You probably know what she looks like, even though she lived more than 400 years ago. Elizabeth I’s trademark red tresses, porcelain-like skin and crimson lips make her one of the most striking monarchs in British history, in fact. And it’s a look that remains iconic even today – thanks to countless media interpretations. But this carefully curated image hid many dark secrets. Horrifyingly, it may have even contributed to the queen’s death.
Elizabeth, in case you didn’t already know, was the daughter of Henry VIII’s much-maligned second queen Anne Boleyn. And as history has it, she nearly missed out on the throne altogether. But when Elizabeth finally found power, she was determined to do everything possible to hold on to it. In a man’s world, that meant she needed to remain beautiful – whatever the cost.
And that distinctive look was seemingly inspired by the Renaissance – a movement that was gaining popularity in England when Elizabeth was on the throne. The queen actually played an important role in its development as a supporter of the arts and literature. She was also influenced by the beauty ideals associated with this era, and from what we know she strove to recreate these throughout her life – at any cost.
A pale complexion, light hair, scarlet lips and sparkling eyes were all considered highly desirable during the Renaissance. This was not an easy ideal to maintain, though, in a time when rampant illnesses and diseases could easily leave a woman disfigured. So, how did Elizabeth and her contemporaries create such flawless appearances?
Well, for the woman known as the Virgin Queen, one answer lay in the thick, white makeup that she painted religiously over her skin. This ritual became even more integral to retaining her beauty and power as she grew older. But the look that would come to define Elizabeth also concealed at least one brutal truth.
And Elizabeth was just 25 years old when she became Queen of England, meaning she fixed her image at a young age. Some six years previously, her half-sister Mary had taken the throne as the country’s first female monarch. Little had changed in the male-dominated court, though, by the time that the crown was passed on.
English society was intensely patriarchal at this time, and women were still considered the property of their husbands. An unmarried woman such as Elizabeth had to be truly special, then, if she wanted to succeed. Luckily, she was considered a beauty in her youth, and she is thought to have used her feminine charms to her advantage at court.
This brought suitors, of course. Yes, Elizabeth was wooed by some of the most powerful men in Europe after her coronation. Yet while she frequently teased her subjects with the possibility of such a liaison, she never committed to one. Instead, she filled her court with handsome men – a habit that launched many rumors about the so-called Virgin Queen.
Throughout this, Elizabeth meticulously maintained her looks. Speaking to the BBC in 2015, British historian Dr. Anna Whitelock explained, “Elizabeth’s contemporaries believed that beauty amplified female power, and so they regarded the queen’s splendor as confirmation of her claim to the throne.” Maintaining an attractive physical appearance was therefore integral to the queen’s success. And in her later years, she went to great lengths to convince the country of her beauty.
Probably the most iconic part of Elizabeth’s carefully cultivated appearance was her striking pallor. At the time, this was regarded as highly desirable in England’s homogeneous population – believed to signify girlhood and fertility. According to some, the appeal was also in its symbolism of class and position, since a suntan would indicate a life of manual labor in the outdoors.
So, Elizabeth strove to maintain a dazzling white complexion. And in order to achieve this, she used a concoction known as Venetian ceruse. This mixture was created by combining lead with white vinegar and was exceedingly toxic – especially when worn for long periods.
Many women of the time would wear such a combination on their faces for days at a time before finally cleaning it off. When she died, even Elizabeth herself was wearing a layer of makeup that was, apparently, an inch thick. But while we’re more knowledgeable about the dangers of lead poisoning today, most people in the 16th century were unaware of the risk.
As if dying for beauty wasn’t bad enough, Venetian ceruse actually ended up making you less attractive in the long run. The substance not only coated the skin in toxic lead, but it also left the wearer’s complexion lined and discolored. And to top it off, it’s likely that Elizabeth used the same method to remove the mixture as many other women of her time. Alarmingly, that involved a concoction containing mercury.
Of course, mercury is also toxic, and so using it as a cleanser would have damaged the skin even further. It’s unknown whether or not Elizabeth herself applied it, although there were many other bizarre beauty practices common during her reign. For example, some women took to removing freckles and other perceived imperfections with harmful substances such as turpentine, mercury and sulfur.
What we do know, however, is that Elizabeth had at least one more toxic product in her cosmetic arsenal. Reportedly, she used black kohl to line her eyes in order to create a dramatic look. This is actually a practice that continues to this day – even if many have expressed concerns about its safety.
You see, in Elizabeth’s time, kohl was made from powdered antimony – a substance that has been known to cause harmful side effects. And to complete the look, women used drops made from a poisonous plant called deadly nightshade to widen their pupils. Supposedly, this had the desired effect of making the eyes glimmer.
Elizabeth also followed the fashion for plucking her eyebrows into arched lines and painting her lips a vibrant red. According to experts, this scarlet shade was created with a mixture of plant dye and beeswax, while the queen’s cheeks were sometimes rouged using animal products.
Still, there were some aspects of Elizabeth’s appearance that she struggled to hide with clever makeup as she grew older. For one, her love of sugary treats meant that she was plagued by black, decayed teeth in later life. But this didn’t put the English people off – quite the contrary. Since the queen was so beloved by her subjects, dark teeth apparently became an unlikely fashion trend.
There’s another disturbing secret behind Elizabeth’s beauty regime, too. At 29 years old, the queen was diagnosed with smallpox – a feared disease that may have killed almost a third of the people it infected at the time. According to records, in October 1562 Elizabeth experienced a high fever while in residence at London’s Hampton Court Palace.
Then eminent physician Dr. Burcot confirmed the diagnosis: sadly, Elizabeth did indeed have smallpox. But this was something that the queen refused to accept at first. In fact, she reportedly preferred to dismiss Burcot as incapable rather than deal with the truth.
Elizabeth’s reaction to the news was not surprising, as English society was terrified of smallpox. At the time, the infectious disease had surpassed the plague to become the most-feared contagion in Europe. And while smallpox wouldn’t actually reach its peak until hundreds of years later, the monarch had every right to be concerned.
According to experts, the early stages of smallpox were categorized by fever and pains. Then there was a terrifying next stage, which was probably the most worrying for a queen so concerned with beauty. Once the condition had progressed, it would cause patients to break out in disfiguring lesions.
Those who survived smallpox would then have the scars from the lesions for the rest of their lives. There was also no known treatment or cure in Elizabethan times. And smallpox remained a feared condition until as late as the 1960s, when approximately 12 million people were recorded as contracting the disease every year.
Yet Elizabeth continued to deny that she had smallpox even as her condition continued to deteriorate. Then, finally, Burcot was summoned to her bedside for a second visit. And this time, it seems that the queen reluctantly accepted the diagnosis. Apparently, she responded in a particularly dramatic fashion, too.
“God’s pestilence,” Elizabeth is reported to have cried. “Which is better? To have the pox in the hand or in the face or in the heart and kill the whole body?” And for a while, it seemed as though the ailing monarch would find out for herself. Over the course of several days, her health worsened, leaving her ultimately struggling to speak.
For Elizabeth’s devoted courtiers, the situation was bleak. Tragically, it appeared all too possible that their beloved queen would die. Worse still, there was little in the way of medical treatment available. At the time, physicians believed that smallpox was the result of imbalanced humors within the body – an idea that has, of course, long been discredited.
The Four Humors theory – which was inspired by ancient Greek scholars – posited that the human body is made up of yellow bile, black bile, blood and phlegm, and it held great sway in 16th-century England. This hypothesis also provided a slither of hope for the physicians helpless against the ravages of smallpox.
Yes, doctors attempted to redress any apparent humor imbalance in order to treat the infectious disease. In Elizabeth’s case, that meant being enveloped in a red cloth in the hope that this would take care of the scarlet lesions. At the same time, the monarch’s devoted servant Lady Mary Sidney apparently performed a constant ritual at the royal bedside, ready to hand with a supply of water and tea.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Elizabeth’s ministers began to make plans for the succession. And as the queen had no heirs, there were fears amongst her Protestant supporters that the throne of England would pass to the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots. But there was a stroke of luck for these ardent believers. Thankfully for them, Elizabeth started to get better before an alternative option could be proposed.
The queen eventually returned to full health, although she was left permanently scarred by the smallpox that nearly took her life. And Lady Sidney fared even worse. Owing to her lengthy vigil at the queen’s bedside, she also contracted the disease – and was said to have become disfigured as a result.
Lady Sidney was reportedly so ravaged by smallpox, in fact, that even her own husband was disgusted by her appearance. Of his spouse, Henry Sidney wrote in his memoirs, “I left her a full fair lady in mine eye at least the fairest, and when I returned I found her as fowl a lady as the smallpox could make her.”
The smallpox was a disaster for Elizabeth, too – certainly when it came to retaining power. Up until she had fallen ill, she had relied on her beauty as a way to wield influence in a society dominated by men. And with those permanent scars, how could she continue to project the image that she had so carefully cultivated over the years?
Well, Elizabeth apparently began religiously covering her face in Venetian ceruse in order to cover up her blemishes. In fact, she was rarely seen without it. And the blindingly white makeup is still an integral part of virtually every portrayal of the Virgin Queen on stage and screen – even several centuries later.
At court, only the women who were part of Elizabeth’s inner circle ever caught a glimpse beneath the makeup. All the while, the queen’s real face grew ever more horrific as the toxic lead concoction destroyed her skin. But those in the know remained silent, and Elizabeth’s reputation as a beauty remained largely unsullied thanks to her fittingly named “mask of youth.”
Elizabeth’s carefully crafted look slipped on at least one occasion, however. Tired of being kept waiting, Robert Devereux – the Earl of Essex and previously the queen’s favorite – barged into the royal chamber. There, he caught sight of the monarch before her makeup had been applied.
And Devereux was supposedly so disgusted by Elizabeth’s true appearance that he made jibes about her to his friends, cruelly referring to her “crooked carcass.” Some believe that this incident was the motivation behind Devereux’s 1601 execution – although his plot against the monarch seems reason enough in itself.
Elizabeth then became even more reliant on her white makeup to hide her true appearance as she grew older. At court, she also restricted the other ladies to dresses of simple black and white, while she would appear in gowns of the most vibrant hues – ensuring that all eyes were always on her.
Still, Elizabeth was doing something right. The hugely popular queen was dubbed Gloriana and celebrated for her successes against threats such as the Spanish Armada. Even today, she is remembered as one of the greatest rulers to ever take the English throne.
Unfortunately, though, Elizabeth’s outlandish beauty routine may also have caused her death at the age of 69. As she grew older, her hair began to fall out. Then there were the feelings of extreme tiredness, lapses in memory and digestive issues she experienced. Today, a modern doctor would recognize those symptoms as signs of lead poisoning.
So, did Elizabeth’s obsession with projecting a flawless image eventually prove her undoing? Well, before she passed away, she did not grant permission for her body to be examined, so we cannot be certain what caused her death. Over the years, this decision has fed many rumors, including the notion that the monarch was not actually a virgin or even a woman. And it also means that experts cannot prove what many suspect: that vanity ultimately led to the queen’s demise.