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The Tradition: Elizabeth

Major Martin Hume writes in his Courtships of Queen Elizabeth: "Elizabeth was only three when her mother's fall removed her from the line of the succession. from the line of the succession.

In 1542, however, the death of James V of Scotland and the simultaneous birth of his daughter Mary seemed to bring nearer Henry's idea of a union between the two crowns. He proposed to marry the baby Queen of Scots to his infant son and at the • same time he offered the hand of Elizabeth (then nine) to a son of Arran-head of House of Hamilton, next heir to the Scottish crown.

Mary and Elizabeth were restored to their places in the line of succession.

In January 1547 Henry VIII died, leaving the succession to his two daughters in tail after Edward VI and his heirs. Queen Catherine (Parr) immediately married Sir Thomas Seymour, brother of Protector Somerset and uncle of the little king (Edward VI). To them was confided Princess Elizabeth then a girl of 14.'" Elizabeth was three in 1536. The story of the Bisley Boy dates probably to 1543-4. So that if the story have any foundation at all in fact, signs of a complete change of identity in the person of Princess Elizabeth must be looked for in the period of some seven or eight years which intervened.