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IIRC part of the reason she retained her virginity is that she feared a revolt if she married her true love, Robert Dudley. What if she had married him in secret (perhaps agreeing to abdicate and resulting in an earlier start to the Stuart dynasty a la Edward VIII) or had selected one of her suitors to "get it over with", regardless of what the court thought? It sounds like she to some extent had to choose between her kingdom or her marriage, and she chose the kingdom.
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