Who did Queen Elizabeth sponsor?

Answer 1

None. Queen Elizabeth supported many acting companies by having them perform at court, including Shakespeare's, but his was not a particular favourite. Her successor, King James, however, took over the patronage of Shakespeare's acting company (which were then of course renamed the King's Men). He can genuinely be said to hvae sponsored Shakespeare.

Answer 2

The queen during most of Shakespeare's life was Queen Elizabeth who was succeeded by King James I. Actually, Queen Elizabeth did not in any sense sponsor Shakespeare. She had no connection with Shakespeare at all. King James did sponsor the Acting Company to which Shakespeare belonged, which is why they were called The King's Men, but Shakespeare was only one of a dozen actors who benefited equally from this patronage.

Answer 3

Although many people think she was, Queen Elizabeth was not Shakespeare's patron and did not have a special relationship with him. The Queen was the patroness of a theatre company called Queen Elizabeth's Men, but this was before Shakespeare's time, being from 1583 to 1588 or so. The star performer of this company was Richard Tarlton, and they performed a number of plays by Greene, the chap who would later famously sneer at Shakespeare as an "upstart crow". After the decline of this company the premier company was the Admiral's Men with their star Ned Alleyn. Shakespeare was at this time only breaking into the business, probably with Pembroke's Men, and possibly with Lord Strange's Men, from which the nucleus of the Lord Chamberlain's Men would come.

The Queen did have Shakespeare's plays performed before her at court (which is to say, at private performances) but then she had everyone else's plays played also. All of the chartered companies had their turn at performing for the Queen. Only to this extent did she "sponsor" Shakespeare.

Answer 4

Elizabeth 1 sponsored William Shakespear because she like his plays and enjoyed his acting skills.