What if things had changed drastically in England in 1550?
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Christmas 1550 through to the Spring of 1551 would become known as "The Murdering Of Mary Tudor" in Spain and the "Cleansing England of Evil" in England.
Relations between the thirteen-year-old Edward VI, King of England, Ireland and France, and his Catholic half-sister, the thirty-four-year-old Lady Mary Tudor, are close to boiling point.
Edward is a notoriously zealous Protestant and Mary is a notoriously zealous Catholic. Tensions finally boil over and explode like Mount Vesuvius in the Christmas of 1550. Mary and Elizabeth have come to court - a rare occurrence for Mary, who prefers to live in her country houses of Hatifled, Richmond, Hundson or Beaulieu - and Edward publicly reproves her for ignoring his laws regarding worship. When she refuses, once again, to bend to his will and "do as her Lord, Master and King commands", Edward has finally had enough.
Mary is declared "a traitor to England, The King, and God" and is arrested by Sir John Gage, at the command of the King.
Edward locks himself away to seethe, Mary rots in the tower, and Lady Elizabeth - a middle ground between the two zealots - decides that she has to fix the stubborn actions of her siblings for as much as Mary hates her existence, Elizabeth is her sister.
Listening to the words of her governess, Kat Ashley, that "shouting at the world rarely solves problems, my lamb," she decides to appeal to Edward's ego. This is a smart idea, for Edward's ego is the size of the moon. Unfortunately for her, her task becomes much harder when the Spanish Ambassador, Jean Scheyfve, interferes and demands "the release of Lady Mary from her imprisonment on command of the Emperor, Charles V."
The resulting explosion is frightening; looking more than a little dishevelled, the Spanish Ambassador is literally thrown from the room by the enormously furious King. All visitors to his chambers, sisters included, are barred from his presence.
Quite fortunately for her, Elizabeth can outshout even the King, though she's never had to try yet, and is scary enough when angry that the guards preventing her entry almost wet themselves and allow her entrance.
Listening to her governess's words, Elizabeth finally manages to speak to her brother, prostrating herself at his feet, begging and pleading that, if he spares Mary, she will speak to her and assure him "complete and total obedience" from Mary. It takes her, according to one source - written a few months later by Barnaby FitzPatrick, Baron of Upper Ossory - several hours to convince the King to spare her.
Of course, as Elizabeth knows, protocol has to be obeyed. Mary goes to trial; Northumberland "applies sufficient pressure to Parliament" - in the terms of historian Alison Weir in her book: The Supreme Power of Northumberland, 2000, page 456 - to make them convict Mary of being a traitor; she is brought before a court of peers and found guilty of "crimes against His Majesty's person and his late Majesty's person" for refusing to submit, with her mother, during Henry's great matter and for refusing to do as the current King commands. The punishment - death; burning or beheaded at His Majesty's pleasure.
Elizabeth is certain she will be spared.
Taken back to the tower, Mary is found, her throat slit, the following morning.