Why did Mary Tudor allow Elizabeth to become queen?

Question

It makes no sense that she should do this and follow her father's Act of Succession if there were other (Catholic) options available?

Answer 1

Firstly it's quite important to remember that Elizabeth was Mary's younger sister, she had shown signs of fondness for her when she had asked Elizabeth to live with her instead of Catherine Parr after her re-marriage. They had been through a lot of similar experiences, both the toast of the court for a time, then pushed into obscurity.
There is evidence to show that all the English people wanted Elizabeth to be queen, apparently she was better at the old PR than Mary.
she hoped to have a child of her own which would have naturally broke with the act of succession. Her fake pregnancy must have made her feel a little silly. Add this to the fact that she knew disinheriting Elizabeth would have made her even more unpopular at a time in her life when she must have felt at her most vulnerable, no child, her husband having left her, her subjects hating her.
In a nutshell, I kind of think she just didn't have same the energy and fanaticism towards the end of her life, by the time she'd given up hope of a child of her own

Answer 2

It could be argued that despite the nickname Bloody, Mary was not ruthless enough to do away with her half sister though tempted to do so many times. Actually it was an interesting high wire act on the part of both sisters. Elizabeth actually adopted outward signs of accepting Catholicism and perhaps in a naive fashion the ailing Mary imagined that her sister would fully embraced the Catholic faith. And too toward the end of her reign & life Mary was in a mellow resigned mood.

Elizabeth played her part well, staying just beyond reach of any sudden summons that might result in a beheading, yet she was close enough to London to gain the cities support ascending the throne. As another answerer said once Mary was dead not much she could do and she had too few supporters to argue otherwise. Oddly enough the old phrase 'majority' rules holds true in this case. A majority of England wanted the Daughter of late King Henry to be Queen, rather than a cousin twice or three times removed. And none of the possible Catholic claimants had any support beyond their estates and regional enclaves, though Mary Queen of Scots was certainly a viable candidate yet no one seems to have shouted loudly for her until after Elizabeth was safely on the throne.

Peace............................

Answer 3

She died, leaving the throne to Elizabeth. While she could have had her half sister executed before her own death, there was no other clear heir to the throne. If Mary died without issue, Phillip II of Spain, her estranged husband, could have attempted to assume the throne. Even if he hadn't done so, an uncertainty would certainly have led to a Civil War. Britain had experienced one of those in the previous century.

Besides, even though the three surviving children of Henry had different mothers, they still had the same father. Mary was very religious, even hearing three masses a day despite the order of her brother Edward VI, and murder of a brother or sister is pretty high on His list of bad sins.

Answer 4

Mary and Elizabeth were both daughters of King Henry(but had a different mother, Mary's was Katherine and Elizabeth's was Anne), but Mary was born first and she gained the crown before Elizabeth. Then Mary died, and Elizabeth was next in line.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

The brother of Queen Elizabeth, duke of Windsor abdicated the throne in favor of marrying a divourced american woman.Since Elizabeth is in succession and no choice, she was made queen.

Answer 7

I doubt that it ever occurred to Mary that she'd die as soon as she did.

Answer 8

mary was dead. what was she supposed to do to stop it?

Answer 9

Wasn't anything to do with her, she was dead.