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Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth Tudor was born on September 7th 1533 at Greenwich palace to parents Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, King and Queen of England. England had undergone many changes for the birth of Elizabeth to occur. Anne Boleyn was Henry’s 2nd wife. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was unable to bear him a son and instead gave birth to Mary, Elizabeth’s older half-sister. Henry was determined to have a male heir to the throne and with his determination, he asked the Pope to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, as so he could marry Anne Boleyn who he hoped would bear him a son. England at the time was devoutly Catholic and King Henry, in a fit of anger, declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, and thus breaking away from the Catholic Church completely. England was now a protestant nation, and Henry was able to annul his marriage to Catherine and marry Anne; as a result, Mary was now viewed to be an illegitimate child and excluded from succession to the throne. On January 25, 1533 Henry and Anne were married in secret. In reference to Henry’s infatuation with Anne, the French Ambassador wrote "the King is so infatuated that none but God can cure him." Elizabeth spent most of h