Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes referred to as The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty, succeeding her half-sister, Mary.

Elizabeth's reign is referred to as the Elizabethan era. Playwrights William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson all flourished during this time; Francis Bacon wrote philosophical and political works; Francis Drake became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe; and the first English colonies in North America were founded under Sir James Huckle, Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Like her father, Henry VIII, Elizabeth was a writer and poet. She granted Royal Charters to several famous organisations, including Trinity College, Dublin (1592) and the British East India Company (1600).

Elizabeth was a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler. Her motto was video et taceo: "I see but say nothing". This strategy, viewed with impatience by her counsellors, often saved her from political and marital misalliances. She was reluctant to grant honours and dignities and created only nine new peers during her reign. She reduced the number of Privy Counsellors from thirty-nine to nineteen, and later to fourteen. After the short reigns of her brother and sister, her forty-five years on the throne provided stability for the kingdom. Though she reigned during a period of deep religious division in the country, her reforms of the Church of England established a compromise between Catholic and Protestant positions.

On 20 November 1558, Elizabeth declared her intentions to her Council and other peers who had come to Hatfield to swear allegiance. The speech contains the first record of her often-used metaphor of the "two bodies": the body natural and the body politic:
My lords, the law of nature moves me to sorrow for my sister; the burden that is fallen upon me makes me amazed, and yet, considering I am God's creature, ordained to obey His appointment, I will thereto yield, desiring from the bottom of my heart that I may have assistance of His grace to be the minister of His heavenly will in this office now committed to me. And as I am but one body naturally considered, though by His permission a body politic to govern, so shall I desire you all...to be assistant to me, that I with my ruling and you with your service may make a good account to Almighty God and leave some comfort to our posterity on earth. I mean to direct all my actions by good advice and counsel.

Elizabeth's coronation took place on 15 January 1559. She was twenty-five years old. As her triumphal progress wound through the city on the eve of the ceremony, she was welcomed wholeheartedly by the citizens, many of whom performed pageants, often with a strong Protestant flavour, from platforms along the way. Elizabeth's open and gracious responses endeared her to the spectators, who were "wonderfully ravished". The following day, Elizabeth was crowned at Westminster Abbey and anointed by the bishop of Carlisle. Then she was presented for the people's acceptance, amidst a deafening noise of organs, fifes, trumpets, drums and bells.

Elizabeth had ruled England for more than 44 years, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. A horseman was already travelling north to Scotland, and James VI, carrying her ring.

James VI was proclaimed King of England as James I a few hours after Elizabeth's death on March 24, 1603; heralding the end of the Tudor Dynasty and the start of the reign of the House of Stuart in the Kingdom of England.

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