The Mary Rose is said to have been named after
Princess Mary, Henry VIII's youngest sister, but who was Mary, and
what role did she play in the life and politics of the period?
Princess Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Born in 1496 she was five years younger than her brother, the future Henry VIII. Telling the story of her life without sounding like a romantic novelist is difficult, so I am not even going to try. Her early life was spent travelling between the various Royal Palaces, accompanied by her own household, including her governess, Lady Guildford. She is said to have been beautiful, with reddish gold hair and blue eyes. Her education included French and Latin, music and dancing.
A princess was a valuable commodity in the politics of the time, a suitable marriage could cement an alliance. Marriages and promises of future marriage could be contracted even when the people concerned were infants. The first offer for Mary came in 1498 from Ludovico Sforza, he thought his son would make a suitable future husband for the princess. This offer was rejected.
Mary's happiness was shattered with the deaths of her oldest brother, Arthur, in 1502 and her mother, Elizabeth, in 1503. After the death of her mother, Mary joined the household of Arthur's widow, Katherine of Aragon, the future wife of Henry VIII.
In 1508 Mary was married for the first time. This marriage was by proxy to Charles, the son of Philip of Austria and Joan of Castile. She was showered with extravagant gifts of jewellery and given the title "Princess Mary of Castile". The year after, her father died and her brother Henry became King, marrying Katherine of Aragon. The proxy marriage dragged on, and it may have been about this time that Mary became attracted to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, a man roughly fifteen years her senior. Charles Brandon had already been married twice, returning to his first wife when he conveniently discovered that his marriage to a wealthy widow, who's fortune he had spent, was not valid.
It would have been extremely dangerous for Charles Brandon if Henry had suspected any form of liaison between him and Mary. A good friend of the King he may have been, but Henry would have had little compunction in having him executed for presuming to get involved with his sister. In 1513 Brandon's wife died, leaving him free to become engaged to Lady Lisle, and take the title Baron Lisle, even though he was not yet married. In the same year, Henry called off the proxy marriage of Mary and Charles, he was furious that his ally Ferdinand of Aragon had made a separate peace with France. Mary was free to be hawked around the courts of Europe again.
Much to Mary's horror, Henry then agreed to marry her to the King of France, Louis XII. Louis was in his fifties and in precarious health and Mary was only reconciled to marrying him when she extracted a promise that when she was inevitably widowed, she would be free to make the marriage of her own choice. She was almost certainly thinking of Charles Brandon, now Duke of Suffolk.
The English proxy ceremony was held on 15th August at Grey Friar's Church, Greenwich, and the French ceremony on 2nd September. Mary had a huge retinue gathered for her journey, including, ironically in view of future events, Anne Boleyn. The journey was delayed by storms, and another hit the flotilla after it had set sail. The normally short journey across the Channel taking four days.
Mary and Louis were married in Abbeville on the 9th of October, with the usual pomp and ceremony. Louis then had most of her retinue sent home, Anne Boleyn being one of the few allowed to stay. Henry sent the Duke of Suffolk to France to be his personal ambassador at the impending coronation which took place in the Abbey at St. Dennis.
Despite Louis' poor health, age and appearance, the marriage appears to have been a happy one, it was, however, to be extremely short. Louis died on the 1st of January 1515.
Mary was left in a very precarious position, the heir to the French throne, Francis 1st, was a notorious lecher and the Queen was very vulnerable. Mary, not unreasonably feared he might rape her. Mary had two thoughts in her mind, first to escape the attentions of Francis, and secondly, to at last marry Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.
The way Mary solved this problem was extraordinary, she told Francis that she and Charles Brandon were promised to each other, adding that her royal brother knew nothing of it. Perhaps to her surprise, Francis promised to help her in this matter, doing so would neutralise her political value to Henry. Neither of them knew that Charles was on his way to France again to represent the King at the coronation of Francis - Mary also was unaware that Charles had to swear before Henry not to abuse his position of trust with the young Queen.
Nothing now would stop Mary though, she called for a private audience with Charles and persuaded him to marry her in France, she sensibly decided to present Henry with a fait accompli rather than ask his permission, which would almost certainly have been refused. The couple were in a very difficult position, Henry has not gone down in history as the most forgiving of monarchs, and there was a distinct possibility that he would execute Charles for his temerity.
Mary managed to persuade Henry to let the couple come back to England, quite blatantly bribing him with the splendid jewel collection given to her by Louis. Henry and Catherine of Aragon received the newlyweds at Greenwich amidst great festivities, and the pair were remarried on English soil.
Mary took up the life of an aristocratic English lady, travelling between her favourite home, Westhorpe Hall and court. When in London, she preferred staying at Suffolk Place, rather than in one of the royal palaces. Mary and Charles spent most of their lives heavily in debt to the Crown, a situation that suited Henry.
Charles Brandon,
Duke of Suffolk,
by Roger PurkisThe Brandons
had three children of their own: Henry, later Earl of Lincoln; born
in 1516, Lady Frances Brandon; born in 1517, and Lady Eleanor Brandon;
born in 1524. Mary also invited Charles's daughters by his first
marriage to come and live with her.
Both Mary and the Duke played a full part in the courtly diplomacy of the time, taking part in the "Field of the Cloth of Gold" and meeting Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor when he visited England.
The family was visited by tragedy when their only son, Henry, died of the "sweating sickness" in 1527. Mary's troubles increased when Henry fell for Anne Boleyn and began the procedures to divorce Mary's friend Queen Katherine. As a result Mary stayed away from Court as much as possible, straining the relationship between herself and her husband as well. Charles was the perfect courtier, supporting all his desires.
Mary's health had been deteriorating and on the 25th June 1533 she died. She lay in state in the chapel of Westhorpe Hall and masses were said for her in both Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral. She was finally buried in the Abbey of St. Edmund. Two centuries later, her tomb was moved to St. Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds. In later years, Queen Victoria gave the church a stained glass window depicting Mary's life, and a tapestry portrait was presented to the church by the late Mrs. Muriel Bennet Waldron.
Mary had one last tenuous connection with the Mary Rose, if only by proxy, both His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, the President of the Mary Rose Trust, and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, are direct descendants of Mary, The French Queen.
Bibliography
- The Princess of the Mary Rose - James Gainey - Angel Press, 1986
- Chronicles of the Tudor Kings - General Editor, David Loades - Garamond Ltd, 1990
- The History of the Mary Rose - Stuart Vine - MRT Web Site, 2007
(Painting of Mary by Roger Purkis)
Back to top