This is a comprehensive study of Elizabeth I’s courtships. It argues that the cult of the Virgin Queen was invented by her ministers, and that Elizabeth was forced into celibacy by political necessity. The detailed examination of the different suits is based on archival research across Europe. Rather than focusing on Elizabeth’s personality and image, the book views the question within a wider political and religious context. She shows how the question of Elizabeth’s marriage was divisive for England, affecting both political life and international relations, and provoking popular propaganda in the form of plays, poetry and paintings.