Throughout Elizabeth I reign, the Tudor Crown could have passed to a long list of potential claimants.

The names of these uncrowned heirs are not well known, yet had history gone differently, any of them could have been the next monarch after Gloriana.

But the journey to gain that crown was often precarious and dangerous for those involved.

To understand the Elizabethan succession and all of the potential claimants,

we have to go right back to the beginning of the Tudors,

to the marriage of Henry the 7th and Elizabeth of York.

We have to trace how the family tree put out branches from there,

creating a web of contenders and an Elizabethan succession that was far from straightforward.

Instead, it was one that spelled treachery, deceit and even death to those drawn into it.

I'm Tracy Bournem, Chief historian here at the Palaces, and welcome back to our series on the Stolen Tudor Crown, the Elizabethan succession and the death of the Tudor dynasty. The Hello and welcome to episode two of this brand new series.

I'm on familiar territory today.

I'm in the curator's office at Hampton Court Palace, better known as Apartment 25.

And I'm here today to talk about the dazzling cast of characters who make up the story of the stolen Tudor crown.

Elizabeth I first uncrowned heirs, if you will.

Now, brace yourselves because it's a rather complicated web of family connections. And really what we end up with is quite a long list

of potential kings or queens throughout Elizabeth's long reign. And that's why I'm in my office today, because I have

easy access to a family tree that is going to help me explain all about it. So bear with me,

I'm just going to get it down from the bookshelves right now. Before I start exploring this family tree, I'd like to just make something very, very clear.

This was not a one-horse race we're talking about, even though that's how it's been sold to us for 400 years,

that of course James I 6th inherited Elizabeth's throne. In fact, there were any number of people

who could have been crowned when the Virgin Queen breathed her last in 1603. And it's only with

the hindsight of history that, of course, we know there's this

...