The many courtships of the woman who became Elizabeth I began when she was aninfant, displayed before foreign ambassadors who considered her as a possible clauseof a contract between England and France. From such an unromantic beginning,Elizabeth grew to see her father marry multiple times and experienced frequent changesin stepmothers and status in the family. Eventually, she became the most eligiblewoman in Europe. From start to finish, her marriage prospects were as much political asthey were personal. When she came to the throne in 1558, the primary question facing everyone fromforeign monarchs to English nobles and ministers was which of her many suitors wouldfinally win her hand. Through the longest Tudor reign, Elizabeth used courtship as a toolto consider foreign alliances, hold ambitious English courtiers in check, and navigateher role as a woman ruler in a world that considered her unnatural without a man at herside. Elizabeth was, in fact, always the Virgin Queen, from the early days as a twenty-five-year-oldpresenting herself as a potential royal bride to her final years as an ageing andunmarried woman who was destined to end the Tudor dynasty. Ultimately, she becamethe only monarch in England to rule as an adult and never marry. Through it all, asfriends and potential lovers faded away, she clung to the one true love of her life:England.