What relation was Mary I of England to Elizabeth I?
Mary I of England urna, hic obdormimus Elizabetha et Maria sorores, in spe resurrectionis" (affixed there by James I when he succeeded Elizabeth), translates to: "Consorts in realm and tomb, we, sisters Elizabeth and Mary, here lie down to sleep in hope of resurrection." At her funeral service, John White, bishop of Winchester, praised Mary: "She was a king's daughter; she was a king's sister; she was a king's wife. She was a queen, and by the same title a king also." She was the first woman to successfully claim the throne of England, despite competing claims and determined opposition, and enjoyed popular support
Succession to Elizabeth I of England Henry VII who reached adulthood, Margaret and Mary, was the first and main issue in the succession. Mary I of England had died without managing to have her preferred successor and first cousin, Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, nominated by parliament. Margaret Douglas was a daughter of Margaret Tudor, and lived to 1578, but became a marginal figure in discussions of the succession to Elizabeth I, who at no point clarified the dynastic issues of the Tudor line. When in 1565 Margaret Douglas's elder son Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, married Mary, Queen of Scots, the "Lennox claim" was generally regarded