|
|
IMAGE COURTESY OF NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON, UK/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES
|
|
How does one place into context the Platinum Jubilee underway for Queen Elizabeth II? A good place to start is Queen Elizabeth I (pictured above), a royal namesake and a historical role model for today’s honoree.
Both Elizabeths rose to the crown by accident—and both endured. While QEI lasted 44 years on the throne to QEII’s 70 (so far), the elder Elizabeth set the standard for future monarchs, moving England into a booming period of politics, exploration, and the arts.
The first Queen Elizabeth learned, like QEII four centuries later, generally to keep her opinion to herself. Unlike the current queen, Elizabeth the First chose not to marry, saying she would not risk domestic division nor foreign conquest for a wedding. “England,” she said, “would have but one mistress and no master.”
Read the full story here.
|
|
|
|
