Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-26443838-20160203031256/@comment-24674051-20160323171953

Henry would not ascend to the throne. He was fifth in line for the throne when he married Cora. and that type of thing changes constantly, particularly as older siblings have more children. It would seem that, what we saw in the Stable Boy, is that Henry and Cora had a nice country Villa, and a good amount of land. Plus some servants (like Daniel). So they were still very much nobility, but would never be in line for the throne.

Which is part of the reason Cora pushed Regina so hard, as Cora was living her dream vicariously through her daughter. and Once Regina got the throne with Leopold, it would not have been long until Cora manipulated things to have Regina sitting on the throne, except for the fact that Cora was banished from FTL at the time of the Wedding.

And as we have seen, even being banished did not stop Cora from trying to manipulate Regina and the Kingdon for Cora's benefit.

And to tie all of that back into the topic at hand, I doubt we'll see all of this, but this is the hell that Regina lived through with her Mom, that Zelena does not understand, just as Zelena lived through the hell of abandonment that Regina does not Understand. And I think this episode (which is slated to have Barbara Hershey back) may put to rest some of the bitterness from the dysfunction, and make it possible for Zelena and Regina to mend their fences (I'm not saying redemption for Zelena, just a change in the family dynamic between Zelena and Regina).