The Spanish Armada Had Turned Away - So Why Was Elizabeth I Still Preparing for Invasion?

The Spanish Armada Had Turned Away - So Why Was Elizabeth I Still Preparing for Invasion?

In my last Tudor post, I looked at the Spanish Armada of 1588 and how England faced the threat of invasion from one of Europe’s most powerful kingdoms.

But one of the most famous moments of Elizabeth I’s reign actually happened after the Armada had sailed away.

In August 1588, Elizabeth travelled to Tilbury in Essex, where English soldiers had gathered to defend the country against a possible Spanish invasion.

By then, the Armada had already been driven from the English Channel. But that did not mean England was completely safe.

The Spanish army stationed in the Netherlands, commanded by the Duke of Parma, had been preparing to cross to England. With the Armada driven away, that plan had suffered a serious setback, but English forces remained on alert.

Thousands of soldiers were still waiting, uncertain whether they would soon be called upon to fight.

At Tilbury, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, had been placed in command of the English land forces. He was one of Elizabeth’s oldest and most trusted favourites, and it was under his command that the men had assembled.

Elizabeth was 54 years old when she visited the camp.

She rode among her soldiers and addressed the men who had gathered to defend her kingdom.

England was ruled by a woman at a time when military leadership was overwhelmingly associated with men. Yet rather than remaining safely away from the threatened coast, Elizabeth had chosen to appear before her army herself.

In the best-known surviving account of her speech, Elizabeth is said to have declared:

“I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.”

She also expressed her willingness to live and die alongside her people if England were invaded.

Those words would become some of the most famous associated with her reign.

But how certain can we be that she actually said them?

The version of the speech most familiar to us today was preserved by Dr Leonel Sharp, who claimed to have witnessed the occasion. He recorded his account years later, in 1623, so we cannot be completely certain that every word was spoken exactly as written.

The visit itself, however, is well documented.

Although the immediate threat from the Armada had passed, the wider war with Spain was far from over. Fighting between the two kingdoms would continue until 1604, more than a year after Elizabeth’s death.

Elizabeth never had to lead those soldiers into battle.

But her appearance at Tilbury would be remembered for centuries, and her words became part of the story of how England faced the threat of invasion in 1588.

I think that is what makes this moment so interesting. Elizabeth’s greatest display of courage may not have been on a battlefield at all, but in the decision to stand before her soldiers when the future of her kingdom had seemed so uncertain.

Did you know that Elizabeth’s famous speech at Tilbury took place after the Spanish Armada had already left the English Channel?

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Elizabeth I addressing her troops at Tilbury, 1588. Later historical engraving, artist unknown. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.