Mary and Elizabeth Tudor: Two Models of Woman’s Rule

Using the example of the reign of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, the article examines two models of female rule: the case of the queen's marriage or her stay on the throne as an independent female sovereign. The article examines the theoretical challenges faced by the ruling queens, as well as a set of possible arguments and techniques that they resorted to in the field of political representation in order to respond to these challenges. Special attention is paid to the various gender functions that could be performed by female rulers who presented themselves as both the queen and the king in a single “political body”. As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that the queen, who ruled independently, had greater freedom of maneuver and a wider range of “roles” that allowed her to overcome the disadvantages of her gender status.