Matt Ford

Mary stares back at the ring.

Friendship is no longer enough.

If sisterhood is what Elizabeth wants, she must prove it by naming Mary as England's next queen.

Yeah, so Mary's thinking is shifting here because at first she was out on a limb.

She's Catholic.

She comes back and Scotland's gone Protestant.

She's kind of deferential to Elizabeth.

But now that Elizabeth is making these grand gestures, it's obviously occurring to her that she has a huge amount of power because she needs to be placated just in case.

She becomes the leader of some sort of rebel movement.

If people see her as the real queen, that gives her a lot of influence over people.

So in this moment, she realises she can push for way more than she was prepared to settle for.

Two months later, December 1561, Whitehall Palace, London.

Elizabeth storms into her council chamber and stares down at the secretary seated at the long table.

What could be so urgent that I had to cut short my morning ride?

She glares at her senior advisor, William Cecil.

He nervously clears his throat.

Your cousin Mary has written.

She wishes to meet to discuss being named as your successor.

Elizabeth feels winded.

The advisor pushes the letter across the table towards her.