Mary Tudor - Anna Whitelock [10]
As a condition of the marriage alliance, the French had insisted that Mary be recognized as her father’s heir. It was the first acknowledgment of her right to the throne.10 At the time it seemed a relatively insignificant concession. Katherine was pregnant, and Henry held out great hope for the imminent birth of a son. But once again, to the “vexation of everyone,”11 disappointment followed. On November 9, a month after the betrothal ceremonies, Katherine gave birth to a stillborn daughter. “Never had the kingdom desired anything so passionately as it had a prince,” Giustiniani wrote. “Perhaps had the event taken place before the conclusion of the betrothal, that event might not have come to pass; the sole fear of this kingdom, that it may pass through this marriage into the power of the French.”12 By the beginning of 1519, Princess Mary, betrothed to the French dauphin, was the sole heir to the throne of England.
CHAPTER 4
A VERY FINE YOUNG COUSIN INDEED
IN 1519, THE HABSBURG-VALOIS STRUGGLE FOR EUROPEAN DOMINANCE imploded. Mary’s cousin, nineteen-year-old Charles of Spain and Burgundy, became Holy Roman Emperor following the death of his grandfather. He was now the most powerful ruler in Christendom, heir to the vast territories of Spain, Burgundy, and the Netherlands and huge swaths of Germany. England held the balance of power. Francis needed English friendship to prevent French encirclement; Charles wanted English money and ships to suppress the Comuneros revolt, which had broken out in Castile against his rule. Seeking to maximize his advantage, Henry negotiated with both sides. While rumors circulated of a proposed marriage between Mary and her cousin the Emperor Charles, Henry sought to reassure Francis of his commitment to the Anglo-French match.
On Saturday, May 26, 1520, shortly before Henry’s long-awaited meeting with the French king, Charles arrived in England on his way from Spain to the Low Countries. He landed at Dover and was conducted by Henry and Wolsey to Canterbury, where for the first time he met his aunt. Katherine “embraced him tenderly, not without tears.” Their reunion had been “her greatest desire in the world.”1 For three days, amid lavish entertainment, Charles sought to undermine the marriage alliance between his cousin Mary and the Valois prince. On the twenty-ninth, Henry and Katherine set sail for France accompanied by a retinue of six thousand Englishmen and -women.
For just over three weeks, a temporary town, the Camp du Drap d’Or, or Field of the Cloth of Gold, stood on a no-man’s-land between the English-held town of Guisnes and French-held Ardres.2 Gold fountains flowed with claret; there were huge and elaborate pavilions and tents and a great temporary palace of classical design erected at the town’s entrance. Together the two kings jousted, feasted, and celebrated the entente reached two years before. It was a spectacular meeting of two young and physically powerful monarchs, whose rivalry was at once political and intensely personal. It was the greatest and most conspicuous display of wealth and culture that Europe had ever seen.
While her parents feasted in France, Mary became the focus of royal attention, holding court at Richmond Palace. Her nursery had been expanded to become a more “princely” household, reflecting her status—albeit reluctantly acknowledged—as the king’s sole heir. Head officers were appointed, and male servants, gentlemen, grooms, and valets were added to her original female staff. Lady Bryan