Mistakes
1547
The death of King Henry VIII was a somber affair for England. The man had, in a matter of his reign, swept aside the old order and inaugurated a new one. He had been a bloody tyrant, soaking in the heads of his wives deceased, or a heretic, breaking with Rome and following Luther and Calvin in the belief of a new church.
But for his children, an even odder fate awaited. Edward, his only son, was nine years old, and unfit to reign as of yet -- but he would become the indeed, King of England. Mary and Elizabeth both, cast aside by Henry due to their sex, were left out to dry. Both girls were declared illegitimate by him, and removed from the line of succession. Elizabeth was not happy at this arrangement, but respected it due to her brother's rightful claims to the throne in front of her -- Mary, however, was unable to comment on the situation, being consistently incapacitated by bouts of illness, which took her life away in early 1548. The double death, and her illegitimacy, lead to a complicated set of affairs for Elizabeth.
In 1548, at the advice of the court, Elizabeth was sent to the Spanish Netherlands for private tutoring. Being educated by the House of Orange in Breda during this period, where she met William, the current Prince of Orange. The two became very close during this period. William and Elizabeth decided to formally marry each other in 1550. Elizabeth decided that the marriage could sustain itself at distance, and she returned across the channel to England. Her brother's attitude had softened, and she was granted generous estates to live on during this period, and was expected to remain as such, or return to the Netherlands to her husband.
In 1553, Edward died, leaving behind an England reeling from an expensive war in Scotland, the further reduction of English power in France, with the French beginning to rapidly focus in on Calais. Edward, upon his death, willed the Kingdom to his cousin, Lady Jane Grey. This move proved horrendously unpopular, as soon afterwards, popular discontent against the move from both nobles and peasants alike, lead to Elizabeth's rise as the Queen of England.
Her rise in status had been a bit of a shock to William of Nassau, who had known that his wife was illegitimized by her father, but now reigned with the full consent of the ruling body. It was in 1554 that Elizabeth announced she had fallen pregnant after a visit to England by William.
Some time later, England was blessed with twins. Henry and Mary of Nassau were born, named after her father and her sister, both of whom, despite the rough relationship, she respected dearly. The birth of these children further strengthened her right of rule to many, and Elizabeth began the process of focusing the English monarchy's time and effort into religious consolidation, and diplomatic overtures towards other states.
Elizabeth defended her father's Anglican creation against Catholic objection, and made overtures to several courts, attempting to find strong allies of typically brusque nature toward England. Recent diplomatic disputes between France and Spain over the Southern Netherlands and political power balancing had given Elizabeth a much needed distraction, which she hoped to capitalize on to further consolidate power to ensure England's long-term stability.
In 1557, a year after the Seventeen Provinces passed into Spanish hands through the abdication of the Holy Roman Emperor, it seemed as if war was ready to stampede through Europe as France began to focus on the possibility of taking Antwerp by force.
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It's a bit of a concept, really rough, needs LOTS of work to be a good, complete product, but I'm just wondering how much more realistic this is -- a major thing is that, with Liz being sent away to the Netherlands, she doesn't have that horrific experience with the people she was living with after the death of her father. Also the premature death of Mary gets rid of the whole Marian mass protestant murders... so I'm wondering what kind of things Elizabeth can do during a rather serious war in Europe (France + Poland? vs. Austria and Spain) -- and being married to William of Orange (Het Wilhelmus); and how that would effect the Dutch Revolt later on...
Any thoughts on this?
