Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I was the Queen of England during the 16th century, and an apparent spouse of the Tenth Doctor.
Profile
Biography
Elizabeth considered the Doctor her arch-nemesis for reasons the Doctor himself did not know when he first met her (from his point of view) in 1599 (but see below). (DW: The Shakespeare Code)
Elizabeth I's court astrologer John Dee was apparently another identity of Jared Khan, who was still fruitlessly hunting the Doctor at the time. At this point the Queen appeared to be on friendly terms with the Doctor (then in his seventh incarnation. (NA: Birthright)
- The Doctor had met previously met Dee in 1568, and he was not Khan on that occasion. (ST: Mortlake)
Alternative timelines
An alternative version of the Doctor met another version of Elizabeth I: Gloriana of an England with its own star fleet. (DWU: A Storm of Angels)
Other information
The Doctor had previously seen the Queen attempting to influence William Shakespeare's writing via the Time-Space Visualiser around the time the latter had written The Merry Wives of Windsor) (DW: The Chase)
During a conversation with Ood Sigma prior to his tenth regeneration, the Doctor claimed to have married "Queen Bess", a decision that didn't turn out well and would appear to have been the reason behind her treating him as an enemy. The Doctor also implied that her nickname, "The Virgin Queen", no longer applied. Given the mores of the 16th century, this suggested he had left her sometime after wedding night. (DW: The End of Time, Part One.
Behind the Scenes
Following the broadcast of The Shakespeare Code, considering Elizabeth recognised The Doctor on sight, it was persistently rumoured that an adventure featuring Queen Elizabeth I, which would result in The Doctor making an enemy of Elizabeth as depicted at the end of the aforementioned episode. However, following David Tennant's departure announcement and as more information regarding the final Tenth Doctor episodes, no information about such an episode was apparent, so it was widely accepted by fans that the events between The Doctor and Elizabeth would never be revealed officially and remain a mystery. That was up until the Children In Need 2009 appeal broadcast a clip of the Tenth Doctor's final story - in which the matter was addressed vaguely with a reference to the two marrying and The Doctor rendering her nickname defunct. Russell T. Davies later stated that he wants to tie up all loose ends before the regeneration - including this discrepency.
