Secrets Of The Virgin Queen

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They called her the Virgin Queen.

England's first queen Elizabeth.

A legend in her own lifetime.

And beyond her fame
many secrets

and an unsolved mystery.

Why didn't Queen Elizabeth marry
and provide an heir to the throne?

For centuries, rumors have swirled

terms of illegitimacy,

adultery

and even that the Queen
may not have been a woman at all

but a man

or somewhere in between.

Now the startling stories

and secrets

behind England's Virgin Queen.

She is one of the history's
most storied leaders

and her 44-year reign became known
as England's Golden Age.

Yet for all her charisma and power

Queen Elizabeth I
remained the Virgin Queen.

She never married or produced
an heir to the throne.

The question is, why?

It's the greatest mystery of her reign

and fertile soil for speculation.

.

Contemporaries must have thought,

"Well, obviously Elizabeth
ought to get married

"so why isn't she getting married?"

The sleepy village of Bisley
claims to have an answer.

Located 85 miles outside London
it has not changed much today

Bisley is home to Over Court,
a small hunting lodge of King Henry VIII.

One can still see the stone walled garden

where according to legend

the little lady Elizabeth once played
with a boy of her age.

a boy now known as the Bisley boy.

And the story goes.

When she was just 10 or 11,

the young princess comes
to live at Over Court

for a short period of time,

while her father, King Henry, is away.

One day, while playing,
Elizabeth falls seriously ill.

Her manservant and her maidservant
were absolutely terrified

because there was a visit of the king
coming very shortly

to see his daughter.

In a matter of hours, she dies.

They were extremely concerned

they might have their heads chopped off

because he was rather prone to him
taking draconian action

for people who displeased him.

Desperate servants
have a stroke of genius.

They'll substitute a local child
for the dead princess,

one who resembles her in age,
hair color and complexion.

The only problem? It's a boy.

But the quick-witted servants
dress him as princess Elizabeth anyhow.

According to legend, the Bisley boy
was related to Henry VIII

which would have accounted
for the resemblance.

The story has been passed down
in this village for over 400 years

and many of the locals
still believe it could be true.

When you go back in history

and you look at the way
that she was described later on

This stuff become some form of...
the truth about it?

It is rumored this sickly child
having spent time in the country

with her bad teeth through eating
sweet meats and a poor complexion

returned to the capital with strong healthy teeth

and a very healthy rosy complexion
of a masculine build

sit on the throne of England
for a number of years.

For centuries, towns
near the village of Bisley

celebrated May Day by dressing up a boy
in the clothing of the female Tudor royal.

The legend provides
a nice piece of local color

but much of the story seems outlandish

for one thing.

Would not King Henry have noticed
a change in his daughter?

Surprisingly may be not.

Elizabeth barely saw her father.

The relationship wasn't bad

in the sense that they had quarrels
or there was tension between them

because essentially
they were alienated from each other.

The deadbit dad may never
have noticed the gender switch.

Elizabeth was a forsaken child,

she was someone
he very rarely referred to.

She was basically
the fourth scandal on the family

someone to be forgotten,

to be farmed out to some country house.

In fact, there were good reasons
to pack Elizabeth off to the country.

At the time, London was in the throes
of an epidemic,

the sweating sickness.

Sweating sickness
was particularly virulent

in the 1540s and 1550s.

London was a dirty, smelly, unsavory,

unhygienic place.

Once the victim was infected
the disease could kill within hours.

The plagued city was not a safe place
for the royal family.

Whenever there was plague in London

the royal family tried to move out

because the plague was very much
associated with the urban environment

so, it's quite possible that Elizabeth
would be taken out of London

into a country house.

So, the young princess may actually
have stayed at Over Court

but for most people
the idea that she died there

and was replaced by a boy

seems more folklore than reality.

But in the late 1800s
the Bisley boy story is bolstered

when the vicar of the local church
makes a startling discovery.

He claims he found a coffin
containing a skeleton of the girl

born princess Elizabeth.

It is believed that he then

reburied the bones.

The archeologist Marc Horton
has traveled here from Bristol

to examine the coffin.

Well, so this is a coffin all right,
a stone coffin.

The big question is whether it's roman
or medieval in date.

The Romans occupied Britain
over a thousand years

before Queen Elizabeth was born.

So, if the coffin is Roman
it's almost certainly it's not hers.

One dead giveaway of a medieval coffin

would be a drain hole at the bottom.

Drain holes let the putrefying flesh
go out from the bottom

otherwise you tend to get gas
is building up

and quite often coffins
could actually explode

with all the bits going everywhere.

Oh!

We can now deduce
the approximate date of the coffin.

The fact it's got drain holes
also makes certain

it's a medieval coffin
rather than a Roman coffin.

There are lots of Roman coffins out there,

an area much occupied by the Romans.

So, the fact is this is a medieval coffin

and I would judge it to date
between 13th and early 14th centuries

That would be around
two or three hundred years

before the young Elizabeth
was said to have died

at Bisley, around 1540.

Despite the skepticism, Horton says
the age of the coffin

doesn't completely
rule out the possibility

that Elizabeth was buried in it.

Whoever was in there
would have been reusing the coffin

from two or three hundred years before.

And in fact, that's the case.

Then maybe the 16th century
is a reasonable context

because at that time it was
during the English Reformation,

churches were being despoiled,

abbeys were being dug up
and being destroyed

so, the likelihood is that
there are quite a lot of these coffins

lying around.

If it were the case
that princess Elizabeth died here,

the body would have been very quickly

and therefore, the body
would have been put

in a possibly existing coffin.

The discovery of the coffin doesn't
provide any concrete conclusion

but it certainly stokes the embers
of the Bisley story.

Then in 1910 the story catches fire

when the hottest author of the day
gives the Bisley tale some fresh air.

Author Bram Stoker gained fame
when published a classic

Dracula.

Thirteen years later, in his new book,
"Famous Impostors",

the popular and well-regarded author

devotes an entire chapter
to the Bisley story.

According to Stoker,
there were many clues.

There are quite sufficient indications

throughout the early life
of the Queen Elizabeth

but there was some secret
she kept religiously guarded.

What is this deep dark secret?

Stoker scrutinizes her writings
and notices a drastic change in her prose

as if written by a completely
different person.

Elizabeth's literary style
had entirely changed.

The meager grudging style
has become elegance and even florid

afforded by the study
of the Latin and French tongues.

With his many observations
Stoker never claims the story to be true

but at the same time refuses
to dismiss it out of hand.

In one way there is a duty ???
which the reader must not shirk

if only on his own account,

not to refuse to accept facts
without due consideration.

Oddly improbable as the Bisley story is
it is not impossible.

The book ignites a firestorm
of more gossip.

Much of it centers
on anecdotal observations

of Queen Elizabeth's masculine features.

Some mention her long thin hands.

The carved marble effigy of the Queen
on her coffin has extremely long fingers

as do paintings and pairs of gloves.

She wore heavy layers
of white makeup on her face

which some say could have been used
to hide stubble,

though others say she could
have been trying to hide scars

from about of smallpox.

She was famous for her high collars
and ruffles around her neck.

Believers in the Bisley boy story
see that as a convenient use of fashion

to hide an Adam's apple.

The athletic queen loved to hunt

and she was good in the saddle,

able to outride all the women
and many of the men in her court.

Some portraits of Elizabeth
at the time look very feminine

while others look more masculine.

And finally, some claim Queen Elizabeth I
forbade a post-mortem upon her passing

suggesting she was hiding something.

Still with all the conjecture
most experts see the story as urban legend

and as a way to do with
a much bigger issue of that era.

I think the later part of the 19th century

had difficulties with confronting
the problem of a powerful women.

One of the ways that they tried
to deal with the problem

of this powerful woman

was to say that Elizabeth was an anomaly,

there was something either wrong with her

or she was in fact the other way,

that is, she was a man.

In the royal family, a powerful
and independent woman

refusing to marry was a big deal.

The Parliament and the Privy Council
spent a lot of time

petitioning her, pressing her,
asking her to choose a husband

and get pregnant and having an heir.

If Elizabeth were to die as a single woman

without an heir of her body
that everybody in England could accept

as the natural ruler

then the crown was up in the air.

Despite the pressure,
Queen Elizabeth does not succumb

to becoming a desperate housewife

fueling rumors and questions of why.

But perhaps her parents didn't set her
the best example.

You might have a little dim view
of marriage too

if your father cut off your mother's head.

Queen Elizabeth I gender
countered against her

from the moment she was born.

It was a strike against her mother
as well, Anne Boleyn.

I think Henry was disappointed
that Elizabeth was daughter

I think he was obviously hoping for a son.

Anne Boleyn was King Henry's second wife.

His first, Catherine of Aragon,
had borne him a daughter, Mary.

When Catherine was almost past
childbearing age,

a young attractive and flirtatious Anne

became the apple of the King's eye.

"I beseech you now with all my heart

"definitely to let me know your whole mind

"as to the love between us.

"The necessity compels me
to plague you for a reply

"having been for more than a year now

"struck by the dart of love.

"and being uncertain either of failure

"or of finding a place
in your heart and affection".

Henry's love letters and gosh
with a fervent desire to marry her

but the pope refuses
to grant him a divorce.

Then King Henry has a great idea.

He decides to leave the Catholic Church
and declares himself

divine leader of the Church of England.

He petitions to the church courts

to have his marriage
with Catherine annulled.

But before they act Anne gets pregnant

When Anne Boleyn was pregnant.

everyone convinced themselves
it was bound to be a boy,

certainly, Henry did.

We know that from the letters
that were sent out

to announce the birth of a prince

and then people have gone
through writing a little S on the end

so that it says princess.

On September 7th, 1533,
Elizabeth is born.

King Henry is disappointed.

He wants to try again
but the results are even more upsetting.

The record of Anne's pregnancies
while she is queen is rather curious.

Princess Elizabeth is born.

The following year 1534
she thinks she is pregnant

but as we know no child appears.

What we then know is that she was pregnant
at the end of 1535, early 1536,

but then there is a miscarriage.

There's debate as to how
this disappointment affects

King Henry's feelings for his wife.

Some scholars suppose that Henry
is getting rather fed up with her

and what he wanted
at all cost was the son

and this was causing him doubts
about the marriage,

I mean, not so sure.

What is certain is shortly after
the miscarriage

King Henry has the queen arrested
and imprisoned in the Tower of London.

The charges against her are scandalous.

What Anne was accused of, in May 1536,

was that she had committed
adultery with five men

including incest with her brother.

The rumor that Anne Boleyn
was having affairs

it's difficult to trace

exactly how they reached Henry.

But when Henry learned of them

he appears to have believed them.

In my view, Anne Boleyn
did not have affairs,

I think she played flirtatiously
with people at her court

but the court was a place where
one would be extremely foolish

to have affair.

All five men are found guilty.

They were executed

and painfully so, there was
no escape for them.

There is no escape for the queen either.

King Henry wants to ground his wife
Tudor style

Princess Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn,

is ordered beheaded by her father.

Elizabeth is not yet three years old.

If you are found guilty of treason,
hanging, drawing, quartering

disembowelment, your body
dismembered, torn, pickled,

stuck on gates or bridges, as a warning.

He offers the dignity of
Anne's death simply beheading

was a great act of mercy and compassion

and in the circumstances
one that most people would beg for.

King Henry's final gesture
of affection for his wife

is to hire an executioner from France
to chop off her head.

A sword was cleaner
and quicker than an axe

which could take two swings.

Quite often, due of nerves or drink

the executioner did bungle executions.

It is common practice.
That's why you get the practice

of the victim often paying execution
at something.

Anne kneels bravely and says her prayers.

The executioner picks up
his sword behind her.

Then just before striking,
he asks for his sword

so, the queen doesn't know it's coming.

"Give me my sword!"

Elizabeth will soon learn
a valuable lesson.

Life in Tudor England can be cruel.

The charges of adultery
may not have been true

but if they were, they would raise
a provocative question.

If Anne Boleyn was sleeping around,
it is possible that princess Elizabeth.

born in September 1533,

might just possibly not having been
Henry VIII's daughter?

Who knows?

It is just possible.

In the end probably unlikely
it's one of these things

which is unprovable but it's worth
just leaving the possibility open.

Upon the death of her mother,
Elizabeth takes another blow.

She is shunned and removed
from the line of succession to the throne.

King Henry marries his third wife,
Jane Seymour

and she gives him the son
he had always wanted,

Prince Edward.

And it was only about 1543
that Henry began to think again

about the succession

and he realized that it was very insecure.

He only had one young son

and he needed to ensure that
it would continue within his line

by making both Mary
and Elizabeth his heirs.

Now at the age of 10, princess Elizabeth
is officially reinstated

and third in line to the throne.

Just three years later,
when she is 13,

her father, King Henry VIII dies.

The young princess moves in
with her stepmother

who quickly marries a close friend,

Thomas Seymour.

What happens next between the princess
and her stepfather will be a scandal,

one so salacious it may be the reason
she avoided marriage entirely.

Elizabeth was just a 13-year old princess

when word spread of bedroom romps
with her stepfather, Thomas Seymour.

We have evidence from high witnesses
of Thomas Seymour

coming into his stepdaughter's bedroom

in the morning and waking her up
before she had put on her clothes

for the day, so she was in bed
in her bed clothes,

tickling her, having
sort of a sexualized teasing.

He slaps her buttocks and holds her
in bone embraces.

Many in her court find
the relationship inappropriate.

It happened over a period of months

and Elizabeth grew increasingly
uncomfortable with these episodes

but it seems pretty clear
that Elizabeth did at times

fall under the spell of Seymour's charms.

Thomas Seymour has had to be attractive,
tall, athletic and charismatic

and many believe he is using his charm

to woo the impressionable teenager,

possibly to satisfy his own ambitions.

If Seymour married Elizabeth,
he would have immediately been

such a powerful figure in the kingdom.

Any children that they had
of that legal marriage

would have been in the succession

and when Elizabeth became
Queen of England, if she did,

he would be her husband,
the King of England.

When Seymour's wife, Catherine Parr dies,
he conspires to marry the young princess,

some say by trying to plant his seed,

rumors he did not quell but encouraged.

His fate though is sealed
when the 12-year old King Edward

learns of his uncle's plot
to marry Elizabeth.

His scheme was neither good for his soul

nor his head.

As for Elizabeth, Thomas' death
has a lasting effect,

one that would haunt her
for the rest of her life.

Yet was the Seymour affair
enough to put her off marriage?

Many people have things happen
to them in their childhood

on their early adolescence
that don't predetermine their whole life

so, to say that this Seymour episode
cemented Elizabeth opinion

she would never marry,
I think is overreaching.

But just a few years later,

Elizabeth's life takes a dramatic turn

when King Edward dies.

Her half-sister Mary takes the throne

but lasts a mere five years
before she gets sick and dies too.

Then at age 25, Elizabeth,
the illegitimate daughter

who once had been booted
from the line of succession

rises to the country's highest post,

the Queen of England.

In her mind, it was destiny.

This is the Lord's doing.

It is marvelous in our eyes.

Elizabeth was a very healthy young woman

which acceded to throne in 1558.

She was a superb horsewoman,
a very powerful constitution

and capable of bearing children.

Dr. Rita Bakan, a psychologist
from Simon Fraser University

compares Queen Elizabeth's physical traits
with a genetic condition

which is now called complete androgen
insensitivity syndrome.

People with this condition are born
with both male and female sex organs.

It is estimated to happen
in 1 in 20 000 babies.

At birth a baby appears to have
female genitalia,

however, a gynecological examination
will reveal no uterus or ovaries

but instead undescended testicles.

The testicles produce testosterone

but the body doesn't recognize it

so, the person develops
the appearance of a female.

When the child is born
which has been like a normal female baby

nothing else to notice

so, nobody will know whether
there is any problem

until the person will grow
and reaches puberty.

That's the time the difference
will be noticed.

The late Dr. Bakan's paper suggests
this may have happened with Elizabeth.

At birth the midwives and doctors
determined her to be a female

but at puberty Elizabeth
may have noticed her condition

and decided to avoid any sexual relations.

If the theory is true

it would have been
Elizabeth's biggest secret

and possibly the reason she didn't marry.

On her deathbed reports claimed
that Queen Elizabeth's firmly decreed

that under no condition
should her body be embalmed.

Was Queen Elizabeth hiding something?

The study makes the case
that Elizabeth had many characteristics

sometimes associated with complete
androgen insensitivity syndrome.

And male individuals typically
present as attractive,

intelligent and practical.

and females are above average height,
slim, active, athletic,

with notably long and beautiful hands.

But obviously not every woman
with these traits has this condition.

That newspaper is intriguing

but most historians dispute its validity.

For one thing, if the Queen
had this condition

what is one to make of the love affair
she said to have had?

Rumors have swirled for years
that Queen Elizabeth I had one true love.

His name was Lord Robert Dudley,
a horseman.

She had one great weakness
on great passion, I believe, just one,

that was Robert Dudley.

Dudley was extremely attractive.

He was close to her
in that he was made master of the horses

and so, he was physically close to her

spending time with her
when she was doing her favorite activities

hunting and riding.

I'm pretty sure from the descriptions

that Elizabeth was,
as I said, in love with him.

Her letters to Dudley
hint at their closeness.

"You are like my little dog.

"When people see you,
they know I am nearby".

But as queen, Elizabeth had to be careful
of her public image.

As she learned early in her life,

her romantic relations were never her own.

Every decision affected the entire country

and as soon as she took the throne

there was one question on everyone's mind.

Immediately people will say,

"You are young,
who are you going to marry?

"We must have a male heir".

And this dominates the first 10 years
of Elizabeth's reign.

In 16th century monarchy
marriage was less about love

and more about political alliances.

She would have engaged
in marriage negotiations

with foreign rulers.

However, these negotiations
are overshadowed

by the presence of Robert Dudley

whom I think Elizabeth
was infatuated with.

It has been said that Elizabeth
led with her head not with her heart

but she did struggle with her feelings
for Robert Dudley

who, according to rumors,
she wanted to marry.

But it was impossible.

Lord Robert Dudley
was already married to Amy Robsart,

One of the obstacles to Dudley's
and Elizabeth's happiness

was Amy Robsart.

She and Dudley had married years earlier.

They had separated.

Amy lived her own life, while her husband
certainly was indicated

Elisabeth's leading courtier master horse

for the Queen and the country.

We know from studies of her own letters

that Elizabeth was jealous
maybe watched out.

It is a 16th century love triangle.

When Dudley's wife Amy
falls ill, the plot thickens.

So, the rumors about her illness
that Amy may be...

Elisabeth was hoping that Amy would die.

Then in September 1560,

Amy falls down a flight of stairs
and breaks her neck.

In the public's eye, the death
of Dudley's wife isn't a coincidence.

Rumors spread like wildfire

that Dudley has his wife murdered
to marry Elizabeth.

Was this a calculated murder
by two passionate lovers?

There are a number of theories.

One is that Dudley killed his wife.

The evidence we have that
he was horrified that his wife had died,

he realized it's made matters
worse not better.

Another rumor claims that those
who wanted Dudley away from the Queen

had Amy killed.

And yet another claims Amy Robsart
committed suicide.

But the biggest question
on everyone's mind

Did Elizabeth have anything to do with it?

It's possible that Elizabeth
will have known what was going on

if there was a plot, there is some gossip
that Elizabeth was aware,

but in the end its also circumstantial

that I would be very cautious
about giving it great weight.

After an investigation
the courts ruled accidental death.

Still Amy's death ends any possibility
of a marriage

between Elizabeth and Lord Dudley.

When Amy did die,
she died in such suspicious circumstances

that Elizabeth reputation would
have been irreparably damaged

had she considered a marriage to Dudley.

It was brought home to her

that it would be political ruin
if she went ahead and married Dudley.

Elizabeth denied
they have ever had a love affair.

Friends yes but lovers? No.

And no one could prove otherwise.

Although there were rumors
that Dudley and Elizabeth were lovers,

they did not come
from the household of Elizabeth

they didn't come from people
who would have been in the know.

I don't think Elizabeth
would have taken the risk

in the first place, because one trait
of Elizabeth character

is that she's circumspect, she's cautious,
she is politically savvy.

She would not have taken the risk
as far as I can see.

Whatever the truth, these rumors
follow Elizabeth throughout her reign

and her relationship with Robert Dudley.

Then, 25 years later,
the rumors flared again

when a ship is said to run aground
off the coast of Spain.

A man announces that he is Arthur Dudley,
the bastard son

of the Lord Robert Dudley
and Queen Elizabeth.

For much of her reign,
Queen Elizabeth said

she was married.

"I have already joined myself
in marriage to a husband,

"namely the kingdom of England".

It is said she adored the title
the Virgin Queen.

But there was one man
who claimed to be the proof

that she wasn't a virgin at all.

The one story I do believe
which should be investigated

is the story of Arthur Dudley,
a young man 27 years of age.

He claims that he was raised
in Worcestershire

by one Robert Southern.

This Arthur Dudley says he is the son
natural of Robert Dudley and the Queen,

that the Queen gave birth to him.

Bolstering the story, our records
confirming there was a Robert Southern

from Worcestershire at that time.

Arthur Dudley was taken
seriously by the Spanish

and he is also taken seriously
by the English agents

sent out there to investigate.

He was 27 years old

which means he would have been
conceived around 1560.

Now if you examine this very carefully

you have Elizabeth and Dudley
passionately involved.

We know that he had lodges
close the Queen.

Her old minister Cecil talks
of the deep fervor between them.

He sees the possibility the Queen
could have paid off

one of Dudley's servants

to keep her pregnancy quiet.

We have Elizabeth falling ill

and in a delirium, she says that,

"Dudley's body, sir

"He received 500 pounds the gift".

No. That was millions of pounds
by modern day standards.

Assuming Queen Elizabeth did get pregnant,

could she really have hidden it
from the people of England?

Every time she moved
around the countryside

it sparked rumors that she was travelling
because she was really pregnant

and she needed to get away from London

in order to deliver all these children.

If the story of Arthur Dudley is true

he is physical proof of an affair
between Queen Elisabeth and Lord Dudley

and of the fact she was not a virgin.

But most scholars find little credence
in the story.

There were a number of Tudor impostors

some of them more or less believable

but no, Arthur Dudley
was not the love child

of Robert and the Queen.

Whether friendship or love

the relationship between the Queen
and Dudley lasted many years.

She never really gave up.

Despite the passing of years,

despite the fact of Dudley
perhaps got mad at least twice

this is the man that when he died

Elizabeth locked herself in a chamber
and wouldn't come out.

The door had to be forced.

Particularly as she aged,
Elizabeth loved being called a virgin.

It justified her decision
never to marry

but it created a political crisis

just to who would succeed her.

Increasingly, it looked as though
she had a way out

of the original succession problem.

which is to look to Mary,
Queen of Scotts' son.

James VI of Scotts

She never officially confirms
that he will be his successor

but as her reign goes on

it becomes increasingly obvious
to everyone

that he is the best candidate.

At age of 69, after a long illness
and period of decline

Queen Elizabeth I dies.

In one of her requests to Parliament

she asked to be remembered
as the Queen without a husband.

"And in the end,
this shall be for me sufficient

"that a marble stone shall declare
that a queen having reigned such a time

"lived and died a virgin ".

Elizabeth took her secrets with her
when she died.

However, the debate over many
of these rumors continues.

We may never know the reason
for Elizabeth's refusal to marry

but it's likely that one
of England's most famous

and revered rulers

the Virgin Queen,

will remain one of its most mysterious.