Mary's execution directly provoked Philip II of Spain to launch the Armada invasion of England in 1588.
Elizabeth's worst fears were realized: Mary's execution gave Philip II the justification to send his Armada against England, attempting to overthrow Elizabeth and restore Catholicism. ✦ AI generated
Tom Holland · The Rest Is History · 2026-08-13 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 64:41
“Elizabeth had one of the reasons she didn't want to execute Mary Queen of Scots was she she knew that it would set off a firestorm of protest in Catholic Europe... And this execution is going to have extraordinarily tumultuous and fearful consequences, isn't it, for England in this struggle with the Spanish?”
Because 1588, which is the year that follows Mary's execution, is going to be the year that Philip of Spain attempts to invade England to overthrow Elizabeth, the heretic queen, once and for all, to restore this Protestant rogue state, as you put it, to papal supremacy, to Catholicism, because 1588 is going to be the year of the Spanish Armada.
verbatim transcript · starts at 64:41
64:41the year that follows Mary's execution, is going to be the year that Philip of Spain attempts to invade England to overthrow Elizabeth, the heretic queen, once and for all, to restore this Protestant rogue state, as you put it, to papal supremacy, to Catholicism, because 1588 is going to be the year of the Spanish Armada. >> So much to look forward to. But we will be coming to the Spanish Armada um much
65:16later. Because we will be changing the record a little bit next week. Only a little bit because we'll still be there'll still be some Catholic versus Protestants and indeed Protestant versus Catholic action because we will be coming much further forward in time. We'll be coming to Belfast in the 1960s for the beginning of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. And of course Rest Is History Club members will be able to get
65:40all that series straight away on Monday. Uh if you want to join the Rest Is History Club, the only way to get the full range of quite extraordinary benefits is to sign up at the rest is history.com. And of course there will be for those people who subscribe to the free newsletter, there will be all kinds of interesting things in the newsletter. I'll tell you one thing I'd love the