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were making further attempts to control the whole of the country. Elizabeth I

Another key figurę of that period was Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII. She was the first of three long-reigning queens in British history (the other two are Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II). She defeated the powerful navy of Spain, the greatest European power of the time. During her long reign she established, by skilful diplomacy,

a reasonable degree if internal stability in a firmly Protestant England.

She allowed the growth of a spirit of patriotism and generał confidence. She never married and she became known as 'the virgin queen\