I learned from watching Disney's Aladdin that the person who gives the magic is stronger than the person who gets it.

The queen got the spell from Rumple..soooo...

My theories:

I gleaned from the last ep that Snow's Dad was Queen's lovahh (yes, I said lovaahh). Not sure if he tried to stop one of the Queen's schemes to kill Snow or got caught in the crossfire or what.
