Mary Tudor, Queen of France

Mary was born on 18 March 1496, in London. She was the fourth child of King Henry VII of England and his wife, Queen Elizabeth of York.

Aged six, Mary was given her own household, complete with gentlewomen to wait on her, a schoolmaster, and a physician. She was taught French, Latin, music, dancing and embroidery. As children, Mary and her brother, Henry (future Henry VIII of England), shared a close friendship and Henry would go on to name his first surviving child, the future Mary I, in her honour.

Mary was known in her youth as one of the most beautiful princesses in Europe; Erasmus said of her that nature never formed anything more beautiful.

In 1506, during a visit from Philip I of Castile, Mary was called to entertain the guests. She dance, played the lute and clavichord. In September of that year, Philip died and, on 21 December 1507, Mary was betrothed to his son Charles, later Holy Roman Emperor. The betrothal was called off in 1513. Instead, Cardinal Wolsey negotiated a peace treaty with France and, on 9 October 1514, Mary, aged 18, married King Louis XII of France, who was 52 years old.

Despite two previous marriages, Louis had no living sons and sought to produce an heir. However, he died on 1 January 1515, less than three months after marrying Mary; the union produced no children. Following Louis' death, the new King Francis I made attempts to arrange a second marriage for the beautiful widow.

Mary had been unhappy with her marriage to Louis XII, as at this time, she was almost certainly already in love with Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Henry VIII was aware of his sister's feelings: letters from Mary in 1515 indicated that she had agreed to wed Louis only on the condition that if she survived him, she could marry whom she liked. However, Henry wanted any future marriage to be to his advantage. The King's Council also opposed the match, as they didn't want Charles Brandon to gain further power at court.

Meanwhile, in France, rumours swirled that she would marry either Antoine, Duke of Lorraine or Charles III, Duke of Savoy. At one point, Francis I, perhaps in hope of his wife Claude's death, had himself been one of Mary's suitors. A pair of French friars went so far as to warn Mary that she must not wed Charles Brandon because he had traffickings with the devil.

When Henry VIII sent Charles to bring Mary back to England in late January 1515, he made the Duke promise that he would not propose marriage to her. However, once in France, Mary persuaded Charles to abandon the promise. They married in secret at the Hotel de Cluny, on 3 March 1515. Technically, this was treason, as Charles had married a royal princess without the King's consent. Henry was, of course, outraged, and the Privy Council wanted Charles to be imprisoned or executed. Because of the intervention of Cardinal Wolsey and Henry's affection for his sister and Charles, the couple were given only a heavy fine. The fine was a payment of £24000, was well as the whole of Mary's dowry from Louis XII (£200000), together with her gold plate and jewels. The fine of £24000 (approximately £7200000 today) was later reduced by the King.

Mary and Charles married officially on 13 May 1515 at Greenwich Palace, in the presence of the King and his courtiers. Mary was Charles Brandon 3rd wife, and he had already two daughters, Anne and Mary, by his 2nd wife, Anne Browne. Mary would raise the girls with her own children. She and Charles would have four children, two daughters and two sons: Henry, Frances, Eleanor and Henry.

Even after her second marriage, Mary was normally referred to at the court as the French Queen rather than the Duchess of Suffolk, despite being allowed to be. She spent most of her time at Westhorpe Hall, the Duke's country seat.

In the late 1520s, the relationship between Henry and Mary was strained when she opposed the King's attempt to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, whom Mary had known for many years. Mary developed a strong dislike for Anne Boleyn, whom she had first encountered in France (Anne and her sister, Mary, were among the maids of honour in her entourage). Despite her disapproval of this annulment, Mary never spoke out publicly against Anne.

Mary suffered multiple bouts of illness, requiring treatments over her lifetime. Mary, Queen of France and Duchess of Suffolk, died on 25 June 1533, aged just 37, having never fully recovered from the sweating sickness she caught in 1528. As an English princess, daughter of a king and sister to another, and a dowager Queen of France, Mary's funeral and interment was conducted with much heraldic ceremony. A requiem mass was held at Westminster Abbey and her body was embalmed and held in state at Westhorpe Hall. She is buried at St Mary's Church, Bury St Edmunds.

Mary Tudor, Queen of France

attributed to Jan van Mabuse

c. 16th century