18 March 1496 – Birth of Mary Tudor, Queen of France
Posted By Claire on March 18, 2013
Mary Tudor by Johannes Corvus
On this day in 1496, Mary Tudor, Queen of France, was born at Richmond Palace. She was the daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, and the sister of Henry VIII.
Here are some Mary Tudor facts:
- She was known for her beauty, being described as “a Paradise – tall, slender, grey-eyed, possessing an extreme pallor” by the Venetian ambassador.
- Her motto was La volenté De Dieu me suffit (The will of God is sufficient for me)
- She married twice – In October 1514, she married Louis XII of France but was widowed on 1st January 1515. Mary then married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. They married in France in March 1515* in secret and without Henry VIII’s permission, but Henry forgave them and the couple were officially married on 13th May 1515 at Greenwich Palace.
- Mary had four children by Suffolk: Henry Brandon, named after her brother (11th March 1516-1522), Lady Frances Brandon (16th July 1517-20th November 1559) who was the mother of Lady Jane Grey (and also Katherine and Mary Grey), Lady Eleanor Brandon (1519-27th September 1547) who went on to marry Henry Clifford, the 2nd Earl of Cumberland, and Henry Brandon, the 1st Earl of Lincoln (around 1523-1st March 1534). Only Frances and Eleanor survived childhood.
- Mary became ill in 1533, and died on 25th June (some sources say 24th) at Westhorpe, Suffolk. She was laid to rest in the abbey at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and then moved to St Mary’s Church in Bury St Edmunds during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
You can read more about Mary Tudor in the following articles:
- Katherine of Aragon or Mary Tudor? – The Re-identification of Michel Sittow’s Portrait of a Young Woman by Nasim Tadghighi
- Princess Mary Tudor
- Mary Tudor Marries Louis XII of France
- Death of Mary Tudor Queen of France
*It is thought that they married in secret in mid February and that this was then followed by a further ceremont in France. A French chronicle gives the date of 3rd March 1515 and Louise of Savoy gives the date of 31st March 1515.
Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk
Other articles you might be interested in:
18 March 1496 – Birth of Mary Tudor, Queen of France at Richmond Palace
The Birth of Mary Tudor, Queen of France – 18 March 1496
25 June 1533 – Mary Tudor, Queen of France, dies
Death of Mary Tudor, Queen of France
25 June 1533 – Death of Mary Tudor, Queen of France
Mary Tudor, Queen of France – Factfile
I have always thought Mary was a shadow of her family but she was important too watched everything in the side lines i would love to have a diary threw those times Claire you have an amazing site im on here everyday waiting for a new post if theirs not one ill reread my favs again 🙂
Her diary*
i always thought a lot of this woman mary tudor ,i think she was very strong minded in marrying charles brandon and in doing this she actually defied henry ,she was not going to be bullied by him.
Mary has always fascinated me…to be overshadowed by your brothers (Arthur and Henry) because you’re female. And then to marry the King’s (and your brother’s) best friend in secret…without the King’s permission! Now there is a love story, it would be fascinating to know more about when Mary and Charles first fell in love.
Am I the only who think that she was similiar to Anne figure?
The only difference would be that Anne was more thin… the complexion in both paints is so similiar. ( I mean the second where she is with Charlies Brandon)
And in the first painted by Johannes Corvus I would say that she was sister of katherine of Aragon haha
By the way, I would like to know how was her relantionship with Henry after he married Anne. Did she use to visit the court with Anne being the queen ? As we know that she desliked Anne and supported Katherine’s cause.
Did she support her niece Mary Tudor ? And if yes how?
Ingrid from what i know Mary Rose died a few days before or after Anne’s coronation, some historians say the day Anne was crowned queen. Which means there was little time for her to build a new relationship with her brother and his new wife.
The portraits some times look similar.
She does look very beautiful from her portraits, though I think this shows more in the portrait of her with her husband in the French Hood, these hoods were so much more feminine than the clumbersome Gable Hood, to me anyway.
Sounds like she had a temperment similar to her brother Henry, maybe that’s one of the reasons why he favoured her. She seems to have been her own woman, good for her!!
If only we knew what they did converse about, in kindness or agumentatively, is there any recorded conversations between the two of them?
It seems poor Mary didn’t have much luck with her sons either, I know child mortality was high, but her daughters lived to adulthood, like Henry’s, but the sons struggled, makes you wonder…is it known what her sons died from?
Happy Birthday to you Mary.
Hey, I didn’t realize I share a birthday with Princess Mary Rose! She’s been a favorite of mine ever since I saw Disney’s 1953 movie THE SWORD AND THE ROSE, starring Richard Todd as Brandon and Glynis Johns as Mary — it’s based on a novel from around 1902 called WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER. Glynis was as enchanting in it as she was in THE COURT JESTER a few years later.