Elizabeth at The Tower

Elizabeth at The Tower

Elizabeth I spent the night before her coronation at the Tower of London, but five years before that on 18th March 1554, she stayed there for a very different reason…..

When Princess Elizabeth became the focus for treasonable plots against her sister Queen Mary, she spent much of Mary’s reign under house arrest in various royal palaces.

When Thomas Wyatt’s rebellion implicated Elizabeth directly, she was arrested and sent to the Tower of London on 18th March 1554.

On her arrest, Elizabeth wrote to her sister Mary.
She implored her to ignore ‘evil persuasions’ that would ‘persuade not one sister against the other.’
Mary was not moved by her sister’s letter.

Although there was little evidence linking Elizabeth with the Wyatt revolt, Mary believed that she was involved and hoped that Elizabeth would confess under interrogation.

Elizabeth’s imprisonment at the Tower of London lasted for two months, yet she was comfortably housed.

She was allowed in the gardens and had four rooms in the old palace – however, this was also where her mother had spent her last days before her ex3cution.

During this time Elizabeth did not crack under interrogation and continued to protest her innocence. Without enough evidence to put her on trial, she was eventually released and placed under house arrest at Woodstock, Oxfordshire.

Within two months, Wyatt had been b-headed and the investigations stalled.

On 17th November 1558, Elizabeth was at Hatfield, when she received the news of her sister’s death.

25 year old Elizabeth, was now queen.

On the eve of her coronation, Elizabeth arrived at the Tower of London.
The memories of her previous stay, imprisoned at the Tower, must have resonated with Elizabeth.

Setting off from the Tower of London, for her coronation, Elizabeth once again followed in the footsteps of her mother, Queen Anne Boleyn.
Anne had made the same journey on 31 May 1533, and was pregnant with Elizabeth at the time.

Did Elizabeth even think such a day would ever come for her.

A queen who would become famous for her splendour, was dressed in a recycled gold and silver robe which had belonged to her sister Mary – although she had a new bodice made for it.

The Queen wore her hair down, a golden circlet on her head, and sat upon a cloth of gold cushion on a litter.