© Starz – Becoming Elizabeth
Mary I and Elizabeth I were born as little less than disappointments to their father, Henry VIII, whose quest for a male heir is worldly known. The circumstances of their births and their mothers set them up for rivalry, though it wasn’t always that way.
Mary was born on 18 February 1516 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich to her parents, King Henry VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon. She was the pearl of his father’s eye and her mom adored her unconditionally. She received strong Catholic education and was very skilled at courtly talents such as dancing and singing. But as time went on, Henry VIII understood that Katherine wasn’t going to give him a son and planned for a way out. Henry VIII had been the first monarch in many years to peacefully receive the crown from his father, Henry VII. It hadn’t been that long since the War of the Roses had ended and an heir was needed to guarantee a seamless transition after his death. Katherine intended on preparing Mary for her future role as Queen of England but her husband didn’t want to hear anything about that.
The lack of a male heir turned the King's attention elsewhere, towards one of his wife’s ladies in waiting who also happened to be a sister to one of his former mistresses; Anne Boleyn and Henry embarked on a crusade against the Pope in order to grant them an annulment of Henry and Katherine’s marriage. He claimed that their marriage was sinful because she’d been first married to his older brother Arthur Tudor, thus not being pure by the time she wedded him. He casted both Katherine and Mary aside and paraded Anne around court as if she was wife and Queen in all but name.
Mary, who was a teenager at this point, started to resent Anne. Her mom and herself thought Henry was bewitched by Anne and that it was her that was leading him away from them and from God. They thought that if Anne disappeared, Henry would come back and ask for forgiveness. Love is blind indeed.
Henry VIII was busy being excommunicated and breaking up with Rome, setting up the new Church of England with himself at the top. He named Katherine Dowager Princess of Wales, referencing her union with Arthur, and got their own marriage ruled out as invalid in England, making him free to finally wed Anne.
The dates and conditions surrounding their wedding are debated and somewhat of a mystery. It is said that a first wedding took place on 14 November 1532 after returning from Calais, where they’d gone looking for King Francis’ support. Then, another secret ceremony happened in London on 25 January 1533 to secure their children’s legitimacy as Anne had already fallen pregnant. A public pompous coronation soon followed on 1 June 1533 at Westminster Abbey and the couple must’ve been happy as can be, expecting to welcome a son, while Mary and Katherine saw Henry get further and further away from them and the old faith.
On 7 September 1533 Anne gave birth at Greenwich Palace to a girl they named Elizabeth in honour of both of her grandmothers, former Queen Elizabeth of York and Lady Elizabeth Howard. Anne’s enemies rejoiced at the news, probably including Mary. Giving birth to another princess left her vulnerable at court. She had more detractors than supporters so her power remained dependent on Henry’s love for her. If she wanted to maintain her and her daughter’s position she had to be pregnant with a boy soon. She felt threatened by Mary even after Henry made her serve their daughter Elizabeth. After a few failed attempts at befriending her stepdaughter, Anne grew more angry at her and Henry was becoming more menacing each day that she didn’t bow to any of them.
Mary spent her first days at Hatfield closed off in her chamber, crying and unwilling to call Elizabeth ‘princess’ and calling her just ‘sister’ instead, which isn’t that bad considering she hated the baby’s mother.
Just like Mary grew up within Katherine’s Catholic devotion, Elizabeth was raised as a Protestant, as her mother had been, and that would make the difference in years to come when their also Protestant brother Edward ascended to the throne. The two youngest children would develop a much closer relationship due to them being closer in age and sharing the same faith. Mary would relentlessly try to convert her two half siblings but to no avail.
First though, both girls would lose their respective moms in 1536. Katherine died of cancer at Kimbolton Castle on 7 January and Anne Boleyn was executed by beheading, accused of adultery, incest and treason, on 19 May, at the Tower of London. Shortly after, Mary was finally made to accept her father’s position as Head of the Church of England and her own illegitimacy in order to survive. This rendered Mary and Elizabeth completely harmless to one another, even more so after Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife, birthed the much awaited heir. Thus, they grew up being pretty close and established a loving bond. It’s believed that young Elizabeth loved her eldest sibling and Mary did have a soft spot for the kid now that Anne was erased from their lives. They frequently spent time together and exchanged gifts during Christmas holidays.
Things continued to be more or less the same until Henry’s death in 1547. Mary and Elizabeth had had a great relationship with their last stepmother, Katherine Parr, though once again it was Elizabeth and Edward the ones who were more akin to the Queen as she was a Protestant and a writer. Mary must’ve felt a bit left out and she might’ve got a taste of what was to come once her brother became King.
Mary offered Elizabeth to come live with her now that they had to leave court but she preferred to stay with Katherine. As much as she loved Mary, I’m sure Elizabeth had become attached to her stepmom as she had been the closest thing to a motherly figure she’d had ever since Anne had passed away before Elizabeth had turned 3 years old. Furthermore, Elizabeth must’ve understood by now the differences between her sister’s beliefs and hers, initiating the beginning of the ‘breakup’. Mary didn’t approve of Katherine’s household, even less after rumours about her little sister and Katherine’s fourth husband’s (and Edward VI’s uncle), Thomas Seymour, supposed affair started to swirl.
Unexpectedly, young boy King Edward VI passed away on 6 July 1553 and Mary found out he hadn’t left her or Elizabeth as heirs to the throne claiming their illegitimacy made them unfit to rule. He had chosen Lady Jane Grey, a Protestant 16 year-old whom he was close with and was even close to marrying her at some point. Edward picked Jane because he knew his eldest sister Mary would undo every reform he had done over the years and England would go back to Rome.
Mary fought back and took the crown, riding on horse into London on 3 August 1553, surrounded by all her supporters. She took Elizabeth to show off her sister’s support. Edward had died with no heirs and now Elizabeth could be a threat to her rule as a Protestant frontrunner and daughter of Henry VIII.
Mary did, in fact, validate her parents’ marriage, causing some riffs with Elizabeth; she refused the title of Head of the Church of England, pushing for a return to Catholicism, and focused on marriage and kids. She married Felipe II of Spain; a mixture of infatuation and wanting a strong catholic influence beside her to help her rule over a country that had already begun to turn to Protestantism. Mary needed a baby to prevent Elizabeth from ascending to the throne and destroying all her hard work. This put a strain on their relationship, even more after everyone noticed Felipe’s interest in his sister in law and after Elizabeth was sent to the Tower on suspicion of treason on 18 March 1554. The same Tower that her mother, Anne Boleyn, had been taken to in order to be beheaded years earlier. Elizabeth reportedly said: “Here lands as true a subject, being prisoner, as ever landed at these stairs. Before Thee, O God, I speak it, having none other friend but Thee alone.”
I wonder if Mary had it in her to do it on purpose or if it was just an unlucky coincidence.
Mary feared Elizabeth had been involved with the Wyatt's rebellion (a protestant uprising headed by Thomas Wyatt) and was interrogated, although she declared her innocence every single time. She didn’t plot against her sister but Emperor Charles's ambassador Simon Renard told Mary that her reign wouldn’t be secure as long as Elizabeth lived. Government swayed back and forth between getting rid of her or forgiveness and Mary finally let her go on 22 May, moving her from the Tower to Woodstock, where she was to remain under house arrest. I’m sure Mary didn’t like the fact that Elizabeth was loved and cheered on all the way there.
All these things plus her incapability of having children soured Mary’s mood, and the burning of heretics intensified to the point of scandalizing Felipe who, let’s remind ourselves, came from the Spanish Inquisition. He abandoned Mary after a phantom pregnancy, leaving her to earn the nickname “Bloody Mary”. Mary had called her sister to attend to her over the last weeks of pregnancy and named Felipe as regent in case of dying during childbirth only for him to plan on asking for Elizabeth’s hand if that happened. Mary felt sad and humiliated and was forced to accept that Elizabeth would eventually be the second English Queen in her own right, just like she had been the first. Had she not accepted that fate and fought against it, like Edward had done to herself, another rebellion for the throne would’ve happened. Elizabeth was thoroughly prepared to rule and people loved her and saw in her both Edward VI and Henry VIII. She did think about doing it, though, alleging Elizabeth’s “heretical opinions and illegitimacy, and characteristics in which she resembled her mother”. Her hatred towards Anne Boleyn would never waver. All resemblance of affection or love between both women was lost to politics and religion. Maybe Mary didn’t want to be a traitor to her mom’s legacy, maybe she saw too much of Anne in Elizabeth or maybe she was desperate to be the monarch she dreamed to be ever since she was a child. The truth is that they would never ever be close again.
Mary’s position was a difficult one. She lost her family unit in her teenage years, an age where most princesses were thinking about creating their own families back then. She was left to take care of two half siblings who didn't seem to share many interests with her and who had been raised in a faith she didn’t approve of. She suffered away from her mother, endured her dad’s ire and almost lost the crown she was promised at birth. Her husband looked appealed by her sister; the whole country looked like they preferred Elizabeth instead of her. Their bond truly didn’t stand a chance.
When becoming Queen, Elizabeth reigned over a country divided by her relatives’ actions and reforms. She had seen both extremes in Edward and Mary and went for somewhat of a middle road, declaring: “There is only one Christ, Jesus, one faith. All else is a dispute over trifles.” Her approach would most likely leave both of them unsatisfied.
Unfortunately, we will never know what Mary and Elizabeth could’ve become and been and felt for each other had they encountered other circumstances along their lives. Mary passed away on 17 November 1558 at only 42 years old, at St James's Palace. Elizabeth was crowned at 25 years old on 15 January 1559. When learning about Mary’s death she said: “This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.”
The sisters unexpectedly share a tomb at Westminster Abbey with an inscription that reads: Regno consortes et urna, hic obdormimus Elizabetha et Maria sorores, in spe resurrectionis ("Consorts in realm and tomb, we sisters Elizabeth and Mary here lie down to sleep in hope of the resurrection").
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