When mortality was staring her in the face, she decided that if she failed to recover, then “the special care of the protection of our son” was to be given to Elizabeth, who should come to regard Prince James as her own child. It was fairly obvious that Elizabeth did not intend to marry, in which case Mary could best protect her son’s life and dynastic rights in Scotland and England by making this extraordinary gesture. She knew that despite their earlier dueling, Elizabeth would always respect the ideal of monarchy and give precedence to hereditary rights over religious differences. In
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