she indicated James VI of Scotland. Elizabeth died at Richmond Palace on March 24, 1603.12 Her funeral procession through London drew immense crowds, mourning both a woman and a myth.13a
Legacy of Trauma
Elizabeth’s later reign shows how trauma can both empower and imprison. The survival strategies she had learned in childhood — secrecy, caution, and self-reliance — allowed her to preserve her throne through religious conflict, foreign war, and political intrigue. Without them, she might not have endured the dangers of the Tudor court or ruled England for nearly fifty years. Yet these same qualities carried a cost. Her independence often became isolation, her caution appeared as indecision, and the image of the Virgin Queen, though politically effective, masked a life marked by loneliness and loss.
The betrayals and deaths of those closest to her — from Robert Dudley to Robert Devereux — reawakened old wounds, reinforcing her fear that intimacy was perilous. Even at the end, when she resisted naming a successor, she clung to the secrecy and control that had defined her survival since youth. Her reign ended as it began: trauma shaping every decision, securing England’s stability while leaving her profoundly alone. This dual legacy endures — Elizabeth remains both the triumphant Virgin Queen and a woman forever marked by the scars that enabled her survival.