Answer: Elizabeth’s refusal to marry was the cause of great national and international discussion. It was generally believed at that time that only men were suited to rule and that the proper role for a woman was that of a wife. Beyond this notion, however, the dynastic and diplomatic stakes of a possible royal marriage were very high. If Elizabeth died childless, the Tudor line would come to an end, and her Catholic cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, would assume the throne in England. Protestants viewed the possibility of a Catholic monarch as a nightmarish threat that could best be averted if Elizabeth produced a Protestant heir. The queen’s marriage decision was critical not only for the question of succession but also for the tangled web of international diplomacy. England, isolated and militarily weak when Elizabeth first came to the throne, sorely needed the major alliances that a marriage could create. Yet Elizabeth found that remaining unmarried gave her a most useful diplomatic weapon, particularly when playing the rivals France and Spain against each other. With suitors from these and other countries, Elizabeth skillfully kept marriage negotiations going for months, even years—as long as it was to her advantage.
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