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Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky.

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I'm so thrilled, truly over the moon, excited to be talking with Tracy Borman today,

chief historian of historic royal palaces,

chief executive of Heritage Education Trust, chancellor and professor at Lincoln Bishop University,

author of the incredible new book, The Stolen Crown, truly one of my favorite books that I've

read this year so far, a new book that contains, I would say, a bombshell

discovery about Elizabeth I first's deathbed confirmation that the crown should go to her cousin,

King James I, Scotland. The bombshell revelation that that deathbed declaration was,

let's just say, less straightforward than previously believe. We'll get into that in this

conversation. But before we do, just welcome Tracy Borman. Thank you so much for being here.

Oh, thank you so much for having me back. It's always lovely chatting with you. And I'm very

excited to be delving in to the dark world of the Elizabethan succession.

So before we talk about that famous deathbed confession, let's talk a little bit more broadly about

the context. Queen Elizabeth I had decided to be the Virgin Queen, obviously a strategic decision, but one that left

her with no heirs. So what did that look like throughout her life? What were the pros and cons of

that decision? Yes, it was a very controversial decision, and it's one that, as you say,

she made from the very beginning of her reign declaring to her first parliament

that she would live and die a virgin. I think really, although people reacted with shock,

they didn't completely believe her. They thought perhaps she's just increasing her value on the

marriage market, you know, playing hard to get, if you will. But it then became obvious she

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