Why was Queen Elizabeth an illegitimate daughter?

Answer 1

Elizabeth was born the "heiress presumptive" in 1533. She was declaredillegitimate before her mothers execution in 1536. This took her out of line to inherit the throne upon her fathers death. King Henry VIII wanted a male heir and his past 2 wives had been unable to provide him with one. At that point in history, men were viewed as the only sex capable of leading a nation. Elizabeth needed to be declared illegitimate as part of the process to allow Henry to marry his 3rd wife Jane Seymour.

Answer 2

Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn without getting the annulment from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, so he was technically still married to her. He tried to get an annulment to dissolve the marriage on the grounds that Catherine had consumated her marriage to Henry VIII's brother, Prince Arthur. However, this was not true and even if it was, the Pope gave Henry and Catherine a dispensation so they could marry, so their marriage was legal and valid.

Henry was very upset that he couldn't marry his mistress, so he decided to make up his own church, declare his marriage to Catherine null and void, and marry Anne Boleyn. However, the Pope and the other Kings in Europe did not recognize Henry and Anne's "marriage." Even though Anne was a good friend of the King of France and had lived in his court for some years before coming to England, he still would not accept the marriage of her daughter Elizabeth to his youngest son. A girl whose legitimacy was questioned by the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor (Catherine of Aragon's nephew), as well as the King of France, would not be a proper bride for a Prince of France. The King of France did, however, offer to marry a son to Mary, Henry's legitimate daughter, but of course Henry and Anne wouldn't allow that. To allow her to marry would admit they were wrong and that Henry's marriage to Catherine was legal and valid, and they were too proud. Also, Anne saw Mary as a threat so of course she couldn't allow her to get married.

Later on, Henry eventually grew tired of Anne, as Catherine knew he would; it just took a lot longer and he was willing to go a lot father to get her than she expected. According to the laws of the time, if you had slept with a woman's sister, you weren't allowed to marry her. So eventually, Henry ended up annuling his "marriage" to Anne on those grounds, because Anne's sister Mary was his mistress some years before he became interested in Anne. So, of course, Henry couldn't actually marry Anne even if he wanted to (assuming his wife Catherine was dead or he had never married anyone at all), so Elizabeth was never actually legitimate, just like the Pope and the Emperor and the Kings in Europe had always believed.

Some people might wonder how Elizabeth I ended up as queen, since she was illegitimate. She was a King's daughter and had many supporters. Also, If I'm not mistaken, Henry VII gained the crown during a war, and his claim to the throne was through an illegitimate son. And illegitimate children can be added to the line of succession if it gets approved. Henry VIII was thinking about having his son Henry FitzRoy be next in line before he had his son Edward with his wife Jane Seymour. (The marriage to Jane Seymour was valid because Catherine of Aragon was dead by then so he was free to remarry. Also, Anne was executed by then as well even though that marriage wasn't valid.)

Answer 3

We're talking about Queen Elizabeth I here (d 1603). Because her father Henry VIII wanted a male heir to ensure the Tudor lineage and succession, he divorced/executed Queen Ann Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother, and declared Elizabeth to be illegitimate. The succession eventually passed to the Stuarts, decended from Henry's sister Margaret when Elizabeth died.