January 1536: What if Henry VIII had died?

Catherine of Aragon died on the eighth of January and subsequently Anne Boleyn found herself pregnant once again. But the wave of good fortune for the couple came to a conclusion when later in the month Henry VIII was unhorsed at a joust; the shock, concern, and fear Anne experienced at this news caused her to miscarry the child. The miscarriage is what will always be remembered of January 1536, despite Henry VIII almost meeting death. Had he died at the joust, the very course of history would be changed forever.

Given how Elizabeth was the couple's only child and the heir all had been forced to swear fealty to, she would be declared Queen and Anne would rule as Queen-Regent with the help of the council and her uncle the Duke of Norfolk. However, few would be be loyal to an infant-queen and even fewer to an all-powerful Queen-Regent without any royal blood. 

What we must remember is that in Spain and in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, Henry VIII had always been married to Catherine of Aragon, his marriage to Anne Boleyn counted for nothing and so to them, as oppose to Mary Tudor being the bastard, it was Elizabeth. If Henry VIII had died at the January 1536 joust, in all other parts of Europe Mary would be declared Queen of England, and Spain would probably invade and put her on the throne without much difficulty, as with Henry VIII's death England would be a wreck enough.

But alas, Catherine of Aragon's daughter or not, Mary Tudor was a woman and there had never been a Queen in her own right sitting on England's throne before. Not many would accept this, and some might argue that Henry VIII's illegitimate son by Elizabeth Blount, Henry Fitzroy, had the strongest claim to the throne. Despite allegedly fathering many bastards, Henry Fitzroy was the king's only acknowledged son, and he was also the Duke of Somerset and Richmond. His surname, Fitzroy, meant king's son; he had been christened such for a reason. 

No matter what, England would be left weak and none of the above rulers could reign without facing great opposition, leaving the nation undivided and vulnerable for attack and ruin. It is likely that under any of the above three options England would be conquered by a greater European power without trust in a stable monarch.