Edward VI and Mary I

20th February 1547 – Edward VI is crowned King of England.

1547 – Elizabeth lives with her stepmother, Catherine Parr who is now married to Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley and brother of Edward Seymour.

1548 – Elizabeth is sent away from the Seymours’ house after alleged sexual encounters with Thomas Seymour.

5th September 1548 – Catherine Parr dies of complications following teh birth of her daughter, Mary. Thomas Seymour renews his interest in Elizabeth.

20th March 1549 – Thomas Seymour is executed after being found guilty of treason, by plotting to seize the throne from Edward VI. Elizabeth is investigated because it is suspected that she is having an affair with Seymour, is possibly pregnant by him and that she intends to take the throne.

1550 Edward Seymour falls from power and is succeeded by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick.

4th June 1550 Rovert Dudley, later to be a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, marries his sweetheart Amy Robsart.

1551 – Elizabeth is welcomed at the court of her brother, Edward VI.

January 1552 – Edward Seymour is executed after being thought to be scheming to get rid of John Dudley.

6th July 1553 – Death of Edward VI, possibly of tuberculosis. Edward and his council had previously drawn up a “Devise for the Succession” to prevent his Catholic sister Mary from becoming Queen, and naming Protestant Lady Jane Grey as his successor.

10th July 1553 – Lady Jane Grey, wife of Guildford Dudley and granddaughter of Princess Mary (Henry VIII’s sister), comes to the throne. Within 9 days (hence the name “The Nine Days Queen”), the Lady Mary is declared to be England’s rightful Queen and Lady Jane’s proclamation is revoked.

20th July 1553 – Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, and Elizabeth’s half sister, is proclaimed Queen.

30th October 1553 – Mary I’s Coronation.

12th February 1554 – Lady Jane Grey and Guildford Dudley are executed.

1554 – Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Younger, leads a protestant rebellion against Mary I. Mary imprison Elizabeth in the Tower because she suspects that Elizabeth  conspired with Wyatt and his followers. Elizabeth is later released from the Tower and sent to Woodstock Manor in Oxfordshire.

11th April 1554 – Thomas Wyatt’s execution.

25th July 1554 Mary I marries Philip II of Spain.

1555 – England is now a Catholic country and the famous burnings of Mary I’s reign begin, hence her title “Bloody Mary”.  Famous burnings during Mary I’s reign include Bishops Latimer and Ridley, and Archbishop Cranmer. Also in this year, Elizabeth is allowed to leave Woodstock and to return to Hatfield.

24th April 1558 – Mary Queen of Scots marries the heir to the French throne, Francis the Dauphin.

17th November 1558 – Mary I dies and Elizabeth is named Queen.