What-If Elizabeth I HAD Died From Smallpox? (Off the Record)
Tudors Dynasty & Beyond
RedTop Media / Rebecca Larson
4.4 • 869 Ratings
🗓️ 8 February 2026
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the autumn of 1562, England held its breath. Queen Elizabeth I lay gravely ill with smallpox, her life uncertain, her kingdom unprepared for what might come next.
But what if she hadn’t survived?
In this episode, we explore one of the most chilling “what ifs” in English history. With no named heir, a fragile religious settlement, and rival claims waiting in the wings, Elizabeth’s death could have plunged England into chaos. Who would have taken the throne? Would Mary, Queen of Scots have prevailed - or would the Grey sisters have been revived as contenders? Who were some of the other contenders?
This isn’t just speculation - it’s a deep dive into succession law, political reality, and the very real anxieties of a nation on the brink.
History as it nearly was… and how close England came to a very different fate.
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Hosts:
Rebecca Larson
Amy McElroy
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome back to Off the Record part of the Tudors Dignesty and Beyond podcast. |
| 0:10.4 | I'm Rebecca Larson. |
| 0:11.9 | And I'm Amy McElroy. |
| 0:14.0 | And Amy, I'm so excited because I've mentioned this on episodes this week that February marks nine years of the podcast. |
| 0:23.3 | It's amazing. |
| 0:25.0 | I can't even. |
| 0:25.8 | I think back to the very first episode that I recorded. |
| 0:30.0 | And it was one where I like wrote a script and just recorded myself reading the script |
| 0:35.3 | essentially. |
| 0:36.1 | And it was on, I think I called it the birth of the tutorudor Rose, which I see it was so terrible that I took it down everywhere, except for Patreon. |
| 0:43.3 | But it just blows my mind at how different it feels now versus back then when I first started. |
| 0:53.3 | I was terrified. I was nervous. You could hear the |
| 0:56.5 | nervousness and my voice when I recorded it. And I just assumed nobody was ever going to listen to |
| 1:02.0 | this podcast. And here we are nine years later. There's 10,000 people or more right now listen to the podcast. |
| 1:12.6 | And I was happy back then to get 20 listens. |
| 1:16.8 | Nine years is amazing. |
| 1:19.8 | It just, I never thought I would be doing it this long, let alone doing it full time as my job. |
| 1:26.7 | So I just want to thank everyone who listens to the podcast, |
| 1:31.2 | watches the podcast for sticking with me for so long. I want to thank everybody who has been |
| 1:38.4 | a co-host on the show. I mean, we go as far back as Steph and Heather and Christine and you and Emma. |
| 1:46.7 | And I couldn't do it without you guys either. |
| 1:49.4 | So thank you very much. |
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