Following Louis's death, Mary married Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Performed secretly in France, the marriage occurred without the consent of Mary's brother Henry VIII. The marriage necessitated the intervention of Thomas Wolsey; Henry eventually pardoned the couple after they paid a large fine. Mary had four children with Suffolk. Through her older daughter, Frances, she was the maternal grandmother of Lady Jane Grey, the de facto queen of England for nine days in July 1553.
Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York,[1] and the youngest to survive infancy.[2][3] She was born at Sheen Palace, on 18 March 1496. A privy seal bill dated from midsummer 1496 authorises a payment of 50 shillings to her nurse, Anne Skeron.[4][5] Also, Erasmus stated that she was four years old when he visited the royal nursery in 1499–1500.[5][6] At age six, she was given her own household, complete with "a staff of gentlewomen assigned to wait upon her", a schoolmaster, and a physician.[4] She was given instruction in French, Latin, music, dancing, and embroidery.[4][7] Her Governess was Joan Vaux, whom she called Mother Guildford; the two shared a close relationship and Mary was furious when Joan was sent back to England upon her arrival in France.[8][9][10]
As children, Mary and her brother, the future King Henry VIII, shared a close friendship.[3] He named his first surviving child, the future Queen Mary I, in her honour.[11] They lost their mother when Mary was just six[12] and, given the number of bills paid to her apothecary from 1504 to 1509, it would appear that Mary's own health was fragile.[4][7]
She was known in her youth as one of the most beautiful princesses in Europe;[4][13]Erasmus said of her that "Nature never formed anything more beautiful."[14]
Possible portrait of Mary Tudor as a teenager in the image of the Virgin, possibly Catherine of Aragon
Despite two previous marriages, Louis had no living sons,[28] and sought to produce one.[29][30] But he died on 1 January 1515,[31][32] less than three months after marrying Mary,[33][34] reputedly worn out by his exertions in the bedchamber, but more likely from the effects of gout.[35][36][37] Their union produced no children.[38] Following Louis's death, his successor, King Francis I of France, made unsuccessful attempts to arrange a second marriage for Mary.[4][39]
Second marriage: Duchess of Suffolk
Mary had been unhappy in her marriage of state to King Louis XII, as she was almost certainly already in love with Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk.[21][40] King Henry VIII was aware of Mary's feelings; letters from her in 1515 indicated that she had agreed to wed Louis only on condition that "if she survived him, she should marry whom she liked".[41][42] However, Henry VIII wanted any future marriage to be to his advantage.[38] The King's Council, not wishing to see Charles Brandon gain further power at court, was also opposed to the match.[43][44]
When King Henry VIII sent Brandon to bring Mary back to England in late January 1515, he made the Duke promise that he would not propose to her.[51][52][53] Once in France, Mary persuaded Charles to abandon that pledge; Charles later wrote to the King stating he "never saw a woman so weep".[54] The couple wed in secret at the Hotel de Cluny in Paris on 3 March 1515 in the presence of just 10 people, among them King Francis I.[55][56] Technically, this was treason, as Brandon had married a royal princess without King Henry's consent.[57] Henry was outraged, and the privy council urged that Charles be imprisoned or executed;[58][59] Mary, as royalty and the King's favourite sister,[60] was safe from execution.[61]
Due to the intervention of Thomas Wolsey and Henry's affection for both his sister and Charles, the couple were given only a heavy fine[62][4] of £24,000, to be paid to the King in yearly instalments of £1000; the whole of Mary's dowry from King Louis XII of £200,000; and the gold plate and jewels King Louis had given or promised her.[63][64] The £24,000, approximately equivalent to £7,200,000 today, was later reduced by the King.[62] They officially later married on 13 May 1515 at Greenwich Palace in the presence of King Henry VIII and his courtiers.[4][65] In 1528, Charles secured a papal bull from Pope Clement VII legitimising the marriage.[66][67]
Wedding portrait of Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon
Mary was Charles Brandon's third wife, and he had two daughters, Anne and Mary, by his second wife Anne Browne, who had died in 1510 or 1512.[68][69] Mary raised the girls with her own children.[70] Even after her second marriage, Mary was normally referred to at the English court as the Queen of France, and was not known as the Duchess of Suffolk in her lifetime,[71] despite being legally allowed to be. Mary spent most of her time at the Duke's country seat of Westhorpe Hall in Suffolk.[72][73]
In the late 1520s, relations between King Henry VIII and his sister Mary were strained when she opposed the King's attempt to obtain an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, whom Mary had known for many years. Mary strongly disliked Anne Boleyn (King Henry's intended wife),[74][75] whom she had first encountered in France.[4][25] Anne and her sister Mary Boleyn had been among the maids of honour in the entourage that had accompanied Mary to France for her wedding to King Louis XII.[76][24]
In March 1532, Venetian Ambassador Carlo Capello wrote of an incident where
one of the chief gentlemen in the service of the said Duke of Norfolk, with 20 followers, assaulted and killed in the sanctuary of Westminster Sir William Pennington chief gentleman and kinsman of the Duke of Suffolk. In consequence of this, the whole Court was in an uproar.[77]
Though it was said to be caused by a private quarrel, he was "assured it was owing to opprobrious language uttered against Madam Anne by his Majesty's sister, the Duchess of Suffolk, Queen Dowager of France."[77][78] Anne Boleyn was the niece of the Duke of Norfolk mentioned by Capello.[67]
Mary had multiple bouts of illness, requiring treatments over her lifetime.[79][80] She died, age 37, at Westhorpe Hall, Suffolk, on 25 June 1533,[81] having never fully recovered from the sweating sickness she caught in 1528. The cause of death has been speculated to have been angina, tuberculosis, appendicitis, or cancer.
As an English princess, daughter of a king, sister to the current king, and a dowager queen of France, Mary Tudor's funeral and interment was conducted with much heraldic ceremony.[82] A requiem mass was held at Westminster Abbey.[83] Her body was embalmed and held in state at Westhorpe Hall for three weeks.[84][85]
Funeral
On 21 July 1533, a delegation from France joined the English delegation for the lavish funeral ceremony.[86] Her daughter Frances was chief mourner, accompanied by her husband and siblings.[87] As was tradition, neither Mary's husband nor her brother the king attended.[79][84]
The funeral procession included 100 torch bearers, clergy carrying the cross, six horses pulling the hearse, other nobility and 100 of the duke's yeomen.[88] A requiem mass and burial at Bury St. Edmunds Abbey followed the next day.[89] At the funeral, her step-daughters, Anne and Mary, pushed themselves to the head of the cortège just before the coffin was lowered into the crypt of the Abbey, much to the consternation of their half-siblings.[90]
Upon her arrival in France, Mary was described as being "handsome and well favoured, were not her eyes and eyebrows too light; she is slight, rather than defective from corpulence, and conducts herself with so much grace, and has such good manners, that for her age of 18 years—and she does not look more—she is a paradise."[93]
Contemporaries lauded her beauty, including her husband, Louis XII, who described her as a "nymph from heaven".[94] She regularly took part in masques at her brother's court, and enjoyed "hearing singing, instrumental music, and dancing".[93]
Mary was described as "very lively",[95] with one nobleman noting "[she] is never still."[96] She was also said to be cheerful and affable; this is shown when, upon meeting her future husband Louis for the first time, she blew him a kiss in greeting.[93]
Issue
Mary and Charles had four children, two daughters and two sons:[97]
Mary and Charles raised their children at their home at Westhorpe Hall.[100] Their two sons, both named Henry,[101] are commonly mistaken for being the same son. Both boys died when they were children.
Mary's widower later married their son's (Henry Brandon, Earl of Lincoln) betrothed, who was also his ward, the 14-year-old Catherine Willoughby,[102] by whom he had his two youngest sons.[103]
In literature
She is the main character in several historical fiction novels:[104]
In The Tudors (television series, 2007), Mary Tudor is called by her sister's name, Margaret (to avoid confusion with Henry VIII's daughter Mary I of England[108][109]), and played by Gabrielle Anwar. She is depicted as marrying the King of Portugal rather than France (as Francis I had already been introduced in the show as King of France, Mary/Margaret could not be shown marrying his predecessor, Louis XII). The fictional Portuguese king lives only a few days until she smothers him in his sleep.[108][110] She then marries Charles Brandon.
In The Spanish Princess (television mini series, 2019–2020), Mary Tudor is a main character. Isla Merrick-Lawless portrays a younger version in Season 1 and Sai Bennett portrays an older version in Season 2.
In The Sword and the Rose (Walt Disney and Perce Pearce film, 1953), Mary Tudor (played by Glynis Johns) falls for the non-noble Brandon (played by Richard Todd) and attempts to run away from England with him, but is forced by Henry VIII to marry the King of France. She relies on her friend, the Duke of Buckingham, to help her, with nearly disastrous consequences.
Portraiture and other depictions
Mary's portraits and other depictions are mostly subject of heated debate as to if it is really her or somebody else, who draw or painted her or whether the painting is misdated.
Confirmed depictions of her include:
Illumination called Henry VII in mourning, c.1503-1504 which also depicts the three surviving children of Elizabeth of York on left side.
Painting called The Family of Henry VII with St George and the Dragon, Royal Collection, c. 1503-1509 -shows Mary as second girl on right, with strawberry blonde hair.
Illumination of The family of Henry VII with Joachim and Anne meeting at the Golden Gate, done after 1503 -depicts Elizabeth of York with four daughters behind her, all depicted with strawberry blonde hair.
Illuminations of Mary as Queen of France-show her with light red hair.
So-called marriage portrait depicts Mary holding hands with her second husband Charles Brandon
While the identities of the sitters are not questioned, the dating of c.1515 is not accepted unanimously, and later dates have been suggested. Allegedly the version from the collection of the Earl of Yarborough is the original, whilst the Woburn Abbey version is a copy. Both versions shows Mary with brown hair, probably due to darkening of pigments.
An engraving from 1784 is based upon the same portrait (Royal Collection; National Trust Collection).
Alleged portraits of Mary Rose meant for Charles V include:
Portrait of woman by Michael Sittow, traditionally labelled as Catherine of Aragon
Mary has been suggested instead, however while initials(K, C or E) would fit her, the author of this reidentification says that Catherine of Aragon had no reason to wear the symbol of scallops(which line the bodice) as they were not her emblem; the pomegranate was. Scallops are a symbol of St. James the Great, patron saint of Spain. Notably, pilgrimage to his shrine in Santiago de Compostela was commemorated by wearing scallops, and it is known Catherine of Aragon made this pilgrimage. The credibility of this reidentification is therefore questionable.
The painting shows a woman in Spanish clothes wearing jewels of the Crown of Castile, including the emerald necklace depicted on tomb of Joanna of Castile. Mary has been suggested as a possible sitter.
Many believe it is the lost painting of Queen Isabella I of Castile by Sittow, but it is not attributed to him.
Possibly depicts same woman as in The Magdalene, in different dress, but with Spanish headwear called cofia de tranzado.
Note: on Wikipedia this painting is labelled as by Jean Perréal, location unknown. However on the museum's webpage it is not labelled as by him but by anonymous Maître de la Reine Marie Tudor(Master of Queen Mary Tudor).
Lost depictions:
Portrait for Louis XII by Jean Perréal
An original portrait upon which the drawing entitled Maria Regina Fra. et D. Suffoltiae in British Museum is based.
Drawing of Mary while in France, by either Anonymous French Master or Jean Clouet(father of Francois Clouet).
Nobody knows which(if any) of its multiple versions is the original drawing done from life. There are at least five versions:
2 in Ashmolean Museum, one labelled as by follower of Jean Clouet, and the other by anonymous.
1 in Uffizi Gallery -labelled as Ritratto di donna(portrait of woman) 3911 F, it is a very crude sketch by Francois Clouet, who was a child when Mary was in France.
2 more versions from Bibliotheque Municipale Méjanes, Aix en Provence. Both bear a 16th century text(thus most likely to be original). However the picture on Wikipedia of one of them is described as not the real drawing but a print of it.
Other suggested depictions:
Westminster Tournament roll 1511-figure next to Catherine of Aragon in gold-red dress
^Sadlack, Erin A. The French Queen's Letters: Mary Tudor Brandon and the Politics of Marriage in Sixteenth-Century Europe Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, p. 44.
^Brown, N. (2015). Individualism and National Identity in Disney's Early British Films. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 43(4), 188–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/01956051.2015.1069726
_by_Michel_Sittow.jpg)
.jpg)
