18 February 1516 – The birth of Queen Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon

| February 18, 2023

18 February 1516 – The birth of Queen Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon

On this day in Tudor history, Queen Catherine of Aragon, first wife of King Henry VIII, gave birth to a healthy baby girl, a little girl who would grow up to be Queen Mary I, England’s first official queen regnant. Mary was the result of Catherine of Aragon’s fifth pregnancy. You can click here to […]

Mary I – Bloody Mary, a failure queen? – Zoom Debate

| December 15, 2022

Mary I – Bloody Mary, a failure queen? – Zoom Debate

New Bonus zoom debate – Mary I – Bloody Mary, a failure queen? Transcript: Hello! It’s not long now until my Discovering Mary I event starts on 16th January 2023 and I thought it would be fun, in the lead up to the event, to do a zoom video debate with historian Johanna Strong. Johanna’s […]

16 Things you might not know about Mary I

| November 25, 2022

16 Things you might not know about Mary I

Queen Mary I, who ruled from 1553 to 1558, has gone down in history as Bloody Mary due to the heresy burnings of her reign, but there’s far more to her than that, and she really is a fascinating Tudor personality. In the video and transcript below, I share 16 things you might not know […]

Mary I: Bloody Mary or a sad and tragic queen?

| November 18, 2022

Mary I: Bloody Mary or a sad and tragic queen?

Thank you to everyone who left comments on my “What do you think about Queen Mary I?” video. Today, I’m sharing the results, the words you used to describe Queen Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The results were very interesting and I was pleasantly surprised… If you’d like to join […]

November 13 – The trial of Lady Jane Grey (Queen Jane)

| November 13, 2022

November 13 – The trial of Lady Jane Grey (Queen Jane)

On this day in Tudor history, 13th November 1553, in the reign of Queen Mary I, Lady Jane Grey was tried for treason. The former Queen Jane was tried at Guildhall in London along with her husband Lord Guildford Dudley, his brothers Ambrose and Henry Dudley, and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, who were accused […]

What do you think about Mary I?

| November 7, 2022

What do you think about Mary I?

Queen Mary I was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, sister of Edward VI and Elizabeth I, and wife of Philip II of Spain. She had a relatively short reign, ruling from July 1553 to her death in November 1558, but although she is often neglected in favour of her more […]

October 18 – Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Elizabeth, is finally free

| October 18, 2022

October 18 – Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Elizabeth, is finally free

On this day in Tudor history, 18th October 1555, in the reign of Queen Mary I, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was finally given permission from her half-sister the queen to leave court and travel to her own estate at Hatfield. Previously, Elizabeth had been confined in the Tower of London and […]

Registration open for online Mary I event – Discovering Mary I

| October 10, 2022

Registration open for online Mary I event – Discovering Mary I

I know from comments on my “Becoming Elizabeth” videos and social media that many people, myself included, thought that the recent Starz series, “Becoming Elizabeth”, was actually more about “Becoming Mary”. I thoroughly enjoyed this look at the pre-accession Mary – and Mary definitely stole the show for me. It is so disappointing that there’s […]

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