According to contemporary chronicler William Campden, Elizabeth's poor health appears to have begun roughly two months prior to this day. It has been noted, however, that she complained of feeling unwell as early as Autumn 1602, when she apparently caught a chill outdoors and suffered from a sore throat and body aches. Campden noted that, prior to this, she had enjoyed 'health without impairment' - calling out her temperate diet and abstinence from wine. However, the now-elderly queen had begun to suffer weakness and illness in January, and departed from Westminster to Richmond Palace, where she intended to 'refresh herself'. But it clearly did not take long before those around her - as well as she herself - realized that there may be no coming back from this decline. The once-notoriously strong-willed and hearty queen now looked her immortality in the eyes, and grew ever more depressed as she spent more and more time in prayer. She conferred with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of London, and became shorter-tempered and more melancholy than she had been.
Her physicians in these final weeks noted a swelling of glands (which they referred to as 'almonds' in her throat), as well as a loss of appetite. She complained of her inauguration ring - which symbolized her marriage to England as its queen - becoming 'so grown into the flesh', that it required filing off from her finger. Her throat became dryer and sorer as February became March, and she reportedly spoke to her attendants with less frequency - likely falling deeper into a dark depression as she knew death was approaching. She was so consumed with grief and foreboding, that she was reported to have sat on cushions in her chambers for hours on end, speaking to no one.
According to Archbishop Whitgift (of Canterbury), Elizabeth made no reply whenever he spoke of her rallying from her illness and recovering to full health. Instead, when he mentioned the joys of Heaven, she squeezed his hand - as if to say that this was her preference. At the very respectable (if ancient, by Tudor standards) age of nearly seventy, she appears to have resigned herself to leaving the world and taking to her final rest. Still, when Robert Cecil suggested that she must leave her cushions in favor of her more comfortable bed, Elizabeth snapped at him, saying, "'must' is not a word to use to princes, little man." Even in this fragile state, no one was going to tell the mighty Elizabeth what to do - and there is reason to believe that she might have felt a bit apprehensive going to bed, knowing it would likely be for the final time.
Finally, succumbing to the reality of the situation, Elizabeth did go to bed, surrounded by her trusted ladies. She fell into a deep sleep on the night of 23 March, and passed away in the deepest hours of the early morning of Thursday, the 24th. It was the eve of the Feast Day for St. Mary the Virgin - an appropriate day for the Virgin Queen to depart this earth. Interestingly, as the Tudors still used the Julian calendar, this was also the final day of the year 1602 (the new year began on the aforementioned feast day, the 25th of March). So, contemporary records of this event would show the queen as having died in 1602.
Within a few hours, Elizabeth's councilors would begin plans to proclaim James VI of Scotland as King James I of England, and the queen's death would be announced the following morning - spreading through the streets of London like depressing wildfire. For many citizens of Tudor England, Elizabeth had been the only monarch they'd ever known in their lifetime - certainly the only one they could recall. Her death brought about some uncertainty and fear of the unknown.
While the people of England digested the information about the passing of their 'Good Queen Bess', the deceased monarch's body was embalmed and placed in a lead coffin - having not been subjected to a postmortem examination, at her own bequest. Soon, she would lie in state while the new king took up his post, and her life would later be celebrated and commemorated with a grand funeral at the end of April.
- Wikipedia: "Elizabeth I"
- "The Death and Burial of Elizabeth I: Hidden Tales from Inside the Vault" (The Tudor Travel Guide)
- "The Death of Queen Elizabeth I" (www.ElizabethI.org)