Challenges to the rule of Queen Elizabeth I

• Mary, Queen of Scots


  Elizabeth's cousin, had a dynastic claim to the line of succession to the English throne
• Mary, Queen of Scots

  • She was a Catholic and half-French, making her unsuitable as a monarch to the majority of English people
  • Her life had been filled with dramatic events - she became Queen of Scotland at 6 days old, her first two husbands died, she was implicated in the second one's murder, she was forced to abdicate and was imprisoned
  • She managed to escape and fled to England where she sought refuge from Elizabeth in 1568
• Mary, Queen of Scots was in England


  Her threat to Elizabeth became more immediate
• Elizabeth's dilemma


  What should she do with Mary, Queen of Scots?
• Many English Catholics supported the idea of Mary being named as Elizabeth's successor, if the queen did not marry and have children
• Reasons why some Catholics supported Mary replacing Elizabeth as Queen of England


  • They thought Elizabeth was illegitimate and so felt she had no right to be on the throne
  • They thought Mary would restore the supremacy of the Catholic Church and reverse Elizabeth's Religious Settlement
• Mary's connections to France, both through her mother and her first husband, also made her a potentially dangerous threat to England