Expert: Mark Smith - 1/31/2008

Question
I've read that many believed that Elizabeth was not the true heir to the throne because she was illegitimate and Mary should be Queen. I've also seen that Mary was just 1st in line after Elizabeth because she was childless. What was the cause of the difference? Was it religion because I know Elizabeth was protestant and Mary catholic? Who should have been Queen: Mary or Elizabeth?

Answer
Hello Matt.
From a legal point of view Elizabeth was undoubtedly the rightful Queen. Several Acts of Parliament had been passed naming her as heir and Henry's marriage to her mother Anne Boleyn was legalized by Act of Parliament too.
However from a Catholic viewpoint she was illegitimate and therefore the next in line after the death of Mary I in 1558 was Mary, Queen of Scots. Catholics believed that only the Pope could grant a divorce and therefore Henry's divorce from Katherine of Aragon, granted to him by the newly established Church of England, was illegal. They did not recognize the Church of England nor any of its powers and laws. The fact that Henry and Anne were married while Katherine was still alive meant that, in their eyes, she was no more than his mistress and their daughter a bastard.
If you believe in the supremacy of the law then Elizabeth was the rightful Queen, but if you believe in the supremacy of the Pope and the Catholic Church then Elizabeth was a usurper.
Mark