Mary Tudor, Queen of France (18 March 1496 – 25 June 1533) was the younger sister of
Henry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
and
queen consortA queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles...
of
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
due to her marriage to
Louis XIILouis XII , called "the Father of the People" was king of France and the sole monarch from the Valois-Orléans branch of the House of Valois. He reigned from 1498 to 1515 and pursued a very active foreign policy....
. After his death, she married
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of SuffolkCharles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk , was the son of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Through his third wife Mary Tudor he was brother-in-law to Henry VIII. His father was the standard-bearer of King Henry VII and was slain by Richard III in person on Bosworth Field...
.
First marriage: Queen of France
Mary was the fifth child of
Henry VII of EnglandHenry VII was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty.Henry was successful in restoring the power and stability of the English monarchy after the political upheavals of the Wars...
and
Elizabeth of YorkElizabeth of York was the daughter, sister, niece, mother and wife of Kings of England. She was Queen of England as spouse of King Henry VII, whom she married in 1486.-Princess of England:...
, and the youngest to survive infancy. She was born at
Richmond PalaceRichmond Palace was a Thameside royal residence erected around 1501 and occupied by royalty until 1649. It replaced a former manor house that had been appropriated by royalty some two centuries beforehand - being variously adapted to become a palace during that period and occupied by the monarch...
. She and her brother, Henry, were close when they were children—he named his daughter, the future
Queen MaryMary I , was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. She was the oldest daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived...
, after her. The warship
Mary RoseThe Mary Rose was an English Tudor carrack warship and one of the first to be able to fire a full broadside of cannons.The Mary Rose was well equipped with 78 guns and was the pride of the English fleet. Built in Portsmouth, England she was thought to be named after King Henry VIII's sister Mary...
was also named in her honour.
Known in her youth as one of the most beautiful princesses in Europe, Mary was
betrothedBetrothal is a formal state of engagement to be married.Historically betrothal was a formal contract, blessed or officiated by a religious authority. Betrothal was binding as marriage and a divorce was necessary to terminate a betrothal...
in December 1507 to
Charles of CastileCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556...
, later
Holy Roman EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a Middle Ages ruler, who as German King had in addition received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope of the Holy Roman Church, and after the 16th century, the elected monarch governing the Holy Roman Empire, a Central...
. However, changes in the political alliances of the European powers meant this wedding did not take place. Instead, Cardinal Wolsey negotiated a peace treaty with France, and on 9 October 1514, at the age of 18, Mary married its 52-year-old King Louis XII at
AbbevilleAbbeville is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Location:Abbeville is located on the Somme River, 20 kilometres from its modern mouth in the English Channel, and 45 kilometres northwest of Amiens...
. One of her
Maids of HonourMaids of Honour were the junior attendants of a Queen in the royal households of England and later of the United Kingdom. Anne of Brittany is said to have instituted the Queen's Maids of Honour at the court.-Role:...
who attended her in France was
Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn was Queen of England as the second wife of King Henry VIII, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the...
. Mary was described by the Venetian Ambassador as "a Paradise—tall, slender, grey-eyed, possessing an extreme pallor". She wore her glorious silken red-gold hair flowing loose to her waist. Despite two previous marriages, the king had no living sons and sought to produce an heir; but Louis died on 1 January 1515, less than three months after he married Mary, reputedly worn out by his exertions in the bedchamber. Their union produced no children. Following Louis's death, the new King
Francis IFrancis I , was king of France from 1515 until his death.Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make immense cultural advances...
made attempts to arrange a second marriage for the beautiful widow.
Second marriage: Duchess of Suffolk
Mary had been unhappy with her marriage to Louis, as at this time she was almost certainly already in love with Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Henry knew of his sister's feelings but wanted any future marriage to be to his advantage. When he sent Brandon to bring Mary back to England in late January 1515, he made the Duke promise that he would not propose to her. However, the couple married in secret in France on 3 March 1515. Technically this was
treasonIn law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more serious acts of disloyalty to one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife...
, as Brandon had married a Royal Princess without Henry's consent. The King was outraged, and the
Privy CouncilHer Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. Its members are largely senior politicians, who were or are members of either the House of Commons or House of Lords of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.The Privy Council, the...
urged that Brandon should be imprisoned or executed. Due to the intervention of Wolsey, and Henry's affection for both his sister and Brandon, the couple were let off with a heavy fine. They were officially married on 13 May 1515 at Greenwich Palace.
Even after her second marriage, Mary was normally referred to at the English Court as "the French Queen", and was not known as "the Duchess of Suffolk" in her lifetime. Mary spent most of her time at the Duke's country seat of Westhorpe Hall in
SuffolkSuffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
.
Relations between Henry VIII and Mary were strained in the late 1520s when she opposed the King's attempt to obtain an
annulmentAnnulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is retroactive: an annulled marriage is considered never to have existed....
of his marriage to
Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon was Princess of Wales as the wife of Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England....
, whom Mary had known for many years. She had developed a strong dislike for the future Queen,
Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn was Queen of England as the second wife of King Henry VIII, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the...
, whom she had first encountered in France.
Mary died at Westhorpe Hall, Westhorpe, Suffolk on 25 June 1533, and was initially buried at the abbey at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Her body was moved to nearby St. Mary's Church, also in Bury St Edmunds, when the abbey was destroyed during the
Dissolution of the MonasteriesThe Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, denotes the administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their income, disposed...
. Her husband soon married their son's fiancée, who was also their ward, fourteen-year-old
Catherine WilloughbyCatherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk, suo jure 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby , was a noblewoman living at the English courts of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI and later, Queen Elizabeth I...
, by whom he had two sons.
Children
She and Brandon had three children:
- Henry Brandon
Henry Brandon, 1st Earl of Lincoln was the eldest child and only son born to Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor, Queen of France, who was a daughter of Henry VII of England. Thus Henry Brandon was nephew to Henry VIII of England...
, 1st Earl of LincolnEarl of Lincoln is a title that has been created nine times in the Peerage of England. It was probably created for the first time around 1143 as William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel, is mentioned as Earl of Lincoln in 1143 in two charters for the abbey of Affligem, representing his wife Adeliza...
(11 March 1516 – 8 March 1534)
- Lady Frances Brandon (16 July 1517 – 20 November 1559), who married Henry Grey
Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset , was an English nobleman of the Tudor period and the father of Lady Jane Grey.-Henry VIII's reign:...
, 3rd Marquess of DorsetThe title Marquess of Dorset has been created three times in the Peerage of England. It was first created in 1397 for John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, but he lost the title two years later. It was then created in 1442 for Edmund Beaufort, 1st Earl of Dorset, who was created Duke of Somerset...
, and was the mother of Lady Jane GreyLady Jane Grey was a claimant to the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Ireland. She was de facto monarch of England for just over a week in 1553....
- Lady Eleanor Brandon (1519 – 27 September 1547), who married Henry Clifford
Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland was a member of the Clifford family which held the seat of Skipton from 1310 to 1676. He was married to Lady Eleanor Brandon, a niece of Henry VIII of England.-Family:...
, 2nd Earl of CumberlandThe title of Earl of Cumberland was created in the Peerage of England in 1525 for the Baron de Clifford. It became extinct in 1643. See also Duke of Cumberland.The subsidiary title of the first three earls was Baron de Clifford...
.
In popular culture
Mary was portrayed by
silent screenA silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially spoken dialogue. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronized dialogue was only made practical in the late 1920s with...
star
Marion DaviesMarion Davies was an American film actress.Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, as her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career....
in the 1922 film
When Knighthood Was in Flower, reputed to have been, at the time of its release, the most expensive film ever made. It was one of Davies' biggest hits. Another fictionalized version of Mary's marital adventures is portrayed in the 1953
Walt DisneyThe Walt Disney Company , often simply known as Disney, is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world, known for its family-friendly products...
film
The Sword and the RoseThe Sword and the Rose, is a United States family and adventure film, produced by Disney and directed by Ken Annakin...
starring
Richard ToddRichard Todd OBE is an Irish-born British stage and film actor and former soldier.-Early life:He was born Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland. Todd's father, Andrew William Palethorpe Todd, was an Irish physician and also notably an International Irish Rugby player who gained three...
and
Glynis JohnsGlynis Johns is a British stage and film actress, dancer, pianist and singer . With a career spanning seven decades, Johns is often cited as the "complete actress", who happens to be a trained pianist and singer...
.
She is also the subject of the novels
Mary, Queen of France by Jean Plaidy,
The Reluctant Queen by
Molly Costain HaycraftMolly Costain Haycraft is a Canadian author. She was born in Toronto, Canada, and spent her childhood in Philadelphia, where her father, the well-known novelist Thomas B. Costain, was an editor for The Saturday Evening Post. She is the author of several novels about women in English royal history...
,
Princess of Desire by Maureen Peters, and
The Secret Bride: In the Court of Henry VIII by Diane Haeger. The novel of
When Knighthood Was in FlowerWhen Knighthood Was in Flower is the debut novel of American author Charles Major written under the pseudonym, Edwin Caskoden. It was first published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1898 and proved an enormous success....
, by Edwin Caskoden (the pen name of
Charles MajorCharles Major was an American lawyer and novelist.Born to an upper-middle class Indianapolis family, Major developed in interest in both law and English history at an early age and attended the University of Michigan from 1872 through 1875, being admitted to the Indiana bar association in 1877...
) was published in 1898, and was the source material for both the Davies and the Disney films. She was also fictionalized in the historical fiction novel
The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper.
The drama series
The Tudors portrays Mary and Charles's relationship, though the character is named Princess Margaret, and is a composite of Mary and her sister
Margaret TudorMargaret Tudor was the elder of the two surviving daughters of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of Henry VIII. In 1503, she married James IV, King of Scots, thus becoming the mother of James V and grandmother of Mary, Queen of Scots...
, portrayed by
Gabrielle AnwarGabrielle Anwar is an English actress, known for her roles in the 1990s films Scent of a Woman, The Three Musketeers, and Body Snatchers. Notable television roles include the fashion-conscious graphic designer Sam Black in the second series of the Children's ITV series Press Gang and Margaret...
. Charles Brandon is portrayed by
Henry CavillHenry William Dalgliesh Cavill is a British actor. He is Best known for his portrayal of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, on the Showtime series The Tudors, alongside Jonathan Rhys Myers as Henry VIII, and Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn....
. Many liberties have been taken with the story. For example, in the television series, Henry arranges his sister's marriage with the aged
King of Portugal, not of France, in the late 1520s. Margaret/Mary then kills her husband. Another fictitious sub-plot has Henry making Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk so the latter would be of appropriate rank to give away Henry's sister at her supposed wedding to the King of Portugal. In the story, the Tudor/Brandon marriage soon cools and no mention is made of their three children. Yet another discontinuity relates to Henry's sister dying before Wolsey (who died in 1530).
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