On 15th January 1559 Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland was crowned.

Elizabeth had become monarch following the death of her half-sister, Mary I. Elizabeth was the daughter of her father Henry VIII's second wife, the executed Anne Boleyn. Indeed, Elizabeth herself spent a year in prison during Mary's reign due to religious reasons - Mary was Catholic, Elizabeth Protestant.

Elizabeth's reign of 44 years makes her the sixth longest reigning monarch solely on the English throne, and the ninth longest counting Welsh and Scottish rulers. Despite being Protestant, she was quite tolerant of religion, and saw England being rebuilt from a second-rate country on the verge of bankruptcy to one that successfully defended itself against the greatest European power of the time - Spain.

Image: See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Darnley_stage_3.jpg)