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This study fathoms one of the political strategies of Queen Elizabeth I by scrutinizing her policy to keep the balance of power between her ministers. Being determined to keep domestic peace and security of her reign, Elizabeth was keenly aware of the importance of the balance of power in her court. She knew how factional rivalry was deep-seated in court politics and how factional struggles over power influenced state policy through rival stands on the matrimonial and diplomatic issues through her early experiences.
Queen Elizabeth created two factions led by William Cecil and Robert Dudley. Cecil was the leader of reform-minded intellectuals and Protestants through his Cambridge connection. While Dudley became the leader and parton of people from old families of nobility who were mainly enthusiastic in winning their political power by their military achievements.
The fountain of political power of Elizabethan politicians was the queen's personal favor that she distributed based on their personal loyalty and obedience to her. Although both Cecil and Dudley were closest favorites of Elizabeth, she divided political powers between them and controlled factional balance which ultimately functioned as the security of her own power as a monarch. She secured the stability of her regime by driving her favorites to compete with each other over her favor. In this way, she could keep the factional balance in her court until the late period of her reign.
Queen Elizabeth's political strategies are motivated from her perception of her public role as a ruler. She wanted to be a successful monarch by governing her state well, using the “balance of power” as one of her consistent policies during her reign. In short, the ultimate goal of her creation of court factions among her favorites was to secure her safety and power as a monarch.