Intelligence.
Cunning. She was frequently a few steps of her potential enemies.
Wisdom: for only naming an heir late in her life. This person would have just become a focal point for her opponents.
Adaptability: she often described herself as the only person who could calm religious strife in England -- although she also did much to stir up religious discord elsewhere, especially in Ireland.
Patience.
Resolve (determination, stubborn-ness).
Luck -- she was very lucky to survive the political situation into which she had been born, and the tensions endured right from her early life to her deathbed). Some of her apparent luck is down to her patience, cunning, etc., but some was just plain luck.
Opportunistic: she timed things well.
Red hair. Most of which fell out after a bout of smallpox.
Pocked skin (after the smallpox, when she was age 29 yrs)
Smelly -- people in those days, even Royalty, rarely bathed.
Probably parasite infested, for that matter -- headlice, body lice and similar creatures were common at all levels of society.
Cunning. She was frequently a few steps of her potential enemies.
Wisdom: for only naming an heir late in her life. This person would have just become a focal point for her opponents.
Adaptability: she often described herself as the only person who could calm religious strife in England -- although she also did much to stir up religious discord elsewhere, especially in Ireland.
Patience.
Resolve (determination, stubborn-ness).
Luck -- she was very lucky to survive the political situation into which she had been born, and the tensions endured right from her early life to her deathbed). Some of her apparent luck is down to her patience, cunning, etc., but some was just plain luck.
Opportunistic: she timed things well.
Red hair. Most of which fell out after a bout of smallpox.
Pocked skin (after the smallpox, when she was age 29 yrs)
Smelly -- people in those days, even Royalty, rarely bathed.
Probably parasite infested, for that matter -- headlice, body lice and similar creatures were common at all levels of society.
