Queen Elizabeth I

Good Morning/Afternoon,
My name is XXX and today, I’m going to talk to you about one of the world’s greatest-ever female leaders, Queen Elizabeth the first of England.
First, some background information, to help set the scene. Elizabeth’s father was King Henry the Eighth, a very important figure in world history. It was Henry who changed England from a Catholic nation to a Protestant one, although many of his subjects disagreed with him. The principal reason that Henry did this was that the Pope would not grant him a divorce from his first wife, Katherine, who had borne him only a daughter, Mary. Becoming the leader of the Protestant church however, he obtained a divorce and promptly married Anne Boleyn. Soon after, Elizabeth was born – the year was 1533. Unfortunately, Anne could not give Henry a son either, so he trumped up adultery charges against Anne and had her executed.   Henry’s next wife bore him the much required son, Edward, who would become the next king; unfortunately, she died soon after. Henry had 3 more wives before he finally died – none of which gave him any more children.   Elizabeth was third in line for the throne, and received a magnificent education in rhetoric, languages, philosophy and history, under the tutelage of Robert Ascham; this was very unusual for the time, as women were generally regarded as inferior to men.
Now, Edward and Elizabeth had been raised in the Protestant faith, but the first-born, Mary, had been raised a Catholic. This resulted in a division in the land, as all the Catholics didn’t recognise Elizabeth as a true daughter of Henry (as his marriage to Anne Boleyn had not been legitimate). Edward became king at the age of 10, and after many illnesses, died 6 years later. Henry’s sister’s grand-Daughter, Lady Jane Grey, then took the throne, but was overthrown by Mary, who had her executed. Mary then became queen, eventually marrying Phillip the Second of Spain, who was a devout Catholic. Mary went on a rampage that...