Disclaimer: I don't own the Tudors.
Summary: Elizabeth made a vow and she intended to keep it.
To never marry
Queen Elizabeth I. knows that marriage can smother and suffocate the spirit of every woman no matter what rank she has or what country she hails from.
Her own father taught by example even if he didn't intend to.
…
Queen Catherine of Aragon had been a Spanish princess who won over the favour of the English people although she had been a foreigner and promised first to her papa's older brother, King Arthur.
Elizabeth finds out that the Spanish Princess was not only an able Queen Regent at her father's absence but was also viewed as virtuous, obedient and admirable.
She played an important part at the Battle of Flodden, appealed successfully for the lives of the rebels of the Evil May Day and she started extensive programme for the relief of the poor.
She had been the ideal wife and queen and yet she was sent to a nunnery, kept from her daughter because she wanted to preserve her marriage.
A woman born to become queen has been cast away because she couldn't deliver a son.
...
Queen Anne Boleyn was the sister of the King's former mistress who also happened to be the mistress of the King of France.
Her mama caught the attention of one of the most powerful men of the world, ensnaring him with her charm and wit, making him separate from his wife.
She was shrewd, alluring and ambitious.
A woman nobody else could compare to.
A bewitching seductress who remained an untouched virgin.
Henry VIII stayed faithful to her for years, never participating in carnal activities, hoping to divorce quickly and marry his beloved.
Elizabeth asks her adviser Sir William Cecil about her mother and he tells her of the loved the king and the queen shared.
A love that burned ardently, as hot and bright as a bonfire that turned into a flickering flame that a simple air draught could have blown out.
Love turned into hatred.
The king had found a new maiden who was vastly different than his current wife.
His current wife, who tore the country apart, bewitched him and couldn't even bless him with one son.
Queen Anne Boleyn was forsaken, beheaded by the axe of the Executor of Calais in order for the next woman to take her place.
She had been lead to her execution and in her last words she praised her husband and sovereign, not even attempting to speak against her beloved.
Before she died, Queen Anne managed what she couldn't before.
She won the favour of the English people.
A woman who seduced the King of England with mere words fell to the axe.
She had been the first Queen to die thusly.
...
Queen Jane Seymour bore a son.
A living son.
There is not much else to say, is there?
She died shortly after Edward's birth but she was the one true wife who was able to fulfil her duty.
Enough said.
There is no reason to mention the ballades' that have been sung about the virtuous maiden who seduced the king and was the reason for Queen Anne's murder, is there?
…
Queen Anne of Cleves was a Flemish noblewoman who her husband called a 'Flander's mare'.
She could not speak English very well, lacked a formal education and still she was a gentle, virtuous, and docile wife.
But after just a bit more than a year the marriage was annulled and Queen Anne of Cleves, the Flander's mare, became the king's beloved sister.
She had never consummated the marriage to Henry VIII, being happy to manage the estate that he gifted her with for not causing any troubles.
Had she stayed the king's wife he would have been certain that she would have never meddled into his affaires.
...
Queen Katherine Howard happened to be the first cousin of the former Queen Anne Boleyn.
She was a young and attractive lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne of Cleves who was not particularly mature or bright but she still caught the king's eye.
She had been only 16-years-old while the king himself was reaching his fifth decade of life.
Seemingly virtuous, the King married her so that she may make him happy, only to suffer the humiliation of finding out that the Queen had had sexual relations to other men.
Another Howard girl was sentenced to death.
She died with 18years.
Her last words were spoken in sincerity, shaming his majesty even more.
"I die a Queen, but I would have rather died the wife of Culpeper."
...
Queen Catherine Parr had been married twice before the king married her and she was in love with Thomas Seymour and intended to marry him before the king sent him to the Netherlands.
She was loyal to the king, loving to all of his children and fulfilled the role of queen regent admirably considering her inexperience in this role.
She showed a quiet dignity and strength of character that impressed many people at court.
Though she never disobeyed his majesty, an arrest warrant had been drawn for her because she was suspected of being a protestant.
Swallowing her pride and dignity, she threw herself in front of her husband's feet and swore that she was just a woman who was not fit to think reasonably like her husband.
This behaviour may have saved her life and she outlived King Henry VIII.
...
Elizabeth contemplates the character of all this women who were so vastly different from each other in their strength and weakness.
Queen Catherine of Aragon who was the ideal wife and Queen.
Queen Anne Boleyn who was an alluring seductress and shrewd opportunist.
Queen Jane Seymour who was a virtuous maiden and bearer of the prince.
Queen Anne of Cleves who was an obedient noblewoman but an ugly duckling.
Queen Katherine Howard who was young and attractive.
Queen Catherine Parr who was dignified and loyal.
The first two Queens were forsaken for they could not give birth to a son.
The third Queen was considered to be a saint for her womb bore a son.
The forth Queen was nothing but a means to a political alliance.
The fifth Queen was an adulteress who enjoyed the pleasures of being Queen but would have rather taken her pleasures from somewhere else.
The sixth Queen was nearly killed for speaking her mind.
So, what did she learn of all those tragic marriages?
...
With thirteen Elizabeth- now Elizabeth I, the Queen of England and Ireland- made a vow that her sister was witness to.
"I vow that I will never marry."
Although the parliament handed in petitions and she had to endure numerous courtships, Elizabeth preserved.
Nothing could make her marry.
No political arrangement, no need for an heir and not even love would make her waver.
Marriage was a symbol for the inferiority of the female sex.
A husband could insult his wife, could hit his wife, forsake his wife and nobody would mutter a word against him.
A wife was nothing but the extension of her husband.
Her beauty, charm and intelligence were rewarded by complimenting her husband for choosing such a wonderful creature.
But should she be unable to give birth to a son none of your virtues were important for your womb was accursed.
No, Elizabeth would never put herself in such a position.
Never.
In the past when Mary was still Queen, Elizabeth was content to stay a Hatfield House with Kat and furthering her education.
But then Mary died and suddenly she was Queen Elizabeth.
Her lifelong commitment belonged to England now and she would die as his wife.
And if she could say so, she chose the best husband a woman could have.
Write some review! :)
That was my first Tudor fanfiction and I would love some critics or encouragements. :)