Women Rulers Posters, “D...-G...-”
for the social studies classroom, home schoolers and theme decor.

Dido, fl. 800 BC, was the name given by Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid to the founder and first Queen of Carthage.

According the the account set down by Virgil, when Aeneas left Troy with the mission of founding Rome, he was waylaided in Carthage by Dido's charms and lure of co-ruling Carthage (modern-day Tunisia on the Mediterran coast of north Africa). When the gods reminded Aeneas of his work he was forced to sneak away from Dido; she then built a funeral pyre, cursed Aeneas, commited suicide and fell into the flames, sealing the feud of Carthage against Rome. (FYI - Dido was from Tyre in Lebanon.)

Elizabeth I
b. 9-7-1533; Greenwich
d. 3-24-1603; Richmond Palace

Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry the VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Elizabeth became queen with the passing of her half sister Queen Mary I in 1553. Elizabeth was reluctant to share power and never married.

Her reign of nearly 45 years, known today as the Elizabethan Age, was marked by the increase of English power and influence worldwide, tremendous religious turmoil within England, and a great outpouring of creative energy in the likes of William Shakespeare and exploration of Sir Francis Drake.

Elizabeth I is sometimes referred to as ‘The Virgin Queen’ (the colony of Virginia in North America is named for her), Gloriana, and Good Queen Bess. She was immortalised by Edmund Spenser as the Faerie Queene, and the story that Sir Walter Raleigh spread his cloak over a puddle so she wouldn't dirty her hem and slippers.

FYI - The nursery rhyme “Hey diddle diddle” may refer to Elizabeth I and the Earl of Leicester.

Among Elizabeth I advisors was John Dee, one of her tutors was Roger Ascham.

• Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth II
b. 4-21-1926; Mayfair, London

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York was unlikely to become Queen, however the abdication of her uncle, Edward VIII, led to her father's Accession, and her becoming heir to the Throne. She was coronated on June 2, 1953.

Elizabeth married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in 1947; their children are Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.

• Queen and Country: The Fifty-Year Reign of Elizabeth II