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Question: When Queen Elizabeth I had smallpox, did she name a successor in the event of her death!?
I was watching a movie about her today, and there was a scene where her council was around her bed trying to get her to name a successor in case she didn't survive the disease, and she named Robert Dudley!.

I've been interested in Tudor/Elizabethan history for a few years now, and I don't ever remember reading anything about her naming any successor at all, let alone Robert Dudley!. I really find it difficult to believe that she'd have named anyone if she had any hope at all of surviving, given the way politics worked then!. And I really really doubt she'd have handed her kingdom over to Robert Dudley, despite any personal feelings she had for him!.

So, was that just something they added for the movie!? Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
When Queen Elizabeth fell ill, there was general panic among her ministers, wondering who would be the ruler if she died!. Some of them wanted Lady Catherine Grey, her cousin, to be declared heiress!. Others favoured the Earl of Huntingdon!. No one seems to have mentioned Mary Stuart!.

However, an improvement in Elizabeth's condition occured, and when she recovered consciousness, she did indeed beg her council to appoint Robert Dudely as Protector of the kingdom, with a title and an income of £20,000 (a huge sum of money in those days)!. "Everything she asked for was promised" the Spanish ambassador, de Quadra wrote to the King of Spain "but will not be fulfilled!."

So it seems that it really is true that she asked that Robert Dudley be appointed protector, but it is also likely that, had she died, her wishes would have been ignored!. She did not however ask for him to be made King!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Royal succession is not determined by the Monarch but by the rules regarding royalty of that country!. !. If Elizabeth I had any children her oldest would have been the Monarch!. However, it was passed to her cousin's descendant, James I!.Www@QuestionHome@Com