Elizabeth's England
'The Queen is dead, long live the Queen'
Tudor government
In the 16th century, the monarch was most definitely the head of state. The Crown had the power to appoint all personnel (in both church and state), the power of veto and the final say on foreign policy. Constraints to the power of the Crown came from Parliament in financial matters, which voted subsidies for major expenditures such as war.
Another, less formal constraint at the time, was the power and influence of the nobility and the landed gentry, who often commanded the loyalty of the large number of people under them. This was a very real consideration for an incoming monarch, especially with the memory of the Wars of the Roses still fresh in people's minds, as well as the challenges to succession and uprisings of Elizabeth's own lifetime.
Since all political life revolved around the sovereign, those closest to the monarch were the most powerful in the land. Those closest to Elizabeth would be those whom she chose to be members of the Privy Chamber, Royal Household and the Privy Council. Since a change of leadership could change everything dramatically, all eyes were on Elizabeth at her accession to see who would be appointed.
The Privy Chamber included the closest body servants of the monarch. They lived in close quarters with the Queen, kept her company and represented the threshold between the Queen's public and private lives. Because of Elizabeth's gender, the Privy Chamber was female dominated and these prestigious positions were filled with the wives and daughters of powerful men.
The Royal Household was made up of Elizabeth's servants. While some members of the Royal Household also held government positions, many did not. The access to her that membership of her household provided made these positions highly esteemed and those in them very influential. Most of the positions were filled by her favourites and those who had demonstrated loyalty to her in the past.
The Privy Council was a smaller, more defined body, whose main functions were to advise Elizabeth and to act as the administrative centre for her government. Much like a cabinet or a board of directors, they were involved in matters of economy, defence, foreign policy and law and order.
Elizabeth's challenges
By all accounts Elizabeth was vain, headstrong, autocratic, a firm believer in her divine and dynastic right to rule, and determined not to be subject to anyone's will. She was also extremely intelligent and politically astute. She was not so unrealistic as to go it alone. She acknowledged the value and worth of advisers and consultants, both for the knowledge and expertise they could bring, the influence they could wield and the ownership in a project the process of consultation instills.
Elizabeth's challenge was to build a loyal staff of independent thinkers who would help her govern. She needed to do this without creating too many enemies and to reassure those not chosen that they still had a role to play. She also needed to make a good first impression as a strong leader, to command the respect of her new team and to communicate effectively to them the type of government that she proposed. Elizabeth met these challenges admirably.
Elizabeth learnt from the mistakes of her predecessors. For instance, Mary's council had expanded over time without any particular direction. This resulted in a large, unwieldy council riddled with leaks and in-fighting. Also, Mary was guided first and foremost by principles and doctrine, hence the burning of 'heretic' Protestants. Elizabeth wanted to avoid a dogmatic approach to ruling, preferring a more reasoned, pragmatic one. She was also well aware, from her own experiences, of the power of the nobility to raise challenges to her right to rule. All of these considerations would inform her decisions regarding the Privy Council.
Setting up the Privy Council
Elizabeth was at Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, when the news of Mary's death and the proclamation of her accession reached her on 17 November 1558. William Cecil, who would become her Secretary and most trusted adviser, was already with her. A little later they were joined by a delegation of Mary's councillors, wondering what lay in store for them.
Elizabeth told them that she believed it was God's will that she was now placed on the throne, thanked them for their service and told them, 'I mean to direct all mine actions by good advice and counsel'. She also tactfully let them know there would be changes:
And they which I shall not appoint, let them not think the same for any disability in them, but for I consider a multitude doth make rather disorder and confusion than good counsel, and of my good will you shall not doubt, using yourselves as appertaineth to good and loving subjects.
In this first address, Elizabeth made a decisive start by asserting her inalienable right to rule and assuring those present that hers would be a consensual government. She also made clear that the changes and job cuts to be made among her close advisers were not due to any fault of their own or out of vengeance, but from the need to streamline management for a more effective government.
True to her word, the following day Elizabeth met with a consultative committee made up of her own Protestant advisers and a few of Mary's Catholic ex-councillors, beginning the process of fusing the new with the old. The new team acted swiftly and efficiently, dismantling Mary's government and setting up Elizabeth's new one within three days of her accession.
The new Privy Council was a dramatically slimmed-down version compared to Mary's, numbering 19 as opposed to around 50. She retained a number of councillors from Mary's regime, such as the Earl of Pembroke. Although Elizabeth did not trust him, she felt he was too powerful to exclude, and since he had served under Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I, he had a stake in the continuance of the Tudor monarchy. As Elizabeth's goal was order and stability, she opted instead for a more inclusive, co-operative model drawing together the best of the old and the new to help her govern. This strategy worked and Pembroke proved a loyal servant, as did many of the others.
Members of the new council were drawn from the nobility, the gentry and business, in a skillful mix of the aristocracy and the meritocracy. Notably, most of the clergy were dismissed, signalling that while religion would be a concern of the state, it would not dominate it. The new coalition council represented all the major religious and political factions in the realm, and the experience they brought to the table balanced Elizabeth's youth and inexperience.
To unite and lead this disparate group, it was essential for Elizabeth to make her expectations of them clear. She did this in her address at the first official meeting of the new council on 20 November 1558:
I give you this charge, that you shall be of my Privy Council, and content yourself to take pains for me and my realm. This judgement I have of you, that you will not be corrupted with any manner of gift, and that you will be favourable to the state, and that, without respect of my private will, you will give me that counsel that you think best. And if you shall know anything necessary to be declared to me of secrecy, you shall show it to myself only, and assure yourself I will not fail to keep taciturnity therein.
In this passage she charges them to commit themselves wholly to her and her realm, praises them for being honest and honourable men and makes it clear that she expects them to remain so. She assures them that she wants them to tell her what they think – not what they think she wants to hear – and makes a pact of confidentiality. While she does not expect them to agree all the time with her or each other, she does demand honest advice and a commitment to give their best for her and the country:
My meaning is to require of you all nothing more but faithful hearts, in such service as from time to time shall be in your powers towards the preservation of me and this commonwealth.
Procession into the City
With the machinery of government now in motion, Elizabeth's first public appearance as Queen took place on 28 November 1558, when she and her entourage processed into the City of London. The royal party was led by the Earl of Pembroke carrying the sword of sovereignty, followed by Elizabeth dressed in royal attire of purple velvet (the wearing of both velvet and the colour purple were restricted by law to the highest ranks of the nobility). Directly behind Elizabeth rode Lord Robert Dudley, her favourite whom she had made Master of the Horse, a highly coveted position.
This procession was fairly low-key in comparison with others, especially those later in Elizabeth's reign. Perhaps she did not want to be seen as gloating, but rather as dignified and assured; for Elizabeth had, after all, been Mary's opposition and the focus of a number of schemes to oust her sister during her reign.
The procession made a powerful visual statement of the new regime, with the new queen led in by Pembroke – a long-serving, familiar figure of the old guard – and followed by Dudley, symbolic of the new. The message was clear: this was to be a smooth transition and everyone was on side, both old and new. It communicated Elizabeth's desire for continuity without stagnation and symbolically announced that the new regime would take the best of both worlds by combining the old and the new.
William Cecil, Lord Burghley
William Cecil (1520–98) was Elizabeth's most trusted adviser and faithfully served in her Privy Council until his death in 1598. He served as Secretary of State (1558–72) and then Lord Treasurer (1572–98) and was known for his formidable administrative and political skills. Elizabeth's right-hand man, she nicknamed him her 'spirit', and the closeness of their partnership made him a very influential figure in English politics.
