Elizabeth refused to execute Mary publicly because she saw an anointed queen's execution as a threat to the divine authority of monarchy itself.
Elizabeth opposed Mary's public execution not merely for foreign policy reasons, but because she believed chopping off a fellow anointed queen's head would damage the sacred dignity that surrounds monarchy. ✦ AI generated
Tom Holland · The Rest Is History · 2026-08-13 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 9:50
“Why does Elizabeth not want to put Mary to death?”
Elizabeth's opposition to having Mary executed goes beyond mere foreign policy concerns. She sees it as a threat to her own authority because Mary, like Elizabeth, is an anointed queen. And Elizabeth doesn't want to license anything that might impair the sense her subjects have of the divinity that hedges a king, as Shakespeare would put it. And obviously, if you're anxious to maintain the sense of dignity that surrounds an anointed monarch, then chopping off her head is not the way to maintain it.
verbatim transcript · starts at 9:50
9:30book on the Spanish Armada that he wrote back in um the 1940s, but it's it's it's still great. He said of Elizabeth, "Her foreign policy was to have no foreign policy not alterable by the lightest touch on the helm." And obviously, if Elizabeth is locked into war with Spain, then you know, that that that's that's no longer a course that she can follow. But as he implied, Elizabeth's
9:50opposition to having Mary executed goes beyond mere foreign policy concerns. She sees it as a threat to her own authority because Mary, like Elizabeth, is an anointed queen. And Elizabeth doesn't want to license anything that might impair the sense her subjects have of the divinity that hedges a king, as Shakespeare would put it. And obviously, if you're anxious to maintain the sense of dignity that uh surrounds an anointed monarch, then
10:22chopping off her head is not the way to maintain it. And for Burleigh and Walsingham, as you said, this is a complete nightmare. >> Can I just ask a quick question? You've said a couple of times she doesn't want to have her publicly executed. Is this not a flaw in Elizabeth the First's armory? Why does she not consider killing her privately? I mean, why not, you know, have poisoned her?
10:42>> She does consider it um and we will be coming to that later in this episode. >> Yeah, I mean, I'd have killed her already, frankly. I don't understand why she's been dithering. >> I absolutely know that you would um and it's just a shame that you weren't at the beck and call of the Virgin Queen, as we will see in due course. But for now, I mean, conversely, for Burleigh
- ·Saw execution as threat to monarchy's divine authority
- ·Mary, like Elizabeth, was an anointed queen
- ·Chopping off head would damage sacred dignity surrounding monarchy
- ·Didn't want to license impairment of monarchy's divinity
- ·Beyond foreign policy concerns
- ·Threat to Elizabeth's own authority
- ·Impairs sense of divinity around monarchy
- ·Not the way to maintain dignity