Mary Tudor, Queen of England: ‘Bloody Mary’ or Troubled Monarch?

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The phrase “Bloody Mary” may evoke images of a stick of celery in a tall glass or memories of your last brunch, but the origin of the term comes from Queen Mary I of England, the daughter of Henry VIII, who led a violent Catholic counter-reformation against Protestantism. But is that all there is to know about Mary Tudor? Stick with us today as we learn about Mary’s unhappy upbringing and her troubled reign, plagued by personal and political disappointments.

Princess Mary was the first surviving child of King Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon. When Mary was born on February 18, 1516, her father welcomed her as the greatest pearl in the kingdom. However, as proud as Henry might have been, he rarely showed affection to his daughter. The king was more interested in using Mary as a diplomatic pawn in the complex game of alliances that engulfed England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire.

When Mary was just two years old, she was betrothed to the Dauphin, or prince of France, Francis III. This wedding arrangement among two infants was all kinds of inappropriate and intended to secure an alliance between England and France. Four years later, diplomatic relations between the two kingdoms soured, and the situation escalated. The six-year-old Mary was now offered in marriage to her mother’s cousin, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was 22 at the time. The marriage never took place, but Catherine wanted to ensure that Mary would be raised as a proper princess worthy of an emperor.

Mary was tutored by a Spanish tutor, Juan Luis Vives, who outlined her curriculum in a treatise called “The Education of a Christian Woman.” According to Vives, young girls should be prepared for a life of humility, self-sacrifice, and obedience in the company of virtuous women, while men should be avoided. Girls should also restrain the fire of their youth and learn to weave and spin, which included a love of sober sadness. In other words, Catherine and Vives were raising Mary to become a rather submissive young lady devoid of spirit and initiative. However, Mary had another role model in her household, albeit one who dedicated little attention to her: Henry VIII. From him, Mary inherited a love of riding and hunting, as well as a talent for playing the lute and dancing.

In the summer of 1525, Henry sent the nine-year-old Mary to Ludlow Castle in the Welsh marches. This relocation carried great symbolic value; by presiding over that court, Mary effectively acted as Princess of Wales, making her a prospect to inherit the throne. Mary stayed in Ludlow until just after her 11th birthday, when threats of a Welsh rebellion made it safer for her to leave for London. Upon her return, Mary was met by a very tense situation: Henry had informed Queen Catherine that he intended to divorce her as he was having a relationship with Anne Boleyn. Mary stuck by her grieving mother, trying to console her through that difficult period from 1527 to 1533.

While I won’t go into all the details of the annulment of Henry and Catherine’s marriage, one of the best-known consequences was the schism of the Church of England from Catholicism. Ten years after the beginning of the Reformation, major European courts adhered to Protestantism. From Mary’s perspective, the schism from the Church of Rome had deep personal connections; Catholicism was her religion, while Protestantism represented the faith of Catherine’s rival, Anne Boleyn, which Henry had opportunistically embraced.

In July of 1533, the 17-year-old Mary was informed that her parents’ marriage had been pronounced invalid and that Henry and Anne were now man and wife. Mary was also told that she could no longer communicate with her mother, and things went from bad to worse after September 7, 1533, when Anne gave birth to Princess Elizabeth, the future queen of England. Mary was stripped of her title of princess and ordered to serve as a maid of honor to Elizabeth. The teenage Mary was moved to a new residence, Hatfield House, to look after her half-sister. She had been removed from her mother and her beloved lady-in-waiting, Margaret Pole, and was assigned to the worst lodgings in Hatfield, routinely humiliated by members of Elizabeth’s household, chief among them Lady Shelton, the aunt of Anne Boleyn.

Any other Cinderella would have accepted her fate as an errand girl, but Mary fought back with quiet dignity. She always refused to address Elizabeth as princess and feigned deafness if someone addressed her as Lady Mary rather than Princess Mary. Lady Shelton retaliated by confiscating her clothes and jewelry or even by abusing her both verbally and physically. If King Henry came around to visit Elizabeth, Lady Shelton ensured that Mary was locked up, preventing her from seeing her father. But Mary continued her quiet rebellion; she learned how to exchange secret messages with her mother with the help of loyal servants. Mary could also count on another ally, the Spanish ambassador to London, Eustace Chapuys, who became a good friend and made several attempts to intervene on her behalf at court. Alas, they were all unsuccessful.

In 1534, the English Parliament ratified the Act of Supremacy, which made the schism from Rome official and recognized Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. Mary was supposed to take an oath recognizing him as such, but she refused. Accepting the Act of Supremacy meant admitting that Henry and Catherine’s marriage was illegal. Rejecting such an oath was equal to treason, punishable by death. However, Henry, showing mercy, let his daughter live.

At the beginning of February 1535, just before her 19th birthday, Mary fell ill. She had been suffering for some time from stomach pains, headaches, and depression, but on that occasion, her symptoms were worse than ever. Somebody at court even suspected poisoning. Henry had the good idea of sending her away from Hatfield to recover at the royal palace in Greenwich, and recover she did, albeit very slowly. But barely one year later, Mary received yet another devastating blow: Lady Shelton, without tact or pity, announced that on January 12, 1536, Catherine of Aragon had died.

Mary’s life would only improve when King Henry VIII grew tired of his new wife. On May 19, 1536, Anne Boleyn was executed on trumped-up charges of infidelity, incest, and conspiracy to kill the king. These accusations had been concocted by the king and his minister, Thomas Cromwell. There were many reasons behind the execution; Anne had failed to give birth to a male heir, and the king simply wanted to remarry. What mattered for Mary was that Henry’s new wife, Jane Seymour, had every intention of building a good relationship with her.

In the summer of 1536, Mary was summoned to court to meet her father for the first time in five years. At the time, she was 20 years old, and Henry had lost his previous troubled demeanor. He was now impressed by an intelligent, confident woman who had survived years of abuse and neglect with dignity. During Christmas 1536, Lady Mary was formally welcomed back at court. For it to happen, she was eventually forced to sign a document recognizing Catherine and Henry’s marriage as unlawful. Nonetheless, thanks to the family unity created by Queen Jane, Mary enjoyed a newfound happiness.

However, the days of her benefactor were numbered. On October 12, 1537, Jane fulfilled Henry’s most persistent wish by giving birth to a son, Edward. Finally, this was the male heir that everyone was hoping for, except of course for Mary. Ambitious and intelligent, she knew her best path to the throne would not involve male heirs, older or younger. The birth of the prince had another consequence: Jane was confined to bed with a bout of puerperal fever, caused by a uterine infection following childbirth. She died 12 days later on October 24.

King Henry was stricken with heavy grief, and he dealt with it in an emotionally mature way by leaving England altogether to pursue diplomatic missions. Mary remained at court, further blossoming into a well-liked member of the royal household. She was a pious young woman, attending mass every day and offering donations to impoverished members of the clergy. But she also enjoyed hunting, playing cards, and attending shows with jesters. Foreign ambassadors started to take note of the young lady, admiring her intelligence, good nature, and good looks. She would have made a perfect bride for some foreign prince.

However, her position was ambiguous. Mary was formerly considered an illegitimate child, and a potential future groom could lay claims to the throne, threatening the legitimate heir, Prince Edward. For this reason, King Henry kept several suitors at bay. In January 1540, he married Anne of Cleves before quickly divorcing her and tying the knot with Catherine Howard. Catherine was certainly younger than her stepdaughter Mary. Initially, the pious Mary did not get along with her father’s latest wife, but just as the two young ladies were becoming friends, Henry received a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, accusing Catherine of past and present sexual liaisons. Henry announced her treason and had Catherine executed on February 13, 1542.

The following year, Henry married for the sixth time to Catherine Parr, who, like Jane Seymour before her, was able to recreate some degree of family unity. Mary enjoyed some quiet, happy time playing with Elizabeth and Edward, who had now grown fond of their much younger half-siblings. But there was a growing cloud over their future as Henry VIII grew older. What would happen after the death of the king?

Henry died on January 28, 1547. His son was crowned as King Edward VI at nine years of age. Mary withdrew to East Anglia, where she held a sort of parallel court that always included a Catholic priest reciting mass four times a day. As King Edward and his court continued the path to Protestantism, Mary began to believe that her destiny was to keep the Catholic faith alive in England. This conviction was reinforced by the ambassadors of Charles V, who had every interest in maintaining influence over her cousin.

In 1549, the Act of Uniformity outlawed Catholic mass, replacing it with services from the Book of Common Prayer. Mary would not comply with the Act, as she wrote to Charles V, “In life or death, I will not forsake the Catholic religion, even if compelled thereto by threats or violence.” A personal chaplain was intimidated on orders of Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset. This gentleman was the uncle and lord protector to the young King Edward. Eventually, Seymour proved to be quite lenient, allowing Mary to celebrate the Catholic rites privately. But Seymour’s tenure as lord protector was short-lived, and his successor, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, was openly hostile to Mary and Catholicism. He defined her as the conduit by which the “rats of Rome” might creep into the stronghold. Dudley and even King Edward issued intimidations to Mary to stop celebrating mass, but she defiantly persisted.

This religious tug-of-war continued until February 1553 when Mary started hearing rumors about the king’s ill health. The fifteen-year-old Edward VI was in fact suffering from severe tuberculosis and was deteriorating quickly. This was the beginning of a duel of wits between Mary and John Dudley, with the prize being the throne of England. Mary considered herself to be the rightful heir to the crown, while Dudley was ready to sponsor another candidate to prevent a Catholic from becoming queen. This was Dudley’s daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, who happened to also be the great-granddaughter of the first Tudor king, Henry VII.

At the beginning of July 1553, Mary was at her Hertfordshire residence when she received a summons to Greenwich Palace to sit by her dying brother. Mary feared this to be a trap from Dudley and headed to Norfolk instead, east of London. When she reached her court in Kenninghall on July 9, she learned that Edward had died three days prior. But the worst piece of news was that Dudley’s son was heading to Norfolk to capture her. Mary acted quickly and decisively; she pronounced herself the rightful queen of England before her household and sent a message to Dudley ordering him to accept her as monarch.

Mary’s message reached Dudley while he was hosting a banquet for Queen Jane Grey, which must have been quite awkward. Dudley had reassured Queen Jane and his allies that Mary would be easily tamed and controlled, but Mary would not yield. She started to amass an army of supporters recruited from the gentlemen and peasants of East Anglia. Dudley had not been idle either, sending an army and a fleet to confront Mary, but the odds were quickly turning against him. By July 16, Mary’s army numbered about 30,000, and Dudley’s fleet had switched sides. On July 18, John Dudley yielded to his new queen, and on August 3, 1553, Mary Tudor rode triumphantly into London, proclaimed as the new queen of England. She succeeded the unlucky Lady Jane Grey, who was queen for just nine days.

England welcomed Mary as a rightful heir to the throne. She was first and foremost an adult, an intelligent woman, heavily contrasted against the previous boy king. But nobody knew what to expect from a single queen as monarch. The only precedent had been Queen Matilda in the 12th century, whose reign was remembered as a chaotic time. However, Mary got off to a good start, making an impression as a virtuous, conscientious, and kind sovereign. Sure, she had Dudley’s head chopped off even after he had recanted his Protestant faith, but Mary was very lenient toward Dudley’s allies and especially Lady Jane Grey, who received a short sentence to be served at the Tower of London.

The new queen gave proof of her great tolerance, as she had no intention to compel or constrain other men’s consciences. Straight off the bat, Mary launched a series of much-needed reforms. English finances were in dire condition after years of malpractice endorsed by Dudley, Edward VI, and Henry VIII. Mary’s predecessors had taken to debasing the coinage or lowering the proportion of gold and silver in English circulation. This debasement increased cash flow in the economy but eventually curbed foreign trade. What was the point of trading with England if the pound was becoming worthless? Mary revalued the currency, and while she initially intended to curb public spending, she understood the necessity of investing in the military. She expanded the navy and incentivized exploration in the New World, a long-term program whose rewards would be reaped by her successors.

But let’s stay in the present. With the crown firmly on her head, the queen’s counselors and subjects were busy with another question: Was Mary intending to marry, and if so, when and to whom? Mary had the same question in mind and sought the advice of Charles V. No surprise, the Habsburg emperor chose his only son, Philip. Philip had a reputation for being somewhat dull, but on the plus side, he was dignified, serious, 11 years younger than Mary, and fantastically rich. Upon the death of his father, he would contribute two pieces of prime real estate to a potential royal marriage: the Netherlands and Spain. This is to say that a union between Mary and Philip would have brought together two great powers. However, Mary’s counselors realized that England would have been the junior partner in such an alliance, and England would likely become just another Habsburg dominion. The Protestants within England were also worried about the potential influence of Spanish Catholic clergy, but Mary had made up her mind. She would marry Philip, whom she had seen only once in a portrait by Titian.

On November 8, 1553, she announced her intention to marry Philip, and in January of 1554, she concluded a marriage treaty with Charles V. The news was badly received by a group of conspiring noblemen led by Sir Thomas Wyatt. The plot also involved Henry Grey, father of Lady Jane. The plan called for four separate armies to march into London, seize the court, and replace Mary with her half-sister Elizabeth, set to marry an English nobleman. However, the plan reached the ears of the Spanish ambassador, who notified Mary’s main adviser, Lord Chancellor Stephen Gardiner. The rebel alliance of noblemen melted away, but Thomas Wyatt did not back down. On January 26, 1554, Wyatt and his small army occupied the Kentish town of Rochester, issuing a proclamation against the queen. Mary sent two contingents to suppress the uprising, but most of those soldiers swapped sides and joined Wyatt. In less than a week, he had rallied 4,000 men at his command, ready to march on London.

Mary’s counselors advised her to flee, but the queen would not have it. On February 1, she delivered a rousing speech to Londoners, rallying their support. Two days later, Wyatt’s army arrived at the Tower of London, expecting to find little resistance. They were sorely mistaken; they found that Mary’s supporters had blocked all bridges and were in control of the artillery atop the tower. After a failed attempt to outmaneuver the defenses, Wyatt surrendered. It’s easy to guess the fate of Thomas Wyatt; he and 90 of his co-conspirators were tried and executed, their bodies left to rot in the open as a warning against future rebellions.

The aftermath of the rebellion did not spare two ladies who may have posed a threat to Queen Mary. The first was her half-sister, Lady Elizabeth, who had been approached by Wyatt and friends to join their uprising. However, during a hearing with Mary’s counselors, Elizabeth managed to distance herself from the plot. Mary realized that Elizabeth might still become a rallying figure for Protestant schemes, so she put her under house arrest for one year. The second lady was the former queen, Jane Grey, who did not get away so easily. Her father, Henry, had been one of the rebels, and she still carried legitimate claims to the throne. On February 12, 1554, Lady Jane Grey was beheaded at the Tower of London.

With the anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic conspirators out of the way, Mary was free to marry Prince Philip, albeit with some clauses added to the marriage treaty, which became the ultimate prenup. It stipulated that Philip would be king of England only for the duration of the marriage, and he would be unable to issue any proclamations or treaties. He could also not appoint any foreigners to the English council and could not demand England support Spain in acts of war. On July 25, 1554, the marriage of Mary and Philip of England and Spain finally took place.

From the start, the union was not a happy one. Philip complained about the old age of Mary, and her courtiers described her as “not at all beautiful, small, and rather flabby, and with no eyebrows