'Bloody' Mary III


Dear heart, how like you this?, I have a scene where Henry and his sister Mary argue the rights and wrongs of his attempts to replace Catherine- England's 'beloved' queen'- with 'Black-eyed Nan.' Mary, dowager queen of France and duchess of Suffolk, placed herself very much in Catherine's camp. In the scene I created, there were several important issues that his sister Mary raised, the most important one being that Catherine had not failed to provide Henry with an heir. She had provided Henry with Mary, clearly possessing so many of the Tudor characteristics, a young, intelligent girl who could be taken under her father's wing and trained for queenship.

Mary also reminded him that her niece could marry- just who would have been a hard choice for Henry, I admit, but it remains still a valid solution- and thus - if fortune smiled upon the union- provide the kingdom with male heirs, grandsons to the king. If Mary had married at eighteen, it is possible that an heir from her body would have been close to the age of majority by the time of the King's death. The other argument that Mary voiced was that Catherine was queen anointed- a ritual of such deep meaning that it could never truly be undone.

Henry arguments mostly centred on his desire for a new, valid marriage and his desire for a legitimate son of 'his body.' But, in this imagined scene, there is one point he raised that could be seen as a justification for his decision now to turn away from the possibility of Mary as queen regnant. Mary, being very much her mother's daughter, was very drawn to her 'mother's kin.' As a six-year old, she had met Charles V, the head of this family, was, indeed, betrothed to him. Despite his marriage to someone else, her loyalty to this family, Charles specially and later his son Philip, steered the course of much of her life. This loyalty was something that worried Henry. He was a nationalistic king and would not have desired England to become just one of the many dominions belonging to the Habsburg royal family.

The copyright of the article 'Bloody' Mary III in Tudor England is owned by Wendy J. Dunn. Permission to republish 'Bloody' Mary III in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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