A contemporary Falklands crisis might have saved a third CVA-01

Could the Royal Navy ever have received a third CVA-01 aircraft carrier?

Possibly, if a Falklands-style war had occurred while the program was still being decided and made the carrier requirement politically unmistakable.

The possibility of a third CVA-01 depends on a narrow political condition. A Falklands-style conflict during the program's decision window might have demonstrated enough carrier value to preserve another ship. This counterfactual concerns timing and does not make the carrier otherwise inevitable. A sudden crisis can change the political case for an expensive force-structure program.