Princess Mary - Page 1 of 3
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.
Painting by Roger Purkis
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