Mary Tudor © Unknown Artist – The National Portrait Gallery
Portrait of Mary Stuart at about 17 years old, by François Clouet, c. 1558–1560
One of the most unfortunate aspects of history is that most royal names are used over and over again to the point where some historical figures are often confused with others. How many King Henry’s do we have in history throughout the world? How many King Williams’ or Queen Anne’s or Katherine’s? It almost seems to be never ending!
And it is unfortunate that two Queens, two cousins in fact, of the 16th century happened to share the same name and are still confused with each other to this day by those who are quite unfamiliar with British history. Those two Queens are—Mary Tudor and Mary Stuart or Mary, Queen of Scots as she is more commonly known, two Queens who each left a lasting mark on the world and in history.
We wouldn’t want anyone else to confuse these two Queens so let us educate you about them and what differences/similarities they shared. The two Queen Marys were related through blood; Mary Tudor was the cousin, once removed, to Mary Stuart through her paternal side and although they never met during their lifetime, their similarities must make one wonder if they would have gotten along much better than Mary Stuart did with Mary Tudor’s little sister, Elizabeth I, otherwise known as The Virgin Queen or Good Queen Bess.
Mary Tudor was the eldest daughter of King Henry VIII of England and his first wife, Catalina de Aragon (otherwise known as Catherine of Aragon). Mary was Catalina’s only surviving child and the older sister to three siblings belonging to her father; Henry Fitzroy (who was the only illegitimate child ever to be acknowledged by Henry VIII), Elizabeth (his youngest daughter from his second marriage to Anne Boleyn) and his only surviving son following Fitzroy’s death in July 1536; Edward VI, from his third marriage to Jane Seymour.
She was later illegitimated following her father’s divorce from her mother and forced to live in exile up until her sister’s birth in 1533 where she would become a member of the young Princess’ household. Despite Mary eventually being welcomed back into court and reinstated as a possible heir to the throne in the Third Succession Act, she would never be legitimised by her father as would her sister, Elizabeth, leaving them as ‘bastards’ until the end of their days. Upon becoming the first Queen Regent of England and Ireland in her own right, Mary reintroduced Catholicism as the main religion of England and secured important alliances with Spain and the Holy Roman Church, including marrying the very handsome King Philip II of Spain in a bid to continue the alliance between England and Spain that both started and ended with her parents’ marriage.
As Queen, she was fearless, devout and dedicated to changing England for the better and even though many of her subjects did not approve of her marriage, Mary felt very lucky indeed to have found love with her husband, although his own love seemed to diminish as time passed by. Philip was neglectful and him practically abandoning Mary in England left stress and heartbreak for her especially when the news spread that the Queen was expecting her first child, which had to be the male heir that England sorely lacked. Sadly enough, the news of the Queen’s pregnancy would turn out to be false as it was later discovered that she was suffering from a phantom pregnancy where the body and mind acts as if a pregnancy had actually occurred. Mary looked very much to be pregnant and suffered from some of the common symptoms that would leave one thinking she was but as the months rolled by and no sign of a child came, it was clear that the Queen was very ill indeed.
Bad luck continued to plague the Tudor Queen as her ill-health lingered and with her husband hiding away from her in Spain and no possibility of an heir on the horizon, Mary must have known that her time as Queen was coming to an end. And that meant the constant pressuring and headbutting opinions of her closest advisors about who to name as her heir. The obvious answer to Mary would have been to pick a Catholic as her heir as England was once again a Catholic country just like it had been during the time of her parents’ marriage and she wanted to keep it that way. However, she also wished to keep England in the Tudor bloodline and the only person she could pass her throne onto was her Protestant sister, Elizabeth. Whilst you might be wondering why Mary Stuart wasn’t considered as an option, it is because Mary Stuart was already married to the Dauphin of France, Francis II, which meant that she was next in line to become Queen of France on top of already being Queen of Scotland since she was but a few days old.
With France being England’s long-time enemy despite being a Catholic one, Mary Tudor knew that her sister Elizabeth was her only option and so she made Elizabeth her heir on the condition that Elizabeth keep England in the true Catholic faith. And we all know that Elizabeth did not intend to keep her word, if such a promise was even made, of course.
Queen Mary Tudor died at the age of forty-two on 17th November 1558 at St James’ Palace, just months after her cousin Mary Stuart married the Dauphin of France. The exact cause of Mary’s death is unknown but historians have theorised that she suffered in pain for months from ovarian cysts or uterine cancer, similar to how her own mother had died from a possible cancer in 1536. Mary’s death couldn’t have come at a worst time as there was an influenza epidemic spreading throughout England which would claim the lives of many of Mary’s loyal subjects, including Archbishop Pole who would die later that day alongside his Queen.
Now, onto the ‘other’ Mary—Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland.
. . .
Twenty-six years younger than her Tudor cousin, Mary Stuart was born on 8th December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian, in Scotland. Her parents were James V, the King of Scotland, and his second wife, Mary of Guise. James V died six days following the birth of his daughter, making her Queen of Scotland at just six days old with her mother there to assist in ruling until her daughter reached the age of maturity. Her father was the son of James IV and his wife Margaret Tudor who was the older sister of Henry VIII, the King of England, who was Mary Tudor’s father which is what made Mary Tudor and Mary Stuart blood cousins.
Now the Queen of Scotland, the offers of marriage for Mary Stuart began pouring in and Mary of Guise was nothing more than thrilled to receive them. One of these offers of marriage would come from someone familiar to her; Henry VIII who was asking for Mary’s hand in marriage to his only son and heir, Edward. Edward was born in 1537, making him five years older than his cousin, and their marriage would unite England and Scotland just like Mary’s grandmother’s own marriage intended to. Mary of Guise was familiar with Henry VIII as he himself had proposed marriage to her shortly before her marriage to James V in 1538 in order to prevent Scotland and France becoming allies as Mary of Guise was a lady of the French court—and France and England were sworn enemies.
Unfortunately for Henry VIII, not only did he not succeed in winning the hand of Mary of Guise for himself but he also failed in winning the hand of Mary Stuart for his son Edward as Mary decided to betroth her daughter to a far better Prince—the Dauphin of France, Francis II. Mary of Guise wanted to keep Scotland and France in alliance with one another and she knew that her daughter was the key to achieving this. In 1548, Mary Stuart was betrothed to Francis and would one day become his wife and the future Queen of France, uniting France and Scotland against England and Mary’s distant cousins, King Edward and his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth.
But Mary of Guise was concerned about her daughter’s safety in Scotland with the threat of an English invasion and decided that it would be best for the protection of the Queen to leave for France where her betrothed lived. It must have been awfully frightening for Mary to leave her homeland and everyone she knew to live in a foreign, strange country, especially when she knew that she was the Queen of a country she was not even growing up in. Mary living in the French court limited her knowledge of her own court back in Scotland but her mother ensured that everything ran smoothly in her daughter’s absence.
The young Mary Stuart travelled to France accompanied by her two illegitimate half-brothers from her father’s affair with his mistress, Lady Margaret Erskine, as well as the ‘four Mary’s’ who were four girls all called Mary who were close in age to the young Queen and would remain life-long friends. For the next ten years, Mary Stuart lived in the French court, learning more about what her marriage to Francis would be like and how she was expected to act as Queen of France and Scotland. Obviously, she would have been informed by her mother-in-law, the intelligent ‘Serpent Queen’, Catherine de Medici of her importance to provide France with a male heir, just as she had felt the same pressure during the first ten years of her marriage to Francis II’s father, Henry II. Mary did not have the best relationship with her mother-in-law, Catherine de Medici, as she was a favourite of the court but not with Catherine, who appeared to despise her very presence.
Mary Stuart had the very best education, fit for a Queen like her. Mary could speak multiple languages including her native language of Scottish, English, French, Spanish, Latin, Greek and Italian, making her quite an sophisticated Queen indeed. She also took pleasure in music and literature as she was proficient in playing the lute and virginals as well as her competency in prose and poetry. Her favourite pastimes included horsemanship, falconry, needlework, archery and enjoying dancing at court balls. In the eyes of King Henry II, his future daughter-in-law would be a great asset to the future of France, and Scotland naturally. However, shortly before marrying Francis on 24th April 1558, Mary signed a secret document bequeathing Scotland along with her claim to the English throne should she die without providing an heir, something that she would later regret.
Her relationship with her husband, Francis, is said to be a pleasant one as the two quickly became friends and even though they might not have fallen in love as the popular show Reign portrays, the two certainly enjoyed each other’s company and were determined to rule France to the best of their ability as they became King and Queen Consort of France in 1559 with the death of Henry II. At this time, Francis was only fifteen and Mary was sixteen, making them teenage rulers, but this was nothing new to Mary who had been Queen of Scotland practically since birth. Sadly, their rule as well as their marriage did not last as long as the two of them might have hoped as Francis died the following year on 5 December 1560 of a middle ear infection that led to an abscess in his brain. Mary was left devastated by his death as well as frightened for her future; they had been married for a mere two years and had not produced an heir to the throne of France or Scotland, leaving Francis’ mother to take over as ruler of France until her younger son was old enough to rule.
In Scotland, things were not much better as Mary of Guise had died and Scotland had recently underwent a Reformation, leaving the court tense with religious and political conflict. Scotland was now a Protestant Kingdom and Mary was a devout Catholic, something that disturbed a lot of her people and worried those in her court about her safety and security upon the throne. Nevertheless, Mary understood her duty was to her people and with no reason to remain in France, she returned to her homeland of Scotland in August 1561, still grieving the loss of her husband and her mother. Mary would marry another two times and neither of these marriages were happy ones; her second marriage to her England half-cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley was one of abuse, neglect and a greedy appetite for power on her husband’s side. Henry Stuart demanded that he be recognised as King of Scotland and constantly undermined unsuspecting Mary to achieve his own means, especially since he knew that politics was not Mary’s strong suit. Unlike her cousin, Mary Stuart was naïve, easily influenced, kind and had issues standing up for herself, not that it was her own fault, of course. Had she been allowed to handle more political matters, she might have chosen a better second husband other than Lord Darnley.
Their marriage ended when Lord Darnley was murdered eight months after the birth of their son, James, supposedly on the orders of Mary and her lover and soon to be third husband; James Hepburn, better known as Lord Bothwell. Anger rose in Mary’s court and threats towards the Queen became more and more to the point where her husband fled to Norway where he was arrested and forced to live in Denmark for the remainder of his life. Mary’s luck couldn’t get any worse when she was forced to abdicate her throne in favour of her son James and fled to England, begging her cousin Elizabeth, who was Queen at the time, for her to protect her against the rebellion stirring up in Scotland. They were blood and Queens, Mary said and she should protect her and her son since they were claiming sanctuary in England.
To cut a long story short, Elizabeth’s closest advisors were eager to be rid of Mary Stuart since she still posed a threat to the throne of England and were able to link her to one of numerous assassination plots against Elizabeth. Despite eventually signing, Elizabeth was reluctant to sign Mary’s death warrant as she did not want to kill her cousin and commit regicide as Mary could still be a possible heir to the throne of England with Elizabeth’s eventual death. Instead, Elizabeth would name Mary’s son, James, as her heir as he was a Protestant and him becoming King would finally unite the kingdoms of England and Scotland. With this decision made, Elizabeth reluctantly signed the death warrant for Mary, sending her to the executioner’s block on 8th February 1547 at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire. Historians have been able to uncover that Mary was wearing a red dress under her black robes to symbolise that she was a martyr and that her death symbolised her being martyred for her religion. We also know that her dog was hiding under her dress and was found cowering when Mary’s body was being removed. It is also said that when the executioner held up her head by her hair to show it off to the crowd, it fell from his grasp because Mary had been wearing a wig—whether this is true or not, we will never find out.
As you see, both Mary Tudor and Mary Stuart suffered tremendously during their lifetime and although they never met, they would have found that they were similar in quite a lot of ways. If we excuse the obvious fact that they shared the same name, they would have also seen that they were both devout Catholics who fought to keep their kingdoms (that were both heading towards the Protestant route) as Catholic countries, they both married for alliances that their mothers wanted (in Mary Tudor’s case, she would have been pleased that Mary married into her Spanish roots) and they both died way before they needed to. I believe that, if Mary Tudor had not died in 1558 and lived much longer, she would have found an ally in her cousin Mary Stuart, rather than the enemy that her sister Elizabeth had. Both of the Mary’s would have respected one another and worked together to ensure an alliance lasted between England and Scotland (and France had Francis lived longer than he had also). And, if Mary did die shortly after 1560, I am sure that she would have considered her cousin a more favourable heir to the throne of England rather than her sister, as their relationship was not the best and Mary despised Protestants. Mary Stuart might not have married her horrid second husband and perhaps found a nicer, more agreeable husband in England and united the kingdoms of England and Scotland herself rather than her son James achieving it when he became King.
We do not know if the two cousins ever corresponded during their lifetime and what this correspondence might have said but I believe the two might have spoken to each other in a kind, loving and respectful way. After all, Mary Tudor had no reason to have conflict with Mary Stuart as she was a devout Catholic like her and was only trying to do her rightful duty as Queen to the best of her ability.
What do you think their relationship might have been like?
Tell us in the comments below!
Until next time!
- Have a ‘Tudor-fic’ week!
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