Something I've always wondered here (with Mary predeceasing Edward VI but leaving legitimate issue) is whether or not Ned would name her kids over Jane Grey? Since, theoretically, then instead of a Marian and an Elizabethan period following Edward, we'd get Queen Katherine I, wouldn't we? @isabella @VVD0D95 @FalconHonour
I guess it depends on how older they are and what religion they are/can they be converted.
Would the hypothetical Catherine of the Palatinate be a protestant or catholic to start with?
IIRC, Philipp was a Lutheran, so Protestant seems reasonably likely, no?
Fair enough, unless Edward VI bores any progeny, he either has the choice of Catherine or Elizabeth. (In my honest opinion, he might choose Elizabeth mainly because she's English-born.)
I think people like Catherine of Medici and the Habsburgs would want her custody, she is an attractive alternative to MQOS.
I doubt either would be wanting her. Until her dad dies in 1548, she's in his custody. And her dad was a member of the Schmalkaldic League against the Emperor. There's even some suspicion that Philipp wanted a match with Mary in order to gain English support for his designs on the imperial throne.
@RedKing I might be mistaken on this part. While Phil was a member of Schmalkaldic League, Cardinal Farnese (in a 1539 letter to Paul III) and the French ambassador to Henry VIII (Marillac), both describe Philipp in their letters as "Catholic". So he might have been a religious opportunist.
The news is confirmed that he [Marillac] wrote on the 24th touching "the marriage of Lady Mary with this duke of Bavaria; who three or four days ago, as secretly as he could, went to visit her in a house of the abbot of Westminster, in the gardens of the abbey, a mile from this town, whither she had been brought. After having kissed her, which is an argument either of marriage or of near relationship, seeing that since the death of the late Marquis no lord of this kingdom has dared to go so far, the said Duke had a long conversation with her, partly in German through an interpreter, and partly in Latin, of which she is not ignorant. Finally, they mutually declared, the said lord his resolution, taken with this King, to have her for wife ...and the said lady [Mary Tudor] her willingness to obey her father. Cannot tell when the marriage will be consummated; but some say in 15 or 20 days, others that the weddings of father and daughter shall be on the same day, that is, as soon as the lady who is at Calais [Anne of Cleves] arrives. ... London, 27 Dec."
He would survive till 1570 in this timeline, he can arrange a wedding for her to help her gain the English throne in 1553.
You could've had a Tudor Duke of Exeter in the family, and also I would like to see the Stafford Half-Siblings if you want to do them.
I could have but Somerset seems more likely for a third son. As for the Stafford Half-Siblings, there are none as Margaret doesn’t bear Henry any children like in OTL.
In this scenario Edward would most likely name Elizabeth’s eldest son as heir as Mary’s daughter would be excluded by the succession as foreigner
If Mary had a son - and he was Protestant - definitely. Here, I don't know. It might be, that if Elizabeth and Robert manage a son before Edward dies, he's named heir above young Katherine. Of course, if it's only girls, I think Dudley would push for his granddaughter by Elizabeth to be named Queen over Mary and/or Elizabeth, so he can still influence the Regency.
If Mary only has girls and Elizabeth has a boy, have Edward make the boy (most likely Edward or Henry) his heir. Then, if anybody in charge has any political sense at all, try to marry Elizabeth's boy to Mary's daughter to tie up all the claims from Henry VIII.
