Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I was a Queen of England during the 16th and early 17th centuries, and a spouse of the Tenth Doctor. She presided over the eponymous Elizabethan era. Her dynasty was founded by her grandfather Henry Tudor, who claimed the crown of England at the Battle of Bosworth by defeating Richard III of England — or, rather, an out-of-time William Shakespeare whose similar looks allowed him to be mistaken for Richard. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)

Biography


Elizabeth was the daughter of King Henry VIII of England and his second wife Anne Boleyn, who was executed on 19 May 1536. (AUDIO: Recorded Time) Her immediate predecessor was her elder half-sister Mary I, a devout Catholic who sought to "wipe the Protestant scourge from every corner of England." (AUDIO: The Marian Conspiracy)

Elizabeth had multiple sobriquets, including "the Virgin Queen" and "Good Queen Bess". (AUDIO: The Marian Conspiracy)

In 1555, a Protestant priest, the Reverend Thomas Smith, attempted to install Elizabeth on the throne in place of her Catholic half-sister Mary. His then-gestating son John Whiteside-Smith would grow up to be one of Queen Elizabeth's advisors; the pair were distant ancestors of the Sixth Doctor's companion Evelyn Smythe. (AUDIO: The Marian Conspiracy)

In 1562, the Tenth Doctor had a picnic with Elizabeth in a glade and proposed to her, but he believed her acceptance of it and everything he is saying as proof that she was Zygon. In fact, it was his horse that his timey-wimey detector was picking up as Zygon and Elizabeth really did accept his proposal. As they ran away, they get separated and the Zygon took Elizabeth's form. When the Eleventh Doctor arrived, the Tenth Doctor ordered the Elizabeths to run; both kiss him beforehand. Shortly afterwards, when the War Doctor was there, one of the two Elizabeths, whom the Doctor believed is the Zygon, returned and had the three imprisoned in the Tower of London. They later discovered that the door was unlocked and Elizabeth revealed she wanted to see what they would do upon escape. She explained the Zygons' method of hiding in paintings to invade Earth in its more advanced future. After they were gone, she revealed herself to be the real Elizabeth, having killed her Zygon duplicate. She asked the Doctors to protect the world when that day comes, but first she insisted the Tenth Doctor fulfill his promise to marry her. After they left, she had the paintings locked up in a secret part of the National Gallery. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Elizabeth I's court astrologer John Dee was apparently another identity of Jared Khan, who was still fruitlessly hunting the Doctor at the time. At this point, the Queen appeared to be on friendly terms with the Doctor, then in his seventh incarnation. (PROSE: Birthright)

Her Majesty imprisoned Sir Walter Raleigh in the Tower of London in the summer of 1592 in anger over his secret marriage. Either the First or Second Doctor was his cell-mate whom he bored with incessant discussion of discovering the potato in the New World. The reason for the Doctor's imprisonment was unknown. (TV: The Mind of Evil)

The First Doctor was first shown encountering Elizabeth I as an image on the Time-Space Visualiser. He, Barbara Wright, Vicki Pallister and Ian witnessed her, circa 1596, attempting to influence William Shakespeare to write another play featuring the character of Falstaff — this one featuring Falstaff "in love". (TV: The Chase)

The Sixth Doctor and Evelyn eventually visited the court of Elizabeth I at some point, which was their intended destination at the time of Evelyn's first trip in the the TARDIS. (AUDIO: Thicker than Water) The Eighth Doctor would later return to Elizabeth's court in the company of Samson and Gemma Griffin. (AUDIO: Terror Firma)

Elizabeth's relations with the Tenth Doctor were more complicated. From his perspective, they first met in 1599. On that occasion, in the Globe Theatre, she immediately recognised him and ordered her guards to kill him. (TV: The Shakespeare Code) Some time after this (from his perspective), he met Elizabeth at an earlier moment in her life. He told Ood Sigma that he married "Good Queen Bess", and implied that she could no longer be called by one of her epithets. The Doctor stopped mid-sentence, leaving his precise meaning vague. (TV: The End of Time) Presumably her anger towards him is due to him never returning to her after their marriage. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Elizabeth X later made a passing remark regarding a relationship between the Doctor and the "Virgin Queen", also implying that the Doctor and Elizabeth I in some measure consummated their marriage. (TV: The Beast Below) The Dream Lord later noted his relationship with Liz the First... "Well, she thought she was the first". (TV: Amy's Choice)

When discussing things he still had time for with Dorium Maldovar, the Eleventh Doctor mentioned that "Liz the First" was still waiting to elope with him in a glade, indicating that he may not have gone through with the marriage, though he could have also been implying his ability to travel back to before their wedding occurred. (TV: The Wedding of River Song)

Ian Chesterton had seen films depicting the Spanish Armada in which Elizabeth I was played by Bette Davis and Flora Robson. (AUDIO: The Flames of Cadiz)

While waiting for River Song to use her vortex manipulator to get back to him in Victorian London, the Eleventh Doctor saw a statue of himself in his eleventh incarnation wearing one of Elizabeth I's iconic collars. He stated, "Bess, you silly old goat, let it go!" When River appeared she asked if it was him and he replied, "She made me wear that! I thought it was just a private portrait for her handbag." (GAME: The Eternity Clock)

Behind the scenes

 * The implication is that Elizabeth was commissioning The Merry Wives of Windsor in The Chase alluded to a historical legend in which Elizabeth actually did suggest Shakespeare write the play. However, The Chase does not explicitly name the work, nor give a definite date for this encounter.''
 * Following the broadcast of The Shakespeare Code, it was often rumoured that an adventure featuring Queen Elizabeth I and the Tenth Doctor would be forthcoming. However, one never came in Series 4, and pre-broadcast information about the 2009 specials did not seem to favour the return of Elizabeth, either. The fact that Elizabeth was mentioned in The End of Time therefore came as a surprise to many fans who had long since resolved that this would remain a mystery with the departure of the Tenth Doctor.
 * Elizabeth I was the first individual with whom the Doctor was implied to have an out-of-sync relationship, a plot device which subsequently became commonplace in the BBC Wales era. His First incarnation appeared to be unfamiliar with her when viewing her in The Chase circa 1596. Later in his First or Second incarnation, however, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London with Sir Walter Raleigh four years earlier from the perspective of Her Majesty and the Earth, as his Third incarnation related to Jo Grant in The Mind of Evil. Queen Elizabeth and the Tenth Doctor were again out of synchronisation with each other in The Shakespeare Code and the events preceding The End of Time & The Wedding of River Song.
 * According to The Brilliant Book 2012, a book that contains non-narrative based information; in an alternate universe where all of history happened at once, Elizabeth I was often voted the most popular Queen of England and was rumoured to be engaged to the Earl of Essex.