Gloriana's first glorious day

On January 15th 1559, a woman who had survived one of the most tempestuous childhoods ever known to a royal was crowned Queen of England.  Elizabeth I, the baby who was meant to be a boy, enjoyed one of the most magnificent coronations seen for generations.  Like most medieval and early modern monarchs, she got a good reception on leaving Westminster Abbey (it was kind of obligatory then to cheer the crowned monarch if you knew what was good for you) and the portrait of the first Elizabeth I in her coronation robes shows the splendour of the occasion to its full.

Elizabeth, Queen of England was crowned on January 15th 1559

Her triumphant day brought to an end the traumatic early part of her life.  The baby Anne Boleyn had promised would be a prince and for whom Henry VIII had changed his country but who had turned out to be another strong willed Tudor woman turned from an orphaned child who fell in and out of favour into the queen of all she surveyed.  Many troubles would await Elizabeth but the day of her coronation marked the end of one phase of her royal life and the start of another - and a chance of glory in her own right.