By the time of her death in 1603, Queen Elizabeth had become a legend. Over the next four centuries, that legend grew as her reign receded further and further into history. Many stories about this great Queen have been told, but not all of them are true.  Some of them have been accepted as true for generations, some perhaps we would want to be true.

On this page I have tried to outline some of the most popular legends about the Tudor Queen, and whether in fact they were true.

Try and guess for yourself which statements and stories are true and which are merely myth.
 
 

Baby Elizabeth was so neglected by her father, the king,
that she had to wear clothes that were too small.
True
False
 

Princess Elizabeth did not like her cousin, Lady Jane Grey.
True
False
 

On the death of Thomas Seymour, Elizabeth whispered:
"This day died a man of much wit, but very little judgment".
True
False
 

Princess Elizabeth was so heartbroken at the death of
Thomas Seymour, that she vowed never to marry.
True
False
 

Princess Elizabeth and Robert Dudley were both
imprisoned in the Tower of London at the same time,
and only a walkway separated them.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth was afraid of mice.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth never smiled.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth had a very bad temper.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth beat her maids of honor regularly.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth swore and spat
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth had lots of lovers.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth had secret children.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth would sometimes dress simply
to disguise herself as an ordinary woman
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth never mentioned her mother's name.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth was bald.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth had a sixth finger on one hand like her mother.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth had black teeth
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth was so afraid of having a tooth taken out, that
one of her Archbishops had to show her that the pain was
bearable by having a tooth out himself.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth had nicknames for her favorite courtiers.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth was really Shakespeare.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth was really a man.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth was always having heads chopped off
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth was superstitious and had an interest in the occult.
True
False
 

Sir Walter Raleigh laid his cloak before Elizabeth in the mud.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth rarely had a bath
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth knighted Francis Drake upon
his famous ship called "The Golden Hind"
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth kept the letter that Robert Dudley
sent to her before his death in her treasure box beside her bed,
where it was found fifteen years later when she herself died.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth was extremely vain, and as she got
older, refused to have any mirrors in any of her Palaces.
True
False
 

The Earl of Essex sent the Queen a ring before his execution,
but one of the Queen's ladies did not give it to her,
for which Elizabeth never forgave her.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth hated Catholics.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth's ghost was seen walking the corridors
of Richmond Palace while the Queen lay dying.
True
False
 

On her deathbed the Queen whispered Robert Dudley's name.
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth's last words were:
"All my possessions for a moment of time".
True
False
 

Queen Elizabeth's ghost is said to haunt to Windsor Castle
True
False




 
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