The Yarnborough Portrait of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and Charles Brandon
But things didn’t go to plan… because Mary and Brandon had a secret—and scandalous—plan of their own.
Eighteen-year-old Mary Tudor had been forced into a political alliance she didn’t want. She’d been used as a pawn in international diplomacy—shipped off to France to marry a man old enough to be her grandfather. She had to leave behind her family, her friends, everything, all to marry fifty-two-year-old King Louis XII of France.
They married on 9th October 1514, and fortunately for Mary, the marriage was short-lived as Louis died on 1st January 1515.
Before marrying Louis, Mary had made her brother promise that if the French king died she could marry a man of her choosing. The man she had in mind was Suffolk, the very man sent to fetch her.
Following Louis’ death, Mary reminded her brother of his promise to her and threatened to enter a convent if he went back on the deal they’d made. The twice-married Suffolk, who was about thirty, married Mary secretly in France in February 1515 and then again in a more formal ceremony in March 1515.
Francis I, the new French king, was furious with the couple for marrying secretly, going as far as saying to Suffolk that he should behead him, and Mary’s brother, Henry VIII was furious too. However, he and Catherine of Aragon attended the couple’s official marriage at Greenwich Palace on 13th May 1515, and he did eventually forgive his best friend and favourite sister. His forgiveness, though, was helped by Mary surrendering things like jewels, plate, and half her dowry to him. A hefty price for forgiveness!
Despite the scandalous start to their union, and Suffolk’s past history with women, Mary and Suffolk’s marriage became one of the few genuinely happy royal marriages of the Tudor period. They had four children together and remained devoted to each other until Mary’s death in 1533.
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