Mary I Tudor went down in history as Mary the Bloody, Catholic, Ugly. Why is a woman awarded such unflattering nicknames? As you know, royal people are surrounded by gossip and scandals throughout their lives. But this queen earned the most hated attitude from her subjects.
The Queen of England did not immediately enter the ranks of privileged sociopaths. From childhood, Maria was distinguished by a lively mind and persistent character. The girl rarely cried, expressed her thoughts clearly and amazed those around her with intelligence. Her father, King Henry VIII, at first doted on his daughter. But everything changed when he married Anne Boleyn. The father lost interest in his daughter. Mary was removed from the royal palace, she was forbidden to see her mother and demanded to renounce Catholicism. But, strong in spirit, the girl would never want to change her faith. Gradually, Mary turned into a servant under the daughter of Anne Boleyn. The stepmother humiliated her stepdaughter in every possible way, trying to inject more painfully. When Anne Boleyn was executed, a happy period of life could begin for Mary. But this did not happen.
During the reign of Edward VI, an ardent Protestant, the persecution of the Catholic faith intensified. Mary was perceived with hostility and tried to deprive her of the hereditary crown. But Edward also died. Then the hour of Mary came. Jane Gray, who succeeded to the crown, failed, and Mary became Queen of England in 1553. First of all, she executed the sixteen-year-old Jane, her husband and father-in-law.
She was already 37 years old. A middle-aged, and unattractive woman decided to keep the crown at any cost, because her half-sister Elizabeth, the same daughter of Anne Boleyn, literally stepped on her heels. For this, Mary married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip, who was much younger than her. After the first wedding night, the groom, with a sigh of relief, left for his homeland. He rarely visited his wife and did not hide the fact that he married only for political reasons, however, according to the agreement, he did not have the right to interfere in the government of the country. The British did not like Philip, and the Spaniards were often beaten in the streets.
Queen Mary enthusiastically declared war on the Protestants. She returned England to Catholicism with maniacal persistence. As if wanting to avenge all the persecution and humiliation experienced in childhood, Mary began the massacre. Protestantism was outlawed. Fires blazed everywhere. Heretics were executed brutally and relentlessly. Even those of them who, under pain of death, renounced Protestantism, still went to the stake. Thus, several hundred people were executed. The nickname Bloody Mary was given after her death.
A woman who wanted to have a child all her life could not get pregnant. The queen, pulling her country out of poverty, earned only the hatred of her subjects. It is hardly possible to call the fate of Queen Mary happy. Queen Mary died, weakened by illnesses, including dropsy, in 1558. There is an opinion that the famous Bloody Mary cocktail is named after Mary I Tudor.
Queen of England since 1553, daughter of Henry VIII Tudor and Catherine of Aragon. The accession of Mary Tudor to the throne was accompanied by the restoration of Catholicism (1554) and cruel repressions against the supporters of the Reformation (hence her nicknames - Mary the Catholic, Mary the Bloody). In 1554, she married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip of Habsburg (from 1556 King Philip II), which led to a rapprochement between England and Catholic Spain and the papacy. During the war against France (1557-1559), which the queen started in alliance with Spain, England lost Calais in early 1558 - the last possession of the English kings in France. The policy of Mary Tudor, which ran counter to the national interests of England, caused discontent among the new nobility and the emerging bourgeoisie.
Mary's life was sad from birth to death, although at first nothing foreshadowed such a fate. For children of her age, she was serious, self-possessed, rarely cried, played the harpsichord beautifully. When she was nine years old, businessmen from Flanders who spoke to her in Latin were surprised by her answers in their own language. At first, the father was very fond of his eldest daughter and was delighted with many traits of her character. But everything changed after Henry entered into a second marriage with Anne Boleyn. Mary was removed from the palace, torn away from her mother, and finally demanded that she renounce the Catholic faith. However, despite her young age, Maria flatly refused. Then she was subjected to many humiliations: the princess' retinue was dismissed, she herself, banished to the Hatfield estate, became a servant with Anne Boleyn's daughter, little Elizabeth. The stepmother tore at her ears. I had to fear for her very life. Maria's condition worsened, but her mother was forbidden to see her. Only the execution of Anne Boleyn brought Mary some relief, especially after she, having made an effort on herself, recognized her father as the “Supreme Head of the Anglican Church.” Her retinue was returned to her, and she again received access to the royal court.
The persecution resumed when Mary's younger brother, Edward VI, who fanatically adhered to the Protestant faith, ascended the throne. At one time she seriously considered fleeing England, especially when she began to be obstructed and not allowed to say mass. Edward eventually dethroned his sister and bequeathed the English crown to Henry VII's great-granddaughter Jane Grey. Mary did not recognize this will. Upon learning of the death of her brother, she immediately moved to London. The army and navy went over to her side. The Privy Council declared Mary queen. Nine days after her accession to the throne, Lady Gray was deposed and died on the scaffold. But in order to secure the throne for her offspring and prevent the Protestant Elizabeth from taking it, Mary had to marry. In July 1554, she married the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip, although she knew that the British did not like him very much. She married him at the age of 38, no longer young and ugly. The groom was twelve years younger than her and agreed to marry only for political reasons. After the wedding night, Philip remarked: “You have to be God to drink this cup!” He did not, however, live long in England, visiting his wife only occasionally. Meanwhile, Maria loved her husband very much, missed him and wrote long letters to him, staying up late at night.
She ruled herself, and her reign was in many respects most unfortunate for England. The queen, with feminine stubbornness, wanted to return the country under the shadow of the Roman church. She herself did not find pleasure in torturing and tormenting people who disagreed with her in faith; but she unleashed on them lawyers and theologians who had suffered in the past reign. The terrible statutes issued against heretics by Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V were directed against the Protestants. Since February 1555, bonfires were blazing all over England, on which "heretics" died. In total, about three hundred people were burned, among them the hierarchs of the church - Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and others. It was ordered not to spare even those who, facing the fire, agreed to accept Catholicism. All these cruelties earned the queen the nickname "Bloody".
Who knows - if Mary had a child, she might not have been so cruel. She passionately desired to give birth to an heir. But this happiness was denied to her. A few months after the wedding, the queen thought that she had signs of pregnancy, about which she did not fail to notify her subjects. But what was at first taken for a fetus turned out to be a tumor. Soon the queen developed dropsy. Weakened by illnesses, she died of a cold when she was not at all an old woman.
Mary Tudor, the first woman to ascend the English throne, entered world history as Bloody Mary. Numerous executions, secret murders and mass burnings were attributed to her. But what was going on in the queen's heart, what trials befell this unfortunate lonely woman?
Looking for the only one
A pleasant twilight reigned in the royal chambers. Through the windows, hung with heavy velvet curtains, almost no sun rays passed. The queen sat in an armchair, and thoughtful speeches slowly flowed from her lips: “First of all, he must be a Catholic, for in him I would like to find a companion in the restoration of the true faith. He must be young enough to be able to conceive children. Not poor, so as not to seek enrichment in marriage, noble, so as to worthily bear the title of royal spouse, without defiling the sacred sacrament of marriage with vice.
The young secretary, hurriedly scribbling the words dictated by the queen, could hardly hide his smile. At her age, the queen could have made more modest demands on the future groom. At that time, Mary Tudor was almost 38 years old, she had just ascended the throne and dreamed of giving the country an heir. After uttering the last words, the queen took a breath. No, not for the sake of the heir, she longed for marriage. There was another reason, which it is not at all necessary for the subjects to know about. Mary never managed to return under the wing of her beloved father, King Henry, who once treacherously betrayed her. But she may well be waiting for the arms of a loving husband, in which she, as in early childhood, will feel protected from all adversity.
"The most beautiful pearl in my crown"
Her father called her when she was little sitting on his lap. Fragments of childhood forever remained in the memory of the Queen. Here the father, strong and reliable, puts her, quite a crumb, on, holding her little hands, timidly clutching at a lush mane. Here at the ball he takes her by the hands and begins to circle the baby in a dance.
Maria remembered falling asleep on Heinrich's lap, half asleep smiling at the fact that she felt safe in her father's arms. However, Mary Tudor did not stay in the reliable paternal arms for long. Soon, Henry had a new passion, the spectacular Anna Boleyn, for whom he exchanged Mary's mother, Catherine of Aragon, with whom he had been married for nearly 18 years. The mother was exiled by order of the king to an old ruined castle, and the daughter was locked in her room, taking away everything: the title, servants, jewelry, outfits and, most importantly, the opportunity to become a queen in the future.
But it was not so easy to break Maria, who combined the Spanish temperament of her mother and the pride of her father. Instead of abandoning her disgraced mother and doing her best to please her father and his new favorite, the rebel declared that she still considers herself a princess and heir to the throne. Hard times came for the young girl: with round knocks she was imprisoned in her chambers, where food was brought to her and. No one recognized Mary as a princess. "Bastard woman", "imposter", "illegitimate" - that's what they called her now. They called everyone ... Even their own father.
The stepmother, Anne Boleyn, gave the servants and teachers the order to treat Mary with all severity, sometimes bordering on cruelty. She did everything possible to prevent the king from communicating with her daughter: Mary was forbidden to leave her chambers when Henry came to the castle, and the servants who dared to transfer the notes of the prisoner to their father were severely punished. In the end, Henry himself, irritated by the stubbornness of Mary, who did not want to put up with her fate, completely stopped communicating with her. But the girl did not give up. She prayed, believed that she would return the location of her father, and stubbornly continued to seek a meeting with him.
The daughter's disobedience so angered the proud king that he decided to bring her and his first wife to trial, which would inevitably be followed by the death penalty. However, the trial did not take place. No matter how cruel the king was with his subjects, he did not have the courage to execute his own daughter. Soon Anna Boleyn fell into disgrace and ended her days on the chopping block. Heinrich changed his anger to mercy and began to treat his daughter better, but still there was not that idyll between them that remained in the princess's childhood memories.
Henry's wives changed one after another. With one of them, Jane Seymour, Maria developed warm friendships. She was very upset by the death of her stepmother and her son Edward, to whom she was maternally attached.
But fate rewarded Mary Tudor for her suffering. After the death of King Henry and Edward, she was proclaimed the first English queen. On the night before the coronation, Mary did not close her eyes. She will prove to her, albeit already deceased, father that no son, for the sake of whose birth Henry betrayed Mary, would become a better heir to the Tudor family than the eldest daughter. The new queen hoped to correct her father's mistakes: to return England to the bosom of the Roman faith, which Henry had renounced in order to break with her mother, to do what Catherine of Aragon could not do and what her father could not do - to leave behind an heir as indomitable as his grandfather, and as steadfast as his grandmother.
Queen's broken heart
It was not difficult for the courtiers to guess who the queen wanted to get as her husband - the widowed Philip of Spain, 11 years younger than her, and besides, her cousin-nephew. Seeing the portrait of the chosen one, Maria anxiously asked the ambassador: “Is the prince really so handsome? Is he as charming as in the portrait? We know well what court painters are!” At first sight, the woman fell in love with her future husband without memory.
The matter was completed by the first meeting - the queen's heart was conquered. It was not difficult for Philip, experienced in amorous affairs, to fall in love with an inexperienced old maid, who for the first time in her life experienced the joy of sensual pleasures. She spent hours discussing with Philip the dreams of their unborn child, not realizing that for her husband, so passionately awaited by Mary, meant only getting rid of the burdensome duties of marital duty with an unattractive monarch. Philip hoped that as soon as the queen suffered, his father would allow him to return to Spain to the beauties there. And if Mary dies in childbirth, he will become sovereign master of England with a minor heir.
A few weeks after the wedding, Maria shared the good news with her husband - she is pregnant! But nine months passed, ten, eleven, and the famous Irish doctor found the courage to admit: “Your Majesty, you are not expecting a child ... Unfortunately, the outward signs of pregnancy mean that you are seriously ill ...” It seemed to the Queen that palace vaults fell on her head. Soon Philip declared: “My father wants me to come, Spain needs me! I'll be back soon…” But he never returned. Maria wrote long letters to him, where she tearfully asked not to leave one at such a difficult time for her, but the letters in response contained only dry phrases and requests for large amounts of loans.
When Mary Tudor decided to devote herself entirely to state affairs, she promised that she would make the country the way her husband dreamed of seeing her. But what is power in the hands of a woman in love? All of England was sitting on a powder keg. In those rare days when Philip showed mercy to his unloved wife, visiting her, peace and tranquility came to the kingdom. But most of the time, the country suffered along with the Queen.
Soon Mary again thought she was pregnant. And again the illusory hope for happiness. The cradle, lace caps and the thinnest diapers were again prepared. However, the craftswomen, who prepared the dowry for the future crowned heir, secretly whispered that it was right for the Queen of England to order a shroud. Like a couple of years ago, the expected did not happen, and it became clear to everyone that Mary would not recover from such a blow.
In the autumn of 1558, in St. James's Palace, an ugly, swollen, pale woman lay on a luxurious royal bed. Half-closing her eyes, she slowly breathed, being, it seemed, in a heavy oblivion. Only the sounds of the service going on in the chambers made her eyelashes tremble. The queen knew that she was dying and had absolutely no fear of death. She was tired of life, of endless belief in illusions that were not destined to come true. In dreams of simple marital and maternal happiness, which every peasant woman has, but she, the ruler of England, does not have ... The Queen felt her heart stop. She flew up to the vaulted ceiling. Father Heinrich, young and handsome, waited downstairs with outstretched arms. Nearby, her mother smiled affectionately, and Maria flew towards her parents' embrace.
After the death of Mary Tudor, the kingdom will remain ruined, devastated by war and riots, and the throne will pass to Anna Boleyn's daughter, Elizabeth, who will go down in history as a talented ruler and a brave reformer.
(1491-1547). This significant event for the country happened on April 22, and on June 11 the newly-made king tied the knot with Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536). This woman was the daughter of such prominent personalities as Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. It was this couple who founded the united Kingdom of Spain, which became a mighty maritime power.
Catherine of Aragon - Mother of the Bloody Mary
Before her marriage to Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon was married to Prince Arthur, Henry's older brother. But the marriage lasted only 4.5 months. Arthur died on April 2, 1502. After that, the woman was a widow for almost 7.5 years, until there was a need to strengthen the alliance between England and Spain. The second marriage of Catherine with the new English king just became the guarantor of this union.
The crowned couple lived together until January 1533. The main task of Catherine of Aragon was the birth of a son, so that England would receive an heir. But the woman's birth was extremely unsuccessful. She became pregnant for the first time in 1509, and on January 31, 1510, she prematurely gave birth to a dead girl. On the first day of 1511 she gave birth to a boy. But the child lived less than 2 months and died at the end of February.
Henry VIII with his son Edward
After that, for several years the queen could not get pregnant. And only on February 18, 1516 she gave birth to a girl. They named her Mary in honor of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, who was Henry VIII's sister. This is how the future Queen of England, Mary I, was born, nicknamed Mary the Bloody (1516-1558).
The birth of a girl did not bring joy to the English king, as he wanted a boy worthy of an heir. Catherine became pregnant again and in November 1518 gave birth to a girl. But the baby lived only a few hours and died. After that, the queen was no longer able to become pregnant, and the question of the heir to the throne hung in the air.
In 1525, the decision of Henry VIII to divorce Catherine of Aragon began to mature. In 1527, the king finally decided to break off all relations with his wife and recognize the marriage as invalid. The basis for this was dead children, which indicated God's curse on crowned marriage. Yes, it could not be otherwise, because the king married the wife of his late brother. And in the Third Book of Moses “Leviticus” (ch. 20 par. 21) it is said: “If anyone takes his brother's wife: it is vile; he revealed the nakedness of his brother. They will bear their sin, they will die childless.
The king needed to formally divorce his wife, so he brought in the church for this purpose. But the Pope categorically opposed the divorce. Then Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church and declared himself the supreme head of the English Church. In January 1533, the king secretly married Anne Boleyn, who became his second wife. Henry VIII officially broke up with his first wife on May 23 of the same year. Thus, Catherine of Aragon ceased to be Queen of England. This most deplorably affected her daughter Mary, as she lost her right to the crown.
Her father separated her from her mother and settled her in Hatfield, one of the old royal castles. Most of the servants were fluffed up, and the girl turned out to be a poor relative. She did not recognize the king's divorce decision and did not recognize the new queen. In 1536, Catherine of Aragon died, and Mary took a more loyal position towards her father.
In the same year, the second wife of the king, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded. Her daughter Elizabeth also fell out of favor, and Mary managed to restore her position at court. She was given funds for expenses, and the girl was able to dress well and have servants. Her further life began to flow against the backdrop of a change of royal wives.
Henry VIII was extremely greedy for women and changed wives and favorites very often.
In 1547, Henry VIII left the mortal world. At the time of the death of the king, the future Queen of England Mary I was 31 years old. By the standards of that time, she was considered a mature woman, but did not have a husband. The deceased king had a son, Edward (1537-1553), from his 3rd wife, Jane Seymour. It was he who came to the English throne at the age of 9, becoming Edward VI.
The child's health was poor, and his regents did everything possible to remove Mary from the throne. They feared that if a woman marries, she will try to seize the throne. Edward VI was reinstated against the second legitimate heir, and the main motive for hostility was that Mary remained a devoted Catholic and disliked the Protestant faith. And the latter began to dominate in England after the break with the Pope.
Edward was a Protestant, and therefore he began to treat his sister coldly, which completely suited his regents. But in 1553, the young king fell ill with tuberculosis, and it became clear to everyone that he would not last long. They began to look for a replacement for the dying king. They opted for Jane Gray (1537-1554), who was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII and, by succession, stood after Mary and Elizabeth (daughter of Anne Boleyn). But the royal entourage ignored this fact and persuaded Edward VI to exclude both Mary and Elizabeth from the contenders for the throne.
The young king died on July 6, 1553 at the age of 15. The future Queen of England Mary I at that time lived in the royal residence in Hunsdon. She was invited to the funeral of the deceased king, but someone warned the woman that she could be arrested to facilitate Jane Gray's rise to power. As a result of this, Mary hastily left for East Anglia, where she had several estates.
Many adherents of the Catholic faith lived in these places. All these people expressed their readiness to support Mary and proclaim her successor to Edward VI. Meanwhile, on July 10, 1553, Jane Gray was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland. But Mary's supporters took this with indignation and gathered at Fremlingham Castle on 12 July. A serious military force was concentrated there, and most of the English nobility went over to its side.
As a result, Jane Gray only lasted 9 days in power. She went down in history as the "queen of 9 days". Mary's supporters overthrew her on 19 July and imprisoned her in the Tower of London. The very same legitimate heir to the royal throne triumphantly entered London on August 3, 1553. She was followed by a huge retinue of 800 representatives of the most distinguished English families. Sister Elizabeth was among them. She kept herself modest and quiet, and no one paid attention to the inconspicuous young girl. Thus began the reign of Mary the Bloody.
Queen of England Mary I (Bloody Mary)
Ruled by Mary I for just over 5 years. She officially came to the throne on July 19, 1553, and died on November 17, 1558. What is remarkable about the years of her reign, and why was this woman dubbed the terrible nickname Bloody Mary? As a child, she received an excellent education. She knew Latin perfectly, could read and write fluently in this ancient language. She spoke French, Spanish and Greek. Well versed in music, danced beautifully. Outwardly, she was pretty and had red hair.
Henry VIII, in his own way, was attached to his daughter and more than once told others that she was very attractive. At the age of 6, the girl was engaged to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He was 16 years older than Mary, and few believed in the prospect of such a marriage. Indeed, in 1527 the engagement was broken off. But this did not upset the girl at all. She was more concerned about the relationship between her father and mother, which ended in divorce.
Queen Mary I of England, nicknamed Mary the Bloody
By her nature, Maria was not at all a bloodthirsty and tough woman. When she became queen, the question immediately arose of what to do with Jane Gray and her husband, Gilford Dudley. Initially, Her Majesty decided to arrange a formal trial and pardon young people who were not yet 20 years old. These young creatures turned out to be mere puppets in the experienced hands of the nobles. But in January 1554, the rebellion of Thomas Wyatt began. His goal was to overthrow Mary from the throne.
The uprising was crushed, and Jane Gray and her wife were executed, thereby eliminating dangerous contenders for the English throne. They also cut off the heads of several more conspirators, but Queen Mary I of England forgave most of the rebels. She even brought some former enemies closer to her to help her in governing the country. But as for sister Elizabeth, she was sent to Woodstock Palace, where the girl was actually under house arrest.
As a Catholic, Mary I freed the Catholics languishing in the Tower of London and began rebuilding the Catholic churches destroyed under Henry VIII. But the queen needed to strengthen her position and win over as many Catholics as possible to her side. The best option was to find a husband in a Catholic country. At the age of 37, the ruler of England married the son of Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain) Philip.
Philip II - husband of Mary the Bloody
The husband was 12 years younger than his wife. In addition, he was distinguished by extreme arrogance and arrogance. To match Philip was his retinue. The English disliked these people, and the English parliament did not recognize the queen's husband as the English king. The wedding of the crowned persons took place on July 25, 1554 at Winchester Cathedral. It is noteworthy that Philip did not know a word of English. Therefore, the spouses communicated in a mixture of 3 languages - Spanish, French and Latin.
When the queen first came to the throne, she declared that she would not force anyone to follow Catholicism. But a couple of months passed, and the main Protestant churchmen ended up in prison. In October 1553, the church doctrine that existed in the country before the break of Henry VIII with the Pope was restored. Accordingly, all of Henry's religious laws were repealed and the English church came under Roman jurisdiction.
But most importantly, the Acts of Heresy were revived. Accordingly, mass executions of Protestants began. The first of them took place in February 1555. Heretics who did not want to accept Catholicism began to be burned at the stake. In total, with the blessing of Mary I, 283 Protestants were destroyed, according to other sources, a little more. For this, the English queen received her nickname Bloody Mary.
Such a policy did not bring the queen popularity among the people. The situation was aggravated by rains and floods, which led to famine. At the same time, tax collection remained at the medieval level, and commercial ties were limited to the coast of Africa. The British did not dare to meddle in other lands, since the Spaniards ruled there, and their king was the husband of Mary. Philip became King Philip II of Spain in January 1556 and, naturally, defended the interests of his kingdom in all foreign policy issues.
In a word, after 5 years of her reign, Queen Mary I of England began to rapidly lose popularity with her subjects. It is not known how it would all end, but circumstances intervened. The queen felt weak and ill in May 1558. There is a version that she had uterine cancer, from which she died on November 17, 1558.
According to another version, the viral fever that swept Europe in 1557 was to blame. This disease had a sluggish form, and the outcome was both negative and positive. In the summer of 1558, the queen's maid fell ill, and when she recovered, Mary I herself fell ill. Unlike the maid, she was not lucky.
The Queen sensed the end was approaching and wrote her will at the end of October. In it, she transferred the royal power to her sister Elizabeth. She ascended the throne after the death of Mary I. This woman went down in history as Queen of England Elizabeth I. Under her rule, the country flourished, became powerful and became a great maritime power.
Queen Mary I of England, also known as Mary the Bloody, wanted to be buried next to her mother. But the body was buried only on December 14, 1558 in the chapel of Westminster Abbey. In 1603, Elizabeth I died. In 1606, her coffin was buried next to the coffin of Mary, and the two sisters were next to one tombstone.
A sculpture of Elizabeth was installed on it, and under it an epitaph was written in Latin: “Comrades-in-arms in the kingdom and in the grave, we sisters Elizabeth and Mary lie here in the hope of resurrection.” In this way, descendants paid tribute to two prominent women who played an important political role in the 16th century..
Mary I Tudor(February 18, 1516 - November 17, 1558) - the first crowned queen of England since 1553, the eldest daughter of Henry VIII from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Also known as Mary the Bloody(or Bloody Mary, eng. Bloody Mary), Mary the Catholic.
Not a single monument was erected to this queen in her homeland (there is a monument in her husband's homeland - in Spain), her name is associated with massacres, the day of her death (and at the same time the day of accession to the throne of Elizabeth I) was celebrated in the country as a national holiday.
Childhood and youth
Before the birth of Mary Tudor, all the children of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon died during pregnancy or immediately after childbirth, and the birth of a healthy girl caused great joy in the royal family.
The girl was christened in the monastery church near Greenwich Palace three days later, named after Henry's beloved sister, Queen Mary Tudor of France.
The first two years of her life, Mary moved from one palace to another. This was due to the epidemic of English sweat, which the king was afraid of, moving farther and farther from the capital.
The retinue of the princess during these years consisted of a lady mentor, four nannies, a laundress, a chaplain, a bed keeper and a staff of courtiers. They all dressed in Mary's colors - blue and green.
By the autumn of 1518, the epidemic receded, and the court returned to the capital and to its usual life.
At this time, Francis I came to the throne in France. He was eager to prove his strength and power, for which he sought to conclude a friendly alliance with Henry through the marriage of Mary and the French Dauphin.
Negotiations were completed by the autumn of 1518. Mary was to marry when the Dauphin reached the age of fourteen. Among the conditions was this: if Henry does not have a male heir, Mary will inherit the crown. However, Henry did not believe in such a possibility, since he still hoped for the birth of a son (the queen was in demolition), moreover, it seemed unthinkable that a woman would rule the country.
The queen gave birth to a stillborn child, and Mary continued to be the main contender for the English throne.
Mary's childhood was spent surrounded by a large retinue, corresponding to her position. However, she rarely saw her parents.
Her high position was slightly shaken when the king's mistress Elizabeth Blount gave birth to a boy (1519). He was named Henry, the child was revered as having a royal lineage. He was assigned a retinue and bestowed titles corresponding to the heir to the throne.
The plan for the upbringing of the princess was drawn up by the Spanish humanist Vives. The princess had to learn to speak correctly, learn grammar and read Greek and Latin. Great importance was given to the study of the work of Christian poets, and for the sake of entertainment, she was recommended to read stories about women who sacrificed themselves - Christian saints and ancient warrior maidens. In her free time, she enjoyed horseback riding and falconry. However, there was one omission in her education - Mary was not at all prepared to govern the state.
In June 1522, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V, arrived at the court of Henry. Rich festivities were held in his honor, several months were being prepared for this meeting. It was signed an agreement on the conclusion of the engagement between Mary and Charles (the engagement with the French dauphin was terminated).
The groom was sixteen years older than the bride (Mary was only six at that time). However, if Charles perceived this union as a diplomatic step, then Mary experienced some romantic feelings for her fiancé and even sent him small gifts.
In 1525, when it became clear that Catherine would not be able to give birth to an heir, Henry seriously thought about who would become the next king or queen. If his illegitimate son had been granted titles earlier, then Mary received the title of Princess of Wales. This title has always been held by the heir to the English throne. Now she needed to manage her new possessions on the spot.