Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Sister-Subject/Sister-Queen: Elizabeth I Among Her Siblings, Carole Levin

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Elizabeth Tudor had one older half-sister and one younger half-brother by the first and third of her father Henry VIII’s wives. During her father’s reign the young Elizabeth spent a fair amount of time with one or the other of her siblings, either at court or one of the other residences where she lived. Though her relationship with her brother Edward was easier, Mary, 17 years older than her younger sister, could be kind to the child who had lost her mother in such a horrific manner—even though she loathed Elizabeth’s mother Anne Boleyn. This essay interrogates the relationships Elizabeth …