Alterntatives to Stuarts

Was there a possibility of an alternative heir to the English Throne who was not Mary Queen of Scots or her son James?

I am assuming that it would be tricky for Elizabeth to produce a legitimate heir simply because of the consequences of marriage for a woman in that era.

I wonder just how big of a change preventing a union of crown would make?.

By the way how likely is Charles I of Scotland to produce a Civil war in that KingdoM
 
Iirc the Lady Arbella Stuart was next after James and his family - though only for the English throne, not the Scottish.

Edward and William Seymour, Catherine Grey's sons, were next if the were accepted as legitimate (OTL they weren't until 1612). Failing them, next was Lady Anne Stanley, daughter of the Earl of Derby.
 
Technically the Will of Henry VIII bared the descendants of his older sister, Margaret Tudor (Scots marriage and all that) in favor of the younger sister Mary, Queen of France.

If this had been upheld then Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven should have gained the crown (the marriage of Lady Catherine Grey was annulled, her children bared from the throne).

All Hail Queen Anne I of the Royal House of Stanley!
 
Good list but to clarify

Heirs of Elizabeth 1 under standard male-preference primogeniture:
1) James VI of Scotland (senior heir general of Henry VII)
2) Henry Duke of Rothesay
3) Charles
4) Elizabeth
5) Lady Arbella Stuart (paternal cousin of James and next heir in descent of Margaret Queen of Scots)

All the above would have been barred by Henry VIII's will as approved in the 3rd Act of Succession. Instead the throne passed to the descendants of Henry's youngest sister Mary Queen of France Duchess of Suffolk.

Catherine Grey's descendants would be barred to the invalidity of her marriage if that descision was reversed then the lawful succession would be as follows:
1) Edward Seymour (Catherine's eldest son)
2) Edward Seymour
3) William Seymour
4) Francis Seymour
5) Honora Seymour
6) Anne Seymour
7) Mary Seymour
(If Edward is not legitimised before Elizabeth's death then the throne of England would pass to the descendants of Lady Eleanor Brandon)
1) Lady Anne Stanley (unmarried in 1603)
2) Lady Frances Stanley (wife of John Egerton since 1600)
3) Lady Elizabeth Stanley (married to Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon)
4) William Stanley 6th Earl of Derby

That exhausts all the descendants of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York

Given Henry's claim was by right of conquest it is hard to say who had any right after that.

Descendants of Edward IV (listed above) none of his other daughter's had surviving descendants in 1603.

Descendants of George Duke of Clarence - Main claimants is George Hastings 4th Earl of Huntingdon and his host of relatives.

Numerous descendants of Anne of York Duchess of Exeter by her second husband Sir THomas St Leger -
Her senior heir general in 1603 was William Cecil 17th Baron de Ros of Helmsley (he is the grandson of the 3rd Earl of Rutland)

Descendants of Elizabeth of York Duchess of Suffolk (as you mention none left)

Descendants of Isabel of York Countess of Essex (sister of Richard Duke of York and Aunt of Edward IV)
Her principal heir in 1604 is Robert Devereux son of the executed Earl of Essex.

Lancastrian descendants - loads of them with very weak claims though -
Beaufort main heir is Sir Edward Carey of Aldenham (descended in the female line from Edmund Beaufort 1st Duke of Somerset)
After him would come the Descendants of Philippa of Lancaster Queen of Portugal - most of Europe's leading Catholic monarchs
Descendants of Elizabeth of Lancaster Duchess of Exeter again numerous English descendants in the female line.
Descendants of Catherine of Lancaster - again lots of foreign Catholic royals.


The Buckingham heirs would be minor contenders given they were the most junior Plantagenet heirs (they of course have a Beaufort descent and the current Lord Stafford has a stronger claim through his descent from Margaret Pole)

Scotland's succession in 1603 was of course James and his immediate family. - His and his issues deaths would exhaust the descendants of James III - and the throne would pass to the female line descendants of James II - the Hamiltons.
 
Top