Why did Elizabeth remain single?

Answer 1

In the Elizabethan times, marriage was considered more as a business arrangement than a love relationship. The women had very little choice in husbands, and marriages were arranged by their families in order to provide and/or retain wealth between the families. Poor women could sometimes choose their spouses because there was no wealth involved. In the arranged marriages, young men and women often did not meet their spouses until their wedding day.

Answer 2

It was not an option to have a "partner" in Elizabethen times. A women was either single or was legally married to a husband i.e. married in Church.

An unmarried man and women living together was considered one of the gravest sins.

An older unmarried Elizabethan women was considered odd and was sometimes shunned by society. As a women could not work in these times, then without a husband or family member to support them poverty was always likely.

In the worst case many Elizabethan spinsters were accused of being witches.

Answer 3

She didn't want to share her power.