u/Suerly-04

This medallion was made in the final months of 1554 after England was reconciled with the Roman Church. On the front of the medallion are the Pope, Reginald Pole, the Emperor, and on the right side Philip and Mary.
Look at Mary’s stomach — it’s swollen. The hand on Mary’s stomach is also Philip’s hand.
Seeing this medallion feels very strange to me because Mary’s pregnancy is portrayed so clearly. Although Mary’s pregnancy had been noticed by September, it was not announced publicly until she felt the baby move. On the day Reginald Pole arrived in England (November), Mary believed she felt the baby move, and her pregnancy was officially announced.
Mary had morning sickness, her abdomen was growing, her breasts had become tender, and a few months later she even began producing milk. All of her physicians confirmed that she was pregnant.

When I saw this medallion, I wanted to share it with you all as well.

Please forgive any mistakes, English isn’t my first language!

Tudor history is a period full of ironies, and I wanted to share something that I find especially ironic.
The construction of St. James’s Palace was begun by Henry in 1531. Henry had this palace built for the “sons” he expected to have with Anne. 1531 was also the year Catherine was driven from court and the year Mary and Catherine saw each other for the last time.
Since the palace was completed only a few months after Anne Boleyn’s execution, Anne never actually lived there, but there are intertwined H and A initials throughout the palace. (There are also intertwined initials for Henry and Anne of Cleves there too. Henry really never got tired of this 🙄)
In a way, we could say this palace was built for an empty dream, because God never gave Henry any surviving “sons.”
But what I find truly ironic is this: Queen Mary I died in this palace in 1558. And her heart was buried in the chapel of the palace.
Mary’s heart was buried in the very palace Henry had built for a dream that never came true — a place where he believed he no longer needed Mary and Catherine, a place marked with the initials of other women, and a place Mary most likely knew the purpose of.
The heart Mary once said would reveal Calais and Philip if opened now lies buried upon her father’s dreams.
She was England’s first queen.
I find that very dramatic and interesting.
Please excuse any mistakes — English isn’t my first language!

This atlas was commissioned by Queen Mary I in 1555. It was only one of the maps created during Mary’s reign. Not many people know this, but Mary was truly a Renaissance princess.
—A few days ago, another of Mary’s maps went up for sale in New York, and I honestly think these maps belong in museums.—

This map was made by Mary for her husband Philip, but Mary died before it was completed, so it never reached Philip. It’s even possible that Philip never knew this map existed at all. Mary’s early death left many of her projects unfinished, and this map was one of them.
When we die, our emotions die with us, but some objects remain — almost like reminders of those feelings. To me, this map is a reminder of Mary’s love for Philip.
Philip loved maps, and cartography in England was not very developed at the time. Mary had also begun taking a strong interest in cartography.
You may notice that Philip’s coat of arms in the part representing England on the map was scratched out by “someone.” There are theories about who did it, but I won’t go into that here. Still, it’s designed so beautifully that I can’t take my eyes off it.

This prayer book really moved me. As we can understand from the symbols on it, it originally belonged to Queen Mary I of England.
The prayer book was made for Queen Mary, but after Queen Mary died and by the time Mary Stuart arrived in England, it somehow ended up in Mary Stuart’s possession. Because of this, it is also known as Mary, Queen of Scots’ prayer book. Mary treasured this prayer book deeply and even took it with her to the execution scaffold, giving it to her ladies-in-waiting shortly before the execution took place.
When Mary Stuart came to England, she wanted Jane Dormer — the late Queen Mary’s beloved lady-in-waiting, who had left England for Spain after Elizabeth came to the throne — to return and become one of her ladies, but Jane could not come.
There were also other belongings of the late Queen Mary that were later given to Mary Stuart by people from her close circle, though I don’t fully remember who gave them.
I used to think Margaret Douglas may have been the one who gave this prayer book to Mary, but who really knows?
A sweet connection from one Mary to another 🩷

The images are from the_history_gal page.

There are many myths surrounding Mary and Philip’s marriage. Mary’s melancholic state of mind and Philip’s constant absences abroad have been a source feeding these myths. We can all feel sad about a tragic situation — if it really was tragic. Personally, I do not think it was as tragic as people often make it out to be, and I would like to share a few things I know.
First of all, Philip was not forced to marry Mary. It was not a love marriage, but a political one; however, all of Philip’s marriages were political anyway. The Emperor wrote Philip a letter about it, and Philip accepted. But the idea of Philip and Mary marrying was not first discussed when Mary came to the throne. It had already been discussed years before. The idea that Philip’s sister Joanna would marry Edward, while Mary would marry the Prince of Spain, was first discussed in 1550. Those marriages never happened. Joanna married someone else, and Mary continued living as an unmarried woman.
Later, the possibility of Philip and Mary marrying came up several more times. When Mary came to the throne, she needed an heir more than she needed a husband. According to Henry’s succession laws, nearly everyone after her in line was Protestant. However, a child born to Mary could prevent that. Marriage was not really a choice for Mary.
Mary agreed to marry Philip. As everyone knows, Wyatt’s Rebellion happened in between, and it was suppressed. Mary and Philip became engaged in March. Philip was expected to come to England afterward, but months passed and he still did not arrive. During this time Philip also continued his relationship with his mistress of eleven years. However, this was not the real reason for his delay; the reason was money. A very large dowry had to be provided for Mary. Despite all of the Emperor’s immense power, he was only able to gather the money months later. (Spain went bankrupt three times during Philip’s reign — money was always a problem.)
It also cannot really be said that Philip was enthusiastic about marrying Mary. The fact that Mary was eleven years older than him was an issue for him. He compared the situation to Christ’s suffering. (Philip also referred to Mary as “my aunt” in a letter he wrote to his father.) Later Philip left Valladolid in May and arrived in England two months later, where he was received with great honor.
We know Philip was not in love with Mary and was not particularly impressed by her appearance. Philip himself did not say this — his Spanish entourage did. Philip’s friend Ruy Gomez described Mary as follows: she had a very pale and white face, she was short and very thin, dressed badly, and was not particularly beautiful. They later commented on English women in general and claimed none of them were beautiful. They especially hated English clothing because French fashion dominated England. France and Spain were major enemies, and Mary even made Philip wear French-style clothes, which made them angry with her. They saw themselves as superior to the English in every way.
Mary did not know Philip’s thoughts because Philip treated her very attentively. He constantly complimented her. In fact, during the first days of their marriage a Spanish ambassador wrote that “their majesties are very much in love and are the happiest of couples.”
Two days after the wedding, the Emperor asked Philip to leave because of unrest in the Low Countries, but Philip did not tell Mary, and eventually the situation was resolved. In January another problem emerged and Philip once again needed to leave, but because Mary was “pregnant” and wanted Philip to stay, he decided to remain until the baby was born. When no baby came, Philip promised he would return in six weeks and left England. The Emperor was stepping down from the Spanish throne and Philip had to go.
Of course Philip did not return six weeks later. He wanted to be crowned, but this was rejected. Mary waited for Philip to return, but he did not. Instead Philip spent his time enjoying masques and entertainments. (Not a joke.) Eventually Mary became so upset that she smashed Philip’s portrait. Philip occasionally sent Mary jewelry and, of course, was also unfaithful to her. Whether Mary knew this or not, we do not know.
Philip only returned to England a year and a half later, and not because he missed Mary — he wanted England to enter the war. Philip threatened Mary that if she did not agree to war, he would leave England and never return. Mary agreed, but the council did not. War was only declared when it became clear that the French had supported another rebellion in an attempt to remove Mary from the throne.
England declaring war on France was not unusual because France had first supported Lady Jane Grey, later helped Wyatt’s Rebellion, and the French ambassador had stirred trouble in England, frightening and provoking people, among many other things. Still, the war ultimately happened because of Philip.
Philip (aside from threatening Mary!!!) continued treating Mary very kindly. He said kind and pleasant things to her. Later Philip decided he could not effectively manage the war from England and left. They both expected they would see each other again.
We all know what happened afterward, so I do not want to go into too much detail. Mary believed she was pregnant once again, but once again there was no baby. Mary became depressed. Philip said he was worried about Mary (because she had not written to him in ten days, which was surprising because Mary wrote to him every day), sent the Count of Feria to her, and wrote comforting letters.
When Mary was dying, she wanted to see Philip, but Philip did not come and, realistically, he could not — he believed the English hated him. However, he wrote kind and comforting letters to Mary, though Mary never read them. She died shortly afterward.
We do not know what Mary and Philip discussed in these letters because those letters have been lying at the bottom of the sea for five hundred years. After Mary’s death Philip ordered his men to recover all of the letters and bring them to Spain, but the ship sank. Only one letter was overlooked.
Philip’s words regarding Mary’s death have also become one of the sources behind this continuing myth. I will answer that with a quotation:
“The notion of Philip’s indifference to Mary’s death, derived from his alleged comment that ‘he felt a reasonable regret for her death’. In mourning at the monastery of Grunethal on 4th December, what he actually wrote to his sister Juana was that ‘given that the problem of Calais can not be negotiated so soon, especially given the death of the most serene Queen, my wife, may she rest in peace, which I have felt as deeply as one would expect, even in this she is most necessary to me…’ The Victorian translation of this document (‘I felt a reasonable regret for her death. I shall miss her, even on this account’) has given rise to the idea that Philip did not mourn Mary’s passing, particularly. The original underlines, however, that whatever Philip’s most intimate feelings about his wife, he expressed sorrow to his sister and underlined Mary’s practical importance to him in the context of the war with France.”
Finally, another issue is Philip proposing marriage to Elizabeth. He did not propose because he felt anything for her. In fact, some people have even claimed Philip and Elizabeth had a relationship. That is an insult to both Mary and Elizabeth. I do not even think Philip and Elizabeth ever really spoke because Mary would never have allowed it. They probably only saw each other a few times.
Philip proposed to Elizabeth because he needed England. You can read this in sources from the period as well — he did not make the proposal willingly and he was not happy about it either. Elizabeth would not have accepted anyway, but Philip left before waiting for an answer and became engaged to someone else.
This post was not written to defend Philip, as I do not like him for being unfaithful to Mary.
Thank you for reading this very long post. And please forgive any mistakes — English is not my first language.
Main Sources
Mary and Philip-Alexander Samson
Mary Tudor-Linda Porter

Catherine and Mary being unable to see each other even one last time makes me very sad. I cannot even understand such cruelty. Mary last saw her mother in 1531, and Catherine died in 1536. Mary was confined to Elizabeth’s household at Hatfield and was constantly ill because of the pressure she was under, while Catherine was exiled to damp castles. Mary was not even allowed to attend Catherine’s funeral, and they were forbidden from exchanging letters.
But some kind people were secretly able to carry letters between Mary and Catherine.

This letter was written in 1534, and I think — though I am not completely sure — it is the only surviving letter Catherine wrote to Mary:

“Daughter, I heard such tidings today that I do perceive if it be true, the time is come that Almighty God will prove you; and I am very glad of it, for I trust He doth handle you with a good love. I beseech you agree of His pleasure with a merry heart; and be sure that, without fail, He will not suffer you to perish if you beware to offend Him. I pray you, good daughter, to offer yourself to Him. If any pangs come to you, shrive yourself; first make you clean; take heed of His commandments, and keep them as near as He will give you grace to do, for then you are sure armed. And if this lady [Anne Shelton] do come to you as it is spoken, if she do bring you a letter from the King, I am sure in the self same letter you shall be commanded what you shall do. Answer with few words, obeying the King, your father, in everything, save only that you will not offend God and lose your own soul; and go no further with learning and disputation in the matter. And wheresoever, and in whatsoever company you shall come, observe the King’s commandments. Speak you few words and meddle nothing. I will send you two books in Latin; the one shall be De Vita Christi with a declaration of the Gospels, and the other the Epistles of St Jerome that he did write to Paul and Eustochium, and in them I trust you shall see good things. And sometimes for your recreation use your virginals or lute if you have any.
But one thing I especially desire you, for the love that you do owe unto God and unto me, to keep your heart with a chaste mind, and your body from all ill and wanton company, not thinking or desiring any husband for Christ’s passion; neither determine yourself to any manner of living till this troublesome time be past. For I dare make sure that you shall see a very good end, and better than you can desire. I would God, good daughter, that you did know with how good a heart I do write this letter unto you. I never did one with a better, for I perceive very well that God loveth you. I beseech Him of His goodness to continue it; and if it fortune that you shall have nobody with you of your acquaintance, I think it best you keep your keys yourself, for howsoever it is, so shall be done as shall please them.
And now you shall begin, and by likelihood I shall follow. I set not a rush by it; for when they have done the uttermost they can, than I am sure of the amendment. I pray you, recommend me unto my good lady of Salisbury, and pray her to have a good heart, for we never come to the kingdom of Heaven but by troubles.
Daughter, whatsoever you come, take no pain to send unto me, for if I may, I will send to you.
Your loving mother,
Katharine the Queen.”

I really wish Mary could be removed from beneath Elizabeth and buried with her mother, but I suppose that is impossible.
Please excuse any mistakes in my writing — English is not my native language.

You probably know Paolo Veronese’s very famous painting The Wedding at Cana. It is said that, besides Jesus and the Virgin Mary, several rulers are also depicted in the painting — Emperor Charles, Suleiman the Magnificent, and others. In many articles, it is also claimed that Queen Mary I of England appears in this painting. I tried to figure out which woman in the painting could be Mary, but I could not identify her. Do you think Mary is really included in the painting, and if so, which woman is supposed to represent her?

I was reading some writings about Mary’s reign, and I became fascinated by the way people viewed Mary herself, queenship, and the marriage of a queen regnant. This made me connect these ideas to Elizabeth’s eventual decision not to marry — which, even centuries later, remains one of the most discussed questions about her reign.
As is often obvious from social media discussions, Elizabeth’s refusal to marry was clearly not because of some dramatic motivation like, “my father killed my mother, so I will end his bloodline too.” No one — including Elizabeth herself — expected her to rule for 45 years without ever marrying. But I think that, to understand why she ultimately remained unmarried, we need to go back to the beginning of Mary’s reign.
Mary came to the throne in triumph. The people accepted a female ruler. But how exactly did they see her? Early in her reign, Mary was portrayed almost as a “Herculean” figure, distant from conventional femininity. Her chastity and virtue were constantly emphasized. Mary’s victory over John Dudley gave her the image of a warrior queen, perhaps even something slightly masculine — but not entirely. This was still seen as the victory of a powerless, virginal woman against men who possessed all the resources of the kingdom.
When Reginald Pole arrived in England, one of his first speeches referred precisely to this idea: that “a virgin woman had conquered men.” During the early years of her reign, Mary’s virginity was repeatedly emphasized. At the same time, everyone agreed that Mary needed to marry.
Once it became clear that she intended to marry Philip, however, everything changed dramatically. During Wyatt’s Rebellion, some rebels directed sexual insults at Mary. Earlier, when she released Gardiner from the Tower, rumors had even spread that she was pregnant by him. Mary’s marriage to Philip increasingly came to be interpreted as a kind of sexual conquest.
In her speech in London on February 1st, Mary once again emphasized her virginity. She declared that she was “already married to her kingdom,” that she had lived as a virgin woman until then and could continue to do so, but that she also had a duty to provide her people with an heir. She stressed her chastity because a woman’s greatest virtue was believed to be virginity.
After her marriage, some people began claiming that the queen was no longer as virtuous as before because she had lost the very thing that gave her symbolic power: her virginity. And this became controversial — even though everyone had insisted that she must marry and produce a child. Gardiner and Mary’s closest advisors argued that she entered the marriage for the good of the kingdom. Even at Mary’s funeral, Philip and the marriage were largely ignored, while her chastity continued to be emphasized. But by then, the image had already lost much of its power. In a sense, Mary was actually the first “Virgin Queen.” The difference is that this narrative lost its value the moment she married. And with it, Mary also lost that noble image she once possessed.
Did Elizabeth never want to marry? I do not think so. The real question is: whom could she marry?
Just days before Mary’s death, the Count of Feria, acting under Philip’s instructions, tried to persuade Elizabeth to marry the Duke of Savoy. Elizabeth reportedly told Feria that she would never marry a foreigner because if she did, she would lose the love of her people. Elizabeth believed that Mary had lost popular affection precisely because she married a foreign prince.
Elizabeth most likely wanted to marry Robert Dudley. But marrying him could have endangered her throne, especially after the suspicious death of Dudley’s wife. So who remained? Essentially only English noblemen. But Elizabeth, once queen, was the highest-ranking person in England — and also extremely proud. In England, even princesses marrying their own subjects was often considered degrading. Mary herself had, since childhood, been proposed almost exclusively foreign matches: James V of Scotland, the Emperor, Archduke Ferdinand, the Portuguese prince, French princes, Philip of Bavaria, and others.
We know how deeply Elizabeth cared about her image. I think she sincerely wanted marriage at various points in her life, but politically and symbolically she could not truly allow herself to marry. She could even behave possessively and sometimes cruelly toward people around her who married. She was queen, but she was not entirely free. When we look at Elizabeth’s personality, we see someone passionate, flirtatious, and emotionally intense — yet her sexuality remained under constant political control.
Later, she came very close to marrying the French prince François, Duke of Anjou. But Parliament strongly opposed the match because of fears surrounding another foreign marriage.
In many ways, Elizabeth gave up marriage for the sake of her image.
But then another question emerges: why did Mary insist so strongly on marrying Philip?
Unlike Elizabeth and Edward, Mary personally witnessed all the chaos created by Henry VIII. Henry possessed such immense authority that he founded a national church, annulled a 24-year marriage, declared his children illegitimate, executed two wives, and fundamentally reshaped the kingdom — often while facing surprisingly little resistance. Mary inherited that same understanding of monarchy. She believed that if a king possessed certain powers, she possessed them as well, and that nobody had the right to interfere in her marriage choices. This was not really about believing in modern gender equality; it was about believing that a queen regnant possessed the same sovereign authority as a king. Later legislation even reinforced this principle.
For this reason, Mary struggled to understand the public fear surrounding her marriage, because she believed the crown granted her the same authority her father had possessed. Some people even feared that her future child would not truly be “English.” This is one reason why Philip was so carefully presented as an “English” husband in official propaganda.
And there is also something strangely ironic about all this. England had six queens regnant. Only one never married — and the other five all married foreign princes.
At least, this is how I see it.

Thank you for reading this long, somewhat inconclusive essay, which is purely about my thoughts. And please forgive any mistakes — English is not my first language

I want to share a few things I know about this famous portrait of Mary.
This portrait was most likely painted by Antonis Mor in late 1554, at the Emperor’s request. Some people find the painting terrifying and say it contributed to Mary’s “bloody” and “harsh” image.
Personally, I have always loved this portrait. Yes, Mary’s face looks stern, but it also reflects a confident and powerful woman.
This portrait resembles other Habsburg royal portraits, but there is one important difference: Mary is depicted sitting on a throne. This is something not seen with other Habsburg queens, or even with some kings.
Queens, princes, and princesses were usually portrayed standing, often with one hand resting on a throne or table. Only kings were typically shown seated on a throne. In this first portrait, Mary is not yet Queen of Spain; she is only Queen of England, Ireland, and Naples.
The second image depicts Philip, supposedly painted in 1554, although the exact date is unknown. He was probably already king when this portrait was made, yet he is not seated on the throne — he is only touching it. The third image shows Philip’s mother, Isabella, seated, but without a visible throne behind her. This portrait was painted after her death, and Isabella was the mother of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty.
The fourth image shows Philip’s two sisters. One was an empress and the other a Portuguese princess, yet both are standing.
The fifth image shows Philip’s other two wives; they touch the throne, but they are not seated on it.
The sixth image depicts Philip’s eldest daughter, Isabella. Although she was a princess, she was not portrayed seated on a throne at first. However, before Philip died, he granted the Netherlands to Isabella and her husband and made her ruler of those territories. In portraits painted after that, she is shown seated, which was actually quite exceptional.
The other paintings depict additional Spanish queens, but none of them are seated on a throne.
There are only a few later portraits in which Philip himself is shown seated on a throne (I think one of them was a portrait with his father, though I cannot remember the exact date).
There is also another very famous portrait of Philip and Mary together in which only Mary is seated while Philip stands beside her. What I want to emphasize throughout all of this is that Mary was not portrayed as an ordinary Spanish bride, but as a monarch in her own right. The rose in her hand is the Lancaster rose.

If you look closely at the rings on Mary's hand, one, I believe, is her wedding ring to England. The ring with a stone on her ring finger is her engagement ring, and the thinner bands are the rings Philip gave her at their wedding. Mary specifically chose the thin wedding bands, saying, "In the old days, young girls used to get married wearing these rings." In some copies of this painting made in England, Mary's wedding ring is omitted. I think this is to emphasize that she was only married to England.

Please excuse any spelling errors, as English is not my native language.