History Fanfic / QueenAnnesLegacy

* AlternateHistory: With the PointOfDiver being that Anne successfully gives birth to a second child, in this case a son, at the cost of her life. This snowballs into a timeline where [[spoiler:the House of Tudor survives and continues to thrive as the rulers of England, while their rivals and eventual successors, the House of Stuart, end up dying out, plunging Scotland into a civil war]].

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/16497524 Queen Anne's Legacy]]'' by [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletRoseLily/pseuds/VioletRoseLily VioletRoseLily]]. It is a ForWantOfANail AlternateUniverse ''[[Series/TheTudors Tudors]]'' fanfic, where Anne Boleyn manages to give birth to a son, named Ambrose by Henry, in 1535 at the cost of her life.

** Mary's relationship with Jane Seymour sours because of Jane's inability to let go of her resentment against Anne, as it causes her to neglect and mistreat Ambrose and Elizabeth, who Mary adores. By contrast, her relationship with Catherine Parr is much warmer despite the difference in religious beliefs due to Catherine's kind treatment of all of Mary's siblings. Catherine managing to convince Henry to legitimize her and restore her to the line of succession solidifies their friendship, and they remain close up until Mary's own death.
** Mary's relationship with her siblings also remains strong thanks to her AdaptationalHeroism. Only her relationship with Edward cools, and even then it's no fault of Mary herself but rather Edward's own personal problems causing him to lash out at her. Notably, her relationship with Elizabeth is probably the strongest platonic bond in the entire story, with Elizabeth sailing all the way from Denmark just to be with Mary while she's on her deathbed.
** Henry's own relationship with Jane completely goes to the rocks due to Jane's inability to love Ambrose and Elizabeth, with all her attempts to fix their marriage only backfiring. He later admits to Catherine that the only reason he hasn't annulled his marriage to Jane is because it would de-legitimize Edward.

* AintTooProudToBeg: Once he realizes that he's been played, [[spoiler:Charles Brandon goes on his knees and begs Henry for mercy, even going as far as to cite his deceased wife Mary Tudor the Elder and their daughters as a reason Henry should give him some form of clemency. It doesn't work]].

** Edward was originally unattached since keeping him unmarried was in the Boelyn family's best interest. Jane Seymour and Frances Grey subtly try to get him to fall for Jane Grey later in the story, as their marriage will strengthen his claim to the throne. This plan however falls apart after Jane comes to realize she love Guilford Dudley and sees Edward only as a brother, and goes behind their backs to get Ambrose to engage her to Guilford. Ambrose then tries to marry Edward to Princess Marguerite of France to help him get over Jane and make sure he doesn't interfere with her marriage. Edward balks at this since Marguerite is only a child while he's already a full-grown man. [[spoiler:Ultimately, he ends up marrying Mary, Queen of Scots in order to get Scottish and French support in his rebellion against Ambrose]].
** Maggie is engaged to Carlos, Prince of Asturias so she can one day be Queen of Spain. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, she dies of the measles not long after the betrothal is made]].

* AlternateHistory: With the [[ForWantOfANail nail]] being that Anne successfully gives birth to a second child, in this case a son, at the cost of her life. This snowballs into a timeline where [[spoiler:the House of Tudor survives and continues to thrive as the rulers of England, while their rivals and eventual successors, the House of Stuart, end up dying out, plunging Scotland into a civil war]].
* AlwaysSecondBest: The Seymours to the Boleyns. Most of the conflict of the story is rooted in how the Boleyns are favored over the Seymours by Henry even after his marriage to Jane. This extends to Edward and Ambrose. What drives a lot of Edward's insecurities is the fact that he can never seem to displace his brother in their father's eyes, simply because he wasn't born first. [[spoiler:Elizabeth surmises as much after he finally rebels against Ambrose and begs Elizabeth for her support. Despite Frederick's claims that this is a ploy to slander her name, in reality, he just wants someone, anyone, to choose him over his brother, and she believes that's all he ever really wanted in the end]].

* BrokenPedestal: Part of Mary's CharacterDevelopment during the story is coming to terms with the person her father really is -- a selfish man who refuses to take the blame for his actions and is ruthless enough to hurt both enemy and ally alike to get what he wants. Mary eventual comes to the conclusion that while Anne does share a lot of the blame for what happened to Mary and her mother, the person truly at fault for the situation is her father. This is only further enforced when she learns that Anne's LastRequest was for Henry to treat his daughters as well as his sons, meaning the kindness her father is showing her is only because of her deceased stepmother's guilt for her previous treatment of her, not any self-reflection from Henry himself.
* CainAndAbel: The driving conflict of the story is the ''possibility'' that Ambrose and Edward might become this in the future thanks to Ambrose's questionable legitimacy. While the rest of the royal court is more than happy to pit the two boys against each other, the brothers' immediately family (their father and two older sisters, plus their father's mistress Catherine Parr) are doing everything they can to make sure this ''doesn't'' happen. [[spoiler:Ultimately, all their efforts come to naught, and Edward does indeed up turning against Ambrose, forcing Ambrose to kill him when he refuses to give up his rebellion and yield after their climactic duel]].
* CentralTheme: Choice. Specifically, to what extent one's choices can be blamed on someone else. A running theme in the story is people such as Jane Seymour and Charles Brandon who constantly try to blame what they perceive to be Henry's poor decision-making on others, usually whatever 'spell' Anne put him under. The reality is that while Henry's grief over Anne's death does play a part in what he does, Anne herself is exerting no external influence since she's, you know, ''dead''. Henry is ultimately making these decisions by his own volition. That's why all their attempts to 'break' Anne's 'hold' over Henry fails, because Henry's inability to let go of his grief is a result of his own personality flaws, not of Anne herself.

* ConvertingForLove: Downplayed and outright defied. [[spoiler:Edward converts to Catholicism to marry Mary, Queen of Scots and to garner the support of the Catholic Church for his rebellion against Ambrose. However, the conversion is purely for political expedience and he has no intentions of remaining Catholic once he gains the throne. Ambrose, knowing full well how fanatical a Protestant his brother is, later uses this against him by making sure all the derogatory remarks Edward made against Catholics while he was in court are spread throughout England, to reinforce to his Catholic subjects that his brother's conversion is not genuine]].

** Edward is effectively the last hope the Catholic faction has of returning England to the flock of Rome, or in the case of others, breaking the power the Boleyns have over the royal court. Many therefore scheme to put him on the throne to make their goals a reality. The problem with their planning, however, is that none of them actually bother to prepare Edward to be a ruler that would actually do these things, either being blocked off by the Tudors (who don't want Ambrose and Edward fighting at all), fighting against the Boleyns, or just plain fighting against each other. By the time anyone gets around to putting serious effort into turning Edward against Ambrose, Edward is a fanatical Protestant who flat-out doesn't know how to rule at all, basically making him the very antithesis of what any of them want in a king.
** [[spoiler:Edward's own rebellion is a massive case of this, because it becomes obvious early on that he's severely misjudged the political situation. He has his uncle Hertford arrange things so he has the support of the Catholic Church in hopes of deterring Joanna's relatives from supporting Ambrose on her behalf, but fails to realize that even the pious Habsburgs are willing to defy the Pope to support their family. He also writes to Elizabeth to ask for her support (and by extension, Denmark and Norway's), but, as Frederick points out, there's no benefit to her to do so; challenging Ambrose's legitimacy and claim to the throne is also challenging ''her'' legitimacy as well. Finally, he marries Mary Stuart in hopes of getting the support of France in addition to Scotland's, and fails to have his own intelligence agents double check their intel, which would've revealed that the current regent of France, Catherine de Medici, ''hates'' Mary and wouldn't support her in any way, even if France wasn't dealing with their own problems at the moment. All in all, every misstep proves how ill-fit Edward is for the throne, and dooms his rebellion before it can even begin]].

* EveryoneHasStandards: As much as Mary dislikes Jane Seymour, even she thinks Henry taking away their daughter from her banished mother a mere two weeks after the child's birth and forbidding the woman from visiting her children to be too cruel. She takes it as proof that he was the one responsible for keeping her away from her own mother, not Anne.

** Mary and Elizabeth have major theological differences but never let religion get in between them. Ambrose and Edward are of the same faith, but begin to chafe in part because Edward thinks Ambrose isn't trying hard enough to spread Protestantism throughout England.

** Edward does indeed grow up to be just like his father, [[GoneHorriblyRight just in all the wrong ways]]. He inherits his father's ruthlessness, obsessive tendencies, arrogance, and overall penchant for making decisions in regards to his personal desires rather than duty or politics. By the time any of his supporters realize how unfit he is to be king, the damage is already done and they're forced to stick with him.

* TheGoodKing: Ambrose. While by no means perfect, he's generally a good and merciful king that is less selfish and more politically astute than his father was, and the English people are quite happy under his reign. [[spoiler:Which is why very few of them flock to Edward's side when he finally rebels against Ambrose]].
* GoodStepmother: In a contrast to [[WickedStepmother Jane Seymour]], Catherine Parr serves as a good mother figure to all of Henry's children, despite never officially marrying Henry herself. Even Edward, Jane's son, can't find it in himself to dislike his father's mistress.

** Henry. While he loves all his children and is committed to treating all of them well due to his promise to Anne, he clearly prefers sons over daughters. After their marriage falls apart during her second pregnancy, Jane gets into her head that she'll be able to win him back if she gives him a second son, something neither Anne nor Katherine were able to do. Her hopes are dashed when she ends up giving birth to a daughter whom she names Margaret (called Maggie for short).
** Ironically subverted with Ambrose. While he recognizes the importance of having a legitimate son to secure the succession, he ultimately doesn't mind if his daughter Joan ends up succeeding him. This is later revealed to stem from his own guilt over his mother's death, which he blames on the pressure everyone was putting on her to have a son. [[spoiler:In the end, Joanna ends up giving him six daughters before being rendered barren by a last miscarriage, so Joan is named his undisputed heir. Not long after, Joan gives birth to her own son George by her husband Philip Tudor, securing the succession by assuring the people a king will follow her reign]].
* IllegalReligion: Subverted. Much like his sister historically, Ambrose is Protestant and supports the Church of England as a matter of policy (mainly because it's the only way he can be considered legally legitimate in England and maintain his claim to the throne). However, he doesn't care about what religion his subjects follow and promotes religious tolerance instead, to the point that several of his closest family members, including his older sister Mary and his own wife Joanna, are openly Catholic. This becomes one of the major sticking points in Ambrose and Edward's fracturing relationship, because Edward is a Protestant {{Fundamentalist}} who openly wants to eradicate Catholicism from England.

** While it's true Henry is being cruel in separating Edward and later his sister Maggie away from their mother Jane, he's correct to fear that Jane might try to turn Edward against Ambrose due to her jealousy of Anne. Edward's relationship with Ambrose doesn't really begin to fray until after Henry is dead and Ambrose allows Jane to start visiting court more often as a favor to his brother.

* KarmicJackpot: Mary's absolute refusal to resent Elizabeth and Ambrose for their mother's crimes ultimately work out for her in the end. She finds love and has a happy marriage with Philip, has four children of her own, is re-legitimized and restored to the succession, and one of her daughter even marries Archduke Ferdinand. When she dies, it isn't as a tyrant but as a beloved figure throughout England, with everyone heavily mourning her death. [[spoiler:And in the end, her own claim to the throne is vindicated, when her son Philip Tudor marries Ambrose's eldest daughter and heir Joan, ensuring that Mary's descendants will one day rule England]].

** Both Catherine "Cate" Parr and Catherine "Kitty" Howard end up becoming this to Henry as his marriage to Jane gradually begins to break down. Cate is the one who wins out, due to Kitty falling for Thomas Culpeper and eloping with him; ironically enough, Cate had no interest in becoming Henry's mistress but decided to accept his advances in order to protect Kitty (who she had befriended) from his wrath after she eloped with her husband.
** Ambrose himself has a number of mistresses during the beginning of his marriage to Joanna, though he eventually gets rid of them after their relationship begins to improve.

* ParentalFavoritism: While Henry does love all his children (and indeed, they may be the only people he truly loves besides himself), it's clear to everyone watching that his children by Anne are his favorites, especially Ambrose as his long-awaited male heir.

* ShipperWithAnAgenda: Jane Seymour and Frances Grey try to push Edward and Jane Grey together in older to bolster Edward's claim to the throne[[note]]Jane Grey has her own claim to the throne due to being the granddaughter of Mary Tudor the elder, the younger sister of Henry[[/note]]. Unfortunately for them, it only works halfway -- while Edward falls for Jane, Jane only comes to care for him as a friend/brother, and ends up falling for Guilford Dudley instead.

* SpareToTheThrone: While many see Edward as the rightful heir, officially he's the second son and thus the spare to the throne, being behind Ambrose in the line of succession. This actually plays a part in AdaptationalPersonalityChange: while Edward still had a top-class education, Henry never made the active effort to train him on how to rule, making him wholly unsuited for taking the throne as an adult, which is one of the reasons Ambrose decides to make his daughter Joan his heir instead.

* WickedStepmother: A downplayed example. While Jane is never outwardly cruel to Anne's children, she is certainly neglectful and dismissive of them due to her resentment of Anne. It's not until this treatment begins to poison her marriage to Henry that she begins to treat them with any sort of hostility, and even then she's not around often enough for it to matter. Ironically, this doesn't really become an issue until after Henry is dead and Ambrose becomes king, as his fondness for Edward causes him to loosen the restrictions on Jane, allowing her to work toward turn her son against his brother.

* AlwaysSecondBest: The Seymours to the Boleyns. Most of the conflict of the story is rooted in how the Boleyns are favored over the Seymours by Henry even after his marriage to Jane. This extends to Edward and Ambrose. What drives a lot of Edward's insecurities is the fact that he can never seem to displace his brother in their father's eyes, simply because he wasn't born first.

* ConvertingForLove. Downplayed and outright defied. [[spoiler:Edward converts to Catholicism to marry Mary, Queen of Scots and to garner the support of the Catholic Church for his rebellion against Ambrose. However, the conversion is purely for political expedience and he has no intentions of remaining Catholic once he gains the throne. Ambrose, knowing full well how fanatical a Protestant his brother is, later uses this against him by making sure all the derogatory remarks Edward made against Catholics while he was in court are spread throughout England, to reinforce to his Catholic subjects that his brother's conversion is not genuine]].