The strenght of Elizabeth's policy

Elizabeth I was Hanry VIII and Anne Boleyn's daughter. She succeded Mary I (daughter of Hanery VIII and Catherine of Aragon) in 1553, when she was only 25 years old.
She was protestant and during her reign she restored the country to Protestantism; indeed for the Catholic Church she was born from an illicit merriage (if she had restored Catholicism as main religion, she wouldn't have had the right to the throne) . Unlike Mary I, she didn't burn those who didn't follow her own religion, her religious policy was based on tollerance: she granted Catholics freedom of worship.

Her popularity among people increased for two other important reason. First of all she was unmerried and used this a political weapon: she encouraged European princes with whom it was important to keep on good terms and, at the same time, created in people's mind an idea of her as a 'Virgin Queen'. The cult of the queen was supported by numerous portraits in which she wore magnificent clothes and had rich jewels; as a metter of fact, the nobility had a portrait of the Queen in their houses to demostrate their loyalty to her.

On the other side the common consent had been strenghtened in 1588, with the defeat of the Invincible Armada. Like the majority of people, she was anti-Spanish and recognise Spain as her main trade rival and enemy. When she encouraged exploration and overseas trade expansion she also secretly encouraged piracy against Spain. But the decisive point was in 1588: Spain sent his Invincibile Armada to the English Channel but the English ships defeat the Spanish Armada. The victory sanctioned hte supremacy at sea and allows Elisabeth to lay the basis of England's empire.