Royal Execution Legitimacy

Royal execution legitimacy is the problem of making a sovereign’s killing legally and politically tolerable. 696. Elizabeth I vs The Catholics: Killing the Queen of Scots (Part 6) uses Elizabeth I’s hesitation over Mary, Queen of Scots to show why the issue is not only guilt or innocence.

Executing Mary could remove a Catholic claimant, but it could also inflame Europe, justify Spain’s hostility, and establish the precedent that an anointed queen can be killed through legal and parliamentary procedure. The Act for the Queen’s Safety therefore both solves and intensifies the problem: it supplies legal process while making the precedent explicit.

Connections

• Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots - ruler and condemned queen.
• William Cecil / Lord Burleigh, Francis Walsingham, and Amias Paulet - actors navigating law, warrant, and refusal to murder privately.
• Act for the Queen’s Safety, Fotheringhay Castle, and Political Trial Theatre - institutional and theatrical form.