Mary Tudor

Mary I is notorious for her persecution of Protestants and has been vilified by generations of partisan historians. In childhood the pampered Princess of Wales was beloved by both parents and a valuable piece in the game of royal marriages. But the young Mary Tudor was declared illegitimate in her teens, and forced to serve her infant half-sister Elizabeth. Following the deaths of her father, Henry VIII, and her half-brother, Edward VI, she was swept to the throne by popular acclaim - yet her death, just five years later, was greeted with universal relief. How did it all go so wrong? 'The Spanish Tudor' learnt early from her flamboyant father's acts to distrust all Englishment, and love the faith and homeland of her mother, Katherine of Aragon. From those bitter early experiences sprang all the ills that were the key features of her reign - the hated marriage to Philip II of Spain, the loss of Calais, and divisive religious persectuion. Yet, the tragic paradox of Mary was her need, above all, to be loved.