Mary Tudor (1516 - 1558) born in Greenwich
Mary Tudor was the daughter of Katharine of Aragon and King Henry VIII
During her early life Princess Mary Tudor was revered as the much loved, only daughter, of the King and Queen of England but all of this changed when her father cast aside her mother for another woman
Her Father, King Henry VIII, like most monarchs of the era had taken mistresses - but only two were notable Elizabeth ( Bessie ) Blount and a lady-in-waiting to Katharine of Aragon named Mary Boleyn
1526 King Henry VIII became totally obsessed with Katharine's lady-in-waiting, and the sister of his previous mistress, Anne Boleyn with whom he fell madly in love
Her father wanted a divorce, her royal mother refused to agree. Henry VIII became obsessed with the text in Leviticus 'If a man shall take his brother's wife it is an unclean thing... they shall be childless.' (Leviticus, XX, 21)
1533 Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury grants the annulment of the marriage between Katharine of Aragon and King Henry VIII - Mary Tudor was devastated by these terrible events in her life.
1533 January 25th - King Henry married Anne Boleyn and was excommunicated by Pope Clement VII. Her parents marriage was over and the Catholic religion was now in question
1533 The royal Katherine of Aragon, mother of Mary Tudor, is given the title of the Princess Dowager of Wales (which she refused to acknowledge to the end of her life). She was moved around different castles in England and separated from her daughter Mary, due to her obstinate refusal to accept the annulment of her marriage. Mary Tudor was not allowed to see her mother
1533 September 7 - Elizabeth , the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was born 7 September 1533. The position of Mary Tudor is usurped by the new baby Princess
1534 - Act of Supremacy: Henry VIII broke with Rome and was declared supreme head of the Church of England. The Protestant religion reformers take advantage of the situation and the Catholic religion is cast into doubt - Protestant and Catholic Religion
Queen Elizabeth I, the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, is born 7 September 1533
Mary Tudor hates the new Queen Anne Boleyn and steadfastly supports her mother and the Catholic religion.
1536 January 7 - Katharine of Aragon, the mother of Mary Tudor, dies at Kimbolton Castle
1536 May 19: Within months Mary Tudor witnesses the downfall of Queen Anne Boleyn who was executed on Tower Green
Her father then married Jane Seymour, a supporter of Mary Tudor, who reconciled father and daughter
Jane Seymour gives birth to a son who would become Edward VI - half brother to Mary Tudor but Jane dies shortly after the birth
6 January 1540: Mary Tudor then witnesses the political and disastrous marriage between her father and Anne of Cleves
The marriage between Anne of Cleves and Henry VIII is quickly annulled and Mary Tudor then witnesses the embarrassing and pathetic affair between her aging, obese father and the young and pretty Catherine Howard
1542 February 13th: The marriage between Catherine Howard ends in tragedy when Catherine Howard is also executed
Her father marries again, this time to Katherine Parr, his sixth wife and yet another step-mother to Mary Tudor
28 January 1547: The father of Mary Tudor the great and terrible King Henry VIII dies and the young, half brother of Mary Tudor is proclaimed King Edward VI
Mary Tudor was never close to her half-brother who was a devout Protestant, who was dominated by John Dudley and the Seymour brothers
1549 introduced a uniform Protestant service in England based on his Book of Common Prayer
6 July 1553: The young King dies and leaving the throne to 'the Lady Jane Grey and her heirs male.'
- Monday 10th July 1553 Lady Jane Grey Proclaimed Queen of England (Queen for just Nine Days)
- 19th July 1553 Queen Jane was deposed as Queen and Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, is finally proclaimed Queen of England
- 12th February 1554 Lady Jane Grey and her husband Guildford Dudley were executed at the Tower of London
1554 July 25: Philip II of Spain married Queen Mary I ( Mary Tudor) of England. Mary was eleven years older than Philip. The English Parliament refused to crown him jointly with Mary so he had little power in England
Shortly after their marriage Queen Mary I, Mary Tudor, announced she was pregnant but it was a false pregnancy
Protestant rebellion against Mary Tudor, led by Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger, and the rumors of Elizabeth's involvement in the plot decide Mary Tudor to have her sister imprisoned in the Tower of London
March 18, 1554 - Princess Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower for eight weeks
1554 Mary Tudor returns England to Roman Catholicism
Protestants are persecuted and 300 are burnt at the stake (in later times this leads to Queen Mary I, Mary Tudor, being called Bloody Mary)
Mary Tudor was besotted with Philip. At his request she reconciled, at the insistence of Philip, with her sister Princess Elizabeth and reluctantly accepted Elizabeth as heir to the throne
October 1555 Elizabeth is allowed to retire from court and return to Hatfield demonstrating outward conformity to the Catholic religion
16 October 1555 - the Protestant churchmen Latimer and Ridley are burned at the stake
1555: Mary Tudor is devastated when her husband, Philip II returns to Spain
1556 January: Philip II was crowned King of Spain after Charles V abdicated to retire to a monastery (Philip had already been given Naples, the Netherlands, Sicily and Milan by his father)
21 March 1556 - Thomas Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury is burned at the stake
1556: England under Mary Tudor loses Calais, the last English possession in France
10 Aug 1557 Spanish and English troops in alliance defeated the French at the Battle of St. Quentin
1558 November 17: Queen Mary I dies on November 17, 1558
