Mary Tudor

Giveaway of New Audiobook: Mary – Tudor Princess, narrated by Ruth Redman

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From the author of the international best-selling Tudor Trilogy, the true story of the Tudor dynasty continues with the daughter of King Henry VII, sister to King Henry VIII. Mary Tudor watches her elder brother become King of England and wonders what the future holds for her. Born into great privilege, Mary has beauty and intelligence beyond her years and is the most marriageable princess in Europe. Henry plans to use her marriage to build a powerful alliance against his [More]

Book Review: “La Reine Blanche” by Sarah Bryson

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Of the two surviving sisters of Henry VIII, his younger sister Mary was by far his favorite. Nothing shows that more than when he forgave her for secretly marrying Charles Brandon before returning from France after the death of her first husband, King Louis XII of France. When I heard that author Sarah Bryson was releasing a book about Mary Tudor I was excited to learn more about the Tudor princess and French queen. She has fascinated me since her amalgamation in [More]

The Princess and the Knight (Guest Post)

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  The Princess and the Knight Guest post by Sarah Bryson The story of Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor reads like a fairy tale. Born in 1496 she was the youngest surviving child of King Henry VII and his beautiful wife Queen Elizabeth. Mary was raised to be the perfect image of a princess. Mary was educated in all the necessities for royal women of the time including singing, dancing, embroidery, and playing a musical instrument. In fact Mary was an excellent [More]

Book Review: “Mary Tudor” by Tony Riches

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Last year I read all three books in the trilogy by author Tony Riches about the Tudor dynasty. Book One was about a Owen Tudor, second husband of Catherine of Valois and stepfather to King Henry VI. Book Two was about Jasper Tudor, half-brother of King Henry VI and uncle of the future Henry VII. The final book, Book Three was about Henry Tudor and his struggle to become King of England. After finishing the trilogy on the Tudor dynasty Riches decided to try his hand at Mary [More]

The Last Days of Katherine of Aragon (Guest Post)

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Guest Post by Sarah Clement In 1531 Henry VIII formally separated from his wife of over twenty years, Katherine of Aragon. For some time, he had been bringing pressure upon her to accept a divorce or take holy orders so that he may marry someone else. In this case, Anne Boleyn. Katherine's refusal to do so and her insistence that they were man and wife even after their marriage had been annulled and Henry had married Anne Boleyn would cause her no end of problems. The [More]

Heroines of Plantagenet Embers (Guest Post)

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Heroines of Plantagenet Embers By Samantha Wilcoxson for Tudors Dynasty A writer puts a little bit of themselves into every character they create. Maybe we are not as adventurous, devout, or charismatic as our beloved characters, but we wish we were, and somewhere deep inside us the potential is there. Same goes for the darker sides of our characters. Both the best and worst of us gets poured into our characters. I find it to be a satisfying release of emotions to [More]

A Kingdom in Crisis (Guest Post)

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A Kingdom In Crisis Guest article by Alan Freer It was mid-morning on Palm Sunday in the year of Our Lord 1554. A young woman of 20 sat in a barge at the Watergate of the Tower of London. Under this dark, forbidding, stone portal so many had passed to end their lives on Tower Green at the executioner's block. Her own mother had made the self-same journey some 18 years before. At first she refused to alight on the landing-stage but was informed by the Marquess of [More]

The Relationship Between Mary and Elizabeth Tudor

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Princess Mary Tudor was the apple of her father's eye for many years prior Anne Boleyn returning to England. Freshly back from her duties in France, Anne was unlike most women and Henry VIII noticed. We don't know the exact date that Henry noticed Anne but once he did it changed the course of English history. After Katherine of Aragon's last unsuccessful pregnancy Henry began to consider that he would never have a male heir. He believed the fact that he had  married hi [More]

Book Review: Queen of Martyrs by Samantha Wilcoxson

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Author Samantha Wilcoxson recently released the third and final installment of her Plantagenet Embers series with "Queen of Martyrs - The Story of Mary I" and it is a marvelous representation of the lady that will go down in history (whether unfairly) as "Bloody Mary". Here is a brief synopsis of the book from its Amazon page: God save the Queen! God save our good Queen Mary!' When these words rang out over England, Mary Tudor thought her troubles were over. She [More]

Introducing My Tudors Dynasty Podcast Page

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Hello! As you may or may not know already, I have started a separate site where I will be posting podcasts for your listening pleasure. I shared my first one the Tudors Dynasty Facebook page (and Twitter page) for free and I'm very excited about all the positive feedback I've received thus far. I'm already working on my second podcast. :) To make sure you do not miss out on future podcasts, articles, polls and more items that are different than what you see here - ple [More]

For They Deserve Death: Katherine and Mary

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In 1535, the King of England was married to Anne Boleyn and they had a daughter, Princess Elizabeth who was now heir to her father's throne. Elizabeth's half-sister, Mary was now considered illegitimate and was to be referred to as "Lady" Mary. As you'll notice from these letters written by Eustace Chapuys he still referred to her as "Princess" since he was their Spanish ally and believed she was the rightful princess and Katherine the rightful queen. In the first letter [More]

Secret Marriage: Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon

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  When Mary Tudor arrived in France she experience a French court that was reasonably well ordered and steadily developing as the trend-setter in French material culture. Louis most definitely spoiled his new, young bride and Mary appears to have done her duty as an English Princess and made the King of France, her husband, very happy. As he said himself, "I can sufficiently praise and express my delight in her." Nearly three months into their marriage, o [More]

The King’s Delight: Marriage of Mary Tudor to Louis XII

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Mary Tudor, Queen of France was the title she earned when she married Louis XII of France. The marriage was one that was arranged by her brother, King Henry VIII of England and not a love match. On 9 October 1514, at the age of 18, Mary Tudor married 52-year-old King Louis XII of France. The below letter was written by the King of France to his brother-in-law, Henry VIII. In the letter he describes his delight with his new wife only a few months after their [More]

Description of Departure of the King’s Sister: 1514

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Princess Mary Tudor was the younger sister of King Henry VIII. She was said to be the King's favorite sister. Henry arranged for Mary to wed the King of France - as always, a political alliance for England. To have France as an ally instead of an enemy was definitely a benefit to the country after years of fighting. This letter is written by a Venetian merchant in England who wrote this letter to his brothers including this one about Princess Mary's departure from England [More]

Elizabeth: To Honor Thy Father

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Honor Thy Father: After being proposed to by Thomas Seymour and rejecting his request, Elizabeth must have felt torn. It appears she would have accepted the proposal had it not been so soon after her father, Henry VIII's death. There was, of course, a required mourning period and Elizabeth intended on honoring her father properly. On the other-hand, Elizabeth's step-mother, Katherine Parr didn't appear to worry about honoring her late husband the way any queen consort was [More]