The Virgin Queen?

[ferngully]

as the kings wife, she could have been. if she was a queen in her own right without a husband, she could reign supreme, with no man to worry about and no mistress to compete with. who wanted to end up like any of henry's wives, especially anne boleyn?

[Romanov_fan]

She might not have been disposed of, but she would have had less power. So, in a sense that is disposed of. Another point, I can think of is that in the Tudor age, politics was very turbulent. So she might have feared something politically would happen badly for her if she married the wrong person. After all, Mary, Queen of Scots was in a sense disposed of, and she was a queen.

[ilyala]

She might not have been disposed of, but she would have had less power. So, in a sense that is disposed of. Another point, I can think of is that in the Tudor age, politics was very turbulent. So she might have feared something politically would happen badly for her if she married the wrong person. After all, Mary, Queen of Scots was in a sense disposed of, and she was a queen.

mary was disposed of but not by her husband but rather because of her husband. however, i find it hard to believe elizabeth would have ever thought of marrying a man suspected of murder (see robert dudley - i think the minute his wife died a suspicious death, any hopes of him marrying elizabeth died out).

[Romanov_fan]

Well, Elizabeth could also have been desposed because of her husband, and actually I find this more likely. Had she made an unpopular foriegn marriage, that might have been the end for her. But, then she was well aware of it. As for Leicester, I think she may have wanted to marry him, but never really entertained the idea seriously. She was much too clever to marry anybody, even someone she deeply loved, such as him. Had she been in a less exalted position, I think she might have married him, though.

[Mari]

I wish I had joined this site and been able to participate in this discussion earlier. I don't have time to research any of this now but when I had a University History Class Dr. McGee in English History Class stated that Contemporaries knew that Queen Elizabeth lived openly with Lord Robert Dudley. He explained they had connecting rooms. Now that might not contribute to the "Virginity question" but I wonder if anyone has heard this and knows of a source. He also claimed that she never conceived because of a crooked womb or uterus. Anyone ever heard that?

[Kimberly]

I always thought that Elizabeth requested for there to be no post mortem and that that request was honoured. If this is true then there is no way he can know that she had a "crooked uterus".

[Mari]

I think it was more of an exam when Queen Elizabeth was alive...Dr. McGee was a an elderly Professor and now is dead or I would ask him for the source.
 I would like to know where the uterus story came from also.
Anyone? 
good to know about the post mortem

[helenazar]

Didn't they do an internal exam on Elizabeth before she was going to marry Alencon to see if she was capable of bearing children and pronounced that she was "like other women" and perfectly capable of having children? Which means that her uterus was just fine. I would like to know where the "crooked uterus" story came from too... Maybe the same place as the rumor that she was really a man?