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Claire | June 18, 2019
In today’s instalment of my “Questions about Anne Boleyn” series, I consider the relationship between Anne Boleyn and her stepdaughter, Mary, daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Anne Boleyn is often blamed for the ill-treatment Mary received in the 1530s, being painted as a wicked stepmother, so I look at how Mary […]
Claire | June 15, 2019
On this day in Tudor history, 15th June 1536, Mary (the future Mary I), daughter of King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, received an intimidating visit at her home at Hunsdon. The visit was from members of the king’s council, who had been sent by her father, the king, to persuade […]
Claire | November 17, 2017
On this day in history, 17th November 1558, Queen Mary I, Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, died at St James’s Palace at the age of forty-two. Mary had named her half-sister, twenty-five-year-old Elizabeth, as her heir and members of Mary’s council rushed to Hatfield to give the new queen the news of Mary’s death. On hearing […]
Claire | October 5, 2017
On 2nd October 1518, the Treaty of London, Cardinal Wolsey’s treaty of “Universal” peace, was signed by France and England. Tournai, which had been conquered by Henry VIII in 1513, was to be restored to France and a marriage was arranged between Henry VIII’s two-year-old daughter, Mary (the future Mary I), and François, the Dauphin […]
Claire | June 15, 2017
On this day in history, 15th June 1536, a week after she had reached out to her father Henry VIII in a letter, twenty-year-old Mary received a visit at Hunsdon from members of the king’s council led by Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Rather than informing her that the king was willing to receive […]
Claire | June 8, 2017
On this day in history, 8th June 1536, Henry VIII’s eldest daughter Mary, the future Mary I, wrote to her father, the father she had been estranged from since the breakdown of her parents’ marriage. We have a record of her letter to him, although it is damaged: “Begs his daily blessing. Though she understands, […]
Claire | May 26, 2017
On this day in history, Friday 26th May 1536, exactly a week after the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, her stepmother, Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, the Lady Mary, wrote to Thomas Cromwell. Mary wanted Cromwell, the king’s right-hand man, to intercede with her father on her behalf and she wanted permission to write to the […]
Claire | March 30, 2017
Mary I is one of those historical figures that divides opinions, with some people viewing her as nothing more than Bloody Mary and others seeking to rehabilitate her image. It’s hard to do her justice in a short time, but I hope that my 60-second history serves as an introduction to her, to pique viewers’ […]
