United by every tie of blood and
sentiment to Rome and the Guises, she was forced, for reasons of policy,
to remain on good terms with Protestantism and the Tudor Queen of
England. The first years of Mary's reign in Scotland were marked by the
continuance of good relations between herself and her half-brother, whom
she entrusted with the government of the kingdom. In 1562 she suppressed
the most powerful Catholic noble in Scotland, the Earl of Huntly. The
result of this policy was to raise an unfounded suspicion in England and
Spain that the Queen of Scots was "no more devout towards Rome than for
the sustentation of her uncles".[66] The indignation felt at Mary's
conduct among Roman Catholics in England and in Spain may have been one
of the reasons for Elizabeth's adopting a more distinctly Protestant
position in 1562. In the Act of Supremacy of that year the first avowed
reference is made to the authority used by Henry VIII and Edward VI,
_i.e._ the Supreme Headship of the Church. It at all events made
Elizabeth's position less difficult, because Spain and Austria were not
likely to attack England in the interests of a queen whose orthodoxy was
doubtful.
Meanwhile Elizabeth was directing all her efforts to prevent Mary from
contracting a second marriage, and, at all hazards, to secure that she
should not marry Don Carlos of Spain or the Archduke of Austria. Her
persistent endeavours to bribe Scottish nobles were directed, with
considerable acuteness, to creating an English party strong enough to
deter foreign princes from "seeking upon a country so much at her
devotion".
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