Event- Coronation of Elizabeth I

Year- 1559

Location- Westminster Abbey, London

On this day, 15^th January 1559, Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey.  She acceded to the throne on the death of her half-sister, Mary I, in November 1558. It has often been said that John Dee predicted the date for Elizabeth’s coronation, as being a prophetic day, but this is still debated among historians.

The day before, on her procession from the Tower of London to Westminster, Elizabeth had been faced with several pageants, one of which showed her father, Henry VIII, and mother, Anne Boleyn, together again after the latter’s execution in 1536.

At the coronation itself, it was said that Elizabeth took communion behind a curtain and that few people could tell how Catholic or Protestant the service was. Other historians disagree and claim that Elizabeth left the abbey before communion. She was crowned by Owen Oglethorpe, a junior bishop from Carlisle – the Archbishop of Canterbury was dead and the Archbishop of York claimed to be unwell. On exiting the abbey, she held the orb and sceptre in one hand and the imperial crown in the other.

It was alleged that Elizabeth I spent £16,000 of crown money on her coronation, and the London city fathers also contributed. The people celebrated and Elizabeth kept the hearts of her people throughout most of her reign.

Further Reading–

• Christopher Haigh, Elizabeth I (2001)
• Anne Somerset, Elizabeth I (2002)
• David Starkey, Elizabeth (2001)
• Alison Weir, Elizabeth the Queen (2009)