Why was mary queen of scots executed but her son james __ made the king of england, contracdicting no?

Question

was james son of mary queen of scots and duke of albamy raised prodestant?

Answer 1

Elizabeth wanted a male Protestant relative to succeed her.  James was the closest thing to this; and in some way, maybe Elizabeth was apologising to him for having his mother executed (she herself knew what this felt like - she was very young when her father, Henry VIII, executed Anne Boleyn - Elizabeth's mother).

Answer 2

Mary, Queen of Scots had a strong claim to the English throne.  She was granddaughter of Henry VII (father of Henry VIII).  Henry VIII had three legitimate children who in turn succeeded him to the throne, but none of them had any children.

Mary plotted against Elizabeth I so, in the end, Elizabeth had to execute her for her own safety.  There were plenty of Catholics who wanted Mary on the English throne, and if she'd lived, she would have continued to be a focus for plotters.  Elizabeth vacillated and procrastinated signing Mary's death warrant; it was very much against her will, as to kill a queen anointed by God was a terrible thing, as well as Mary being her cousin.  It preyed on her conscience, but she had no choice.  (In those days, people who were a danger to the monarch had to be executed; Mary I had Lady Jane Grey executed even though she didn't want to as Jane was so young, but she would have been a threat to Mary.)

When Elizabeth I didn't marry or have children, there was the problem of to whom to leave the crown of England.  During her reign, she never named anyone as her successor - he/she would again have been a focus for plots against her.  She preferred to leave it to the last moment.

James was baptised a Catholic, but was brought up a Protestant.  At thirteen months when Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of James, he became the King of Scotland and never saw his mother again, although at one point before her execution he did make some contact during an ill-hatched plot to restore her to the throne. While Mary was in prison she tried to send presents to James, but Elizabeth I would not let them be sent to Scotland.

http://www.nwlink.com/~scotlass/jamesvi....

In the end, James - who was already King James VI of Scotland - united the two countries and became also King James I of England.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_fi...

Answer 3

Mary, Queen of Scot was executed, not only for her claims to the English throne, but also due to her own conduct and character. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was an “adulteress and liar” who plotted to kill her husband in order to marry her lover. Far from being the saintly and wronged Roman Catholic monarch portrayed in portraits and films, Mary was actually a “moral loose cannon”, whose striking beauty and s*x appeal gave Elizabeth other reasons to imprison and execute her.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk...

James's godmother, Elizabeth I of England was never married nor had any issue, therefore, in order to secure England's succession crisis, it was decided to name James as Elizabeth's heir and successor, which was why he was taken away and was raised as a Protestant. After Mary, Queen of Scot was forced to abdicate and imprisoned, one year old James was crowned as "James VI of Scotland."

Through his mother, James was the rightful heir to the English crown after Elizabeth I under the ordinary laws of succession. Since his mother's imprisonment, Queen Elizabeth felt it was her responsibility and duty to raise her "potential heir" as a Protestant rather than a Catholic, to prepare him for his future role as "King of England" and to continue her work, and the country's religious stability.

King James never "united" England and Scotland as one nation, that didn't happen until Queen Anne's reign. James was "King of England" and "King of Scotland", and he had to deal with two separate Parliaments, the English and the Scottish. Each country at the time had different policies and laws, however, he did try to unite them as one, but that never happened because the English despise their next-door neighbor, the Scots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_I_of_...

http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/james...

Note: On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union 1707, England and Scotland were united as a single state, the Kingdom of Great Britain. Anne became its first sovereign with the title "Queen of Great Britain", and last "Queen of England."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Uni...