Ivan violated all the laws he knew or which were regarded in his time as binding upon mankind. He did violence to the strictest canons of his church by taking to himself as many wives as fancy suited him. His crazy audacity led him to the extremity of offering his hand to Queen Elizabeth of England, when he already had seven living wives.
It is safe to say that the haughty, red-haired spinster of England did not give much attention to his suit, and he therefore, unabashed, offered his heart and hand to one of her ladies of honor, Mary Hastings, daughter of the Earl of Huntington. The distinction was declined, however, and Ivan solaced himself by putting to death the ambassador, who had done the courting for him at the British capital.
It was during this reign that England first entered into relations with Russia. This was while young Edward the Sixth was king, in 1553. Three ships were sent out to look for a northeast passage to China and India, and the expedition wound up at the Court of Ivan, who received the English pleasantly and granted certain trading privileges in his dominions to the north. This, of course, was before the matrimonial episode, for the young king's sister, Elizabeth, at that time did not seem to be very near to the throne which she afterwards made so bloody and so illustrious in letters and conquest on the high seas.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
