SAI BENNETT as MARY, QUEEN OF FRANCE

♕ @dailytudors: TUDOR WEEK 2024 ♕

Sai Bennett as Mary Tudor · The Spanish Princess 2.01

Georgie Henley and Sai Bennett as Margaret ‘Meg’ Tudor and Mary Tudor in The Spanish Princess Season 2 (x)

Mary Tudor Brandon & Anne Boleyn

Mary, Duchess of Suffolk, was not only loath to acknowledge Anne Boleyn as the future wife of her brother Henry VIII, but also refused to bow to her former servant. She was raised on old values; servants had to know their place, and Anne had blatantly turned the social order upside down. Anne was the one who was paraded at court as if she were already Queen, occupying the consort’s throne while Katharine of Aragon was exiled, and taking precedence over all other noblewomen, including Mary herself. As a crowned Queen of France, Mary was adamant in not tolerating all this and chose a domestic life with her children rather than attending court, where she once shone along Katharine of Aragon and Princess Mary, taking part in banquets, masks and tournaments. Mary blamed Anne for sowing discord in the royal family.

Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, was among a small group of intimates who dared to speak openly with Henry VIII. He had once told the King that there was an intimate relationship between Anne Boleyn and an unidentified member of the court in the past. Whatever this relationship’s nature, it appears that Henry knew about it from Anne, but Brandon was nevertheless briefly banished, although he quickly returned to the King’s good graces.

Anne Boleyn wasn’t as forgiving as Henry and accusing Suffolk of having slept with his own daughter; by this she meant his young ward Katherine Willoughby, daughter of María de Salinas. Katherine was only twelve, and destined for Suffolk’s son Henry. The idea that she could tempt Suffolk away from Mary, his wife, was a crude insult to both of them. Tensions and tempers continued to escalate. Mary publicly referred to Anne using “opprobrious language”, causing a stir at court. Whereas Brandon was able to put his grievances aside, or so he pretended, his wife defied Anne Boleyn until her death in June 1533.

Sources:

Sylvia Barbara Soberton, Golden Age Ladies: Women Who Shaped the Courts of Henry VIII and Francis I

Nicola Clark, THE WAITING GAME: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE WOMEN WHO SERVED THE TUDOR QUEENS

THE SPANISH PRINCESS Season 2, Episode 3 (2020)

THE SPANISH PRINCESS Season 2, Episode 4 (2020)

Sai Bennett as Mary Tudor in The Spanish Princess (2020)

JORDAN RENZO and SAI BENNETT THE SPANISH PRINCESS (2019-2020)

KATHERINE OF ARAGON and MARY TUDOR THE SPANISH PRINCESS (TV Series 2019—2020)

Tudor Ladies + red hair