Kings and Queens of Scots.

I am puzzled by Leanda de Lisle's article 'Katherine Grey: Heir to Elizabeth' (September 2009). Surely, in the English line of succession indicated in Henry VIII's will, Katherine Grey did not immediately follow Henry's daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. Rather, Katherine followed both her mother, Frances Grey and her elder sister, Jane Grey. Thus, on that basis, Katherine did not become heir to Elizabeth until the death of Frances in 1599.

Further, it is doubtful if, before the birth of the future King James VI and I in 1566, James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran was heir of Mary, Queen of Scots. The marriage of his father, the 1st Earl of Arran and his mother, Janet Beaton (a cousin of Cardinal David Beaton) took place while the 1st Earl's wife was still alive as she was also when the 2nd Earl was born in 1515, with no record of an annulment. Thus, if the 2nd Earl was indeed illegitimate, the heir presumptive to the Crown of Scotland from 1542 to 1566 was Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox who married Margaret Douglas (another granddaughter of Henry VII of England) with their eldest surviving son being Henry Stewart, Master of Lennox (aka Lord Darnley).

There is no doubt that, on the basis of primogeniture, the heir to Elizabeth as Queen of England from 1587 was James VI, King of Scots. There is equally no doubt that, on the same basis, the heirs to Edmund Ironside, who was briefly King of England in 1016, were his descendants. Thus when Edmund's grandson, Edgar Atheling died in c. 1125, the de jure English succession passed to his nephew David I, King of Scots (a great-grandson of Edmund Ironside). Thus, on that basis, all the de facto kings and queens of England from Canute to Elizabeth Tudor were usurpers, often, after c. 1125, engaged in armed rebellion against their suzerains, the kings of Scots.

Alexander S. Waugh

Banchory, Kincardineshire