PREFACE
Royal princesses are always interesting, and those who lived in the days of strong personal monarchy especially so. Mary Tudor was Henry VIII’s younger, and favourite, sister; the fifth child and third daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Little is known of her childhood and upbringing, except that it was heavily influenced by her paternal grandmother, Margaret, Countess of Derby. Her father seems to have shown little interest in her, except to deploy her, along with her sister Margaret, on the international marriage market, but that was the common experience of kings’ daughters. At the age of thirteen she was betrothed to the eight-year-old Charles of Ghent, and seems to have enjoyed the prospect of being Princess of Castile. She grew up to be beautiful, intelligent and emotional, but not at all intellectual, and her usefulness to her brother was abruptly terminated early in 1515 by her impulsive marriage to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, Henry’s closest friend. This was a direct result of having been wedded against her will to the elderly Louis XII of France by the terms of the Anglo-French treaty of 1514, and was the subject of fascinated speculation at the time – and since. Thereafter she continued to be known as ‘The French Queen’ as well as by her proper title as Duchess of Suffolk, but her political role was at an end, so she became an ornament around the court, and a great lady on the Duke’s estates.
Her life has attracted a certain amount of attention, including a French biography published in 1749, and a more studious attempt by Mary Croom Brown in 1911; however, most of the interest has been fictional, or popular like Maria Perry’s recent Sisters of the King . The best scholarly study published within the last half century is W. C. Richardson’s Mary Tudor: The White Queen , which appeared in 1970. A lot of research has appeared since 1970, including a study of her letters published in 2011, and this, although directed only partly at Mary, is nevertheless relevant to her context, so a further biography is therefore justified. She lived in interesting times, and her support for Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s first wife, cast a shadow over relations with her brother in the last years of her life. He nevertheless remained fond of her, and of her rather dim-witted husband, and continued to include them in his social round. For that reason alone she is worth another study, because very few crossed Henry and retained his regard. It was a unique achievement which has been too little thought about.
A lifetime of working on the Tudors, and recently an investigation into Mary’s arch-enemies the Boleyns, lie behind this work, and obligations too numerous to list have been incurred. However, mention should be made of the Oxford University History Faculty, which has given me a base, and access both to graduate seminars and to the Bodleian Library, for all of which I am profoundly grateful. I am also grateful to Jonathan Reeve of Amberley Publishing, who accepted it as a worthy project, and to my wife Judith, who provides unfailing support.
David Loades
2. Alleged to be the wedding portrait of
Mary and Charles Brandon, it is probably
later in date. By an unknown artist.
3. Mary Tudor as a young girl. By an
unknown artist.
4. Mary as Queen of France, drawn in late
1514. This is the only authentic likeness.
5. Anne Boleyn, the second Queen of Henry
VIII, from a drawing by Hans Holbein. Mary
was deeply suspicious of her ambitions, and
those of her family.
6. Catherine Willoughby, the second
Duchess of Suffolk. A drawing by Hans Holbein.
A rather more complete study of
Catherine, also by Holbein.
7. Elizabeth of York, Henry VII’s queen, and Mar’s mother.
8. Mary’s
brother,
Henry VIII,
effaces
his father,
Henry
VII; from
Holbein’s
celebrated
cartoon in
the National
Portrait
Gallery.
9. Catherine of Aragon,
Henry’s first Queen, and
a particular friend of
Mary.
10. The
Royal princesses are always interesting, and those who lived in the days of strong personal monarchy especially so. Mary Tudor was Henry VIII’s younger, and favourite, sister; the fifth child and third daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Little is known of her childhood and upbringing, except that it was heavily influenced by her paternal grandmother, Margaret, Countess of Derby. Her father seems to have shown little interest in her, except to deploy her, along with her sister Margaret, on the international marriage market, but that was the common experience of kings’ daughters. At the age of thirteen she was betrothed to the eight-year-old Charles of Ghent, and seems to have enjoyed the prospect of being Princess of Castile. She grew up to be beautiful, intelligent and emotional, but not at all intellectual, and her usefulness to her brother was abruptly terminated early in 1515 by her impulsive marriage to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, Henry’s closest friend. This was a direct result of having been wedded against her will to the elderly Louis XII of France by the terms of the Anglo-French treaty of 1514, and was the subject of fascinated speculation at the time – and since. Thereafter she continued to be known as ‘The French Queen’ as well as by her proper title as Duchess of Suffolk, but her political role was at an end, so she became an ornament around the court, and a great lady on the Duke’s estates.
Her life has attracted a certain amount of attention, including a French biography published in 1749, and a more studious attempt by Mary Croom Brown in 1911; however, most of the interest has been fictional, or popular like Maria Perry’s recent Sisters of the King . The best scholarly study published within the last half century is W. C. Richardson’s Mary Tudor: The White Queen , which appeared in 1970. A lot of research has appeared since 1970, including a study of her letters published in 2011, and this, although directed only partly at Mary, is nevertheless relevant to her context, so a further biography is therefore justified. She lived in interesting times, and her support for Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s first wife, cast a shadow over relations with her brother in the last years of her life. He nevertheless remained fond of her, and of her rather dim-witted husband, and continued to include them in his social round. For that reason alone she is worth another study, because very few crossed Henry and retained his regard. It was a unique achievement which has been too little thought about.
A lifetime of working on the Tudors, and recently an investigation into Mary’s arch-enemies the Boleyns, lie behind this work, and obligations too numerous to list have been incurred. However, mention should be made of the Oxford University History Faculty, which has given me a base, and access both to graduate seminars and to the Bodleian Library, for all of which I am profoundly grateful. I am also grateful to Jonathan Reeve of Amberley Publishing, who accepted it as a worthy project, and to my wife Judith, who provides unfailing support.
David Loades
2. Alleged to be the wedding portrait of
Mary and Charles Brandon, it is probably
later in date. By an unknown artist.
3. Mary Tudor as a young girl. By an
unknown artist.
4. Mary as Queen of France, drawn in late
1514. This is the only authentic likeness.
5. Anne Boleyn, the second Queen of Henry
VIII, from a drawing by Hans Holbein. Mary
was deeply suspicious of her ambitions, and
those of her family.
6. Catherine Willoughby, the second
Duchess of Suffolk. A drawing by Hans Holbein.
A rather more complete study of
Catherine, also by Holbein.
7. Elizabeth of York, Henry VII’s queen, and Mar’s mother.
8. Mary’s
brother,
Henry VIII,
effaces
his father,
Henry
VII; from
Holbein’s
celebrated
cartoon in
the National
Portrait
Gallery.
9. Catherine of Aragon,
Henry’s first Queen, and
a particular friend of
Mary.
10. The
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