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I saw the movie with Helena Bonham Carter, Lady Jane (1986). Lady Jane Grey, "Queen for Nine Days", against "Mary, Bloody Mary". Two different factions, both vying for the throne. Who was the legitimate ruler? Mary won out, and that is the reason I assume to be behind England's perennial mistrust of Catholics and the Monty Python perennial "Nobody ever suspects the Spanish Inquisition!" Ultimately, the question has to always be who has the legitimate claim.
There's rather more to it than that. The Spanish Inquisition is probably more connected to the notoriety of the Inquisition (which certainly reached America, too).
But before Bloody Mary, you have the whole business of Henry VIII nationalising the Church, and seizing a large part of its wealth for himself and his supporters and suppressing Catholicism.
"Bloody Mary" was less notorious for the way she gained the throne, and much more for reversing the status quo, reestablishing Catholicism and persecuting Protestants. Lady Jane Grey is not that well-known.
In the reign of Elizabeth I you have the Armada, a major invasion attempted by Catholic Spain.
Later on, you have the Gunpowder Plot (a Catholic conspiracy to blow up Parliament and King James) and you should probably look at the following Protestant ascendancy, especially Cromwell and William of Orange.
There are parts of Britain where there is still some hostility between Protestant and Catholic communities - not just Northern Ireland (the rivalry between the Glasgow football teams Celtic and Rangers is based in it).
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