Princess Mary - Page 2 of 3
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.