We are ending our Women’s History Month, with fittingly, the last Tudor monarch and the product of a long history with Pembrokeshire, Elizabeth 1st.
Elizabeth I was born in Greenwich on 7 September 1533, the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn was the marquess of Pembroke, a title that Elizabeth did not inherit as Anne was stripped of the title when she was accused of treason. Henry VIII’s father was Henry VII who was born in Pembroke castle and changed the course of Welsh history as we know it.
Elizabeth was one of the best-educated women of her generation. At the end of her life, she was believed to have spoken Welsh.
Carew Castle
Tudor Pembrokeshire was a place of increased prosperity, one where large estates were established or extended. One of the grandest of these was at Carew Castle.
Tudor Pembrokeshire was a place of increased prosperity, one where large estates were established or extended. One of the grandest of these was at Carew Castle.
During Elizabeth’s reign, she appointed Sir John Perrot to extend the castle. At Elizabeth I’s coronation in 1559, he was one of the men chosen to bear her canopy of state, and in 1562 was made Vice-Admiral of the South Wales coast and Keeper of the Jail at Haverfordwest.
He was granted governorship of Carew Castle at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign and embarked on the great rebuilding of the north front of the Castle in the Elizabethan style.
Images: Getty images & Western Telegraph
