A Queen Twice Over: Mary Tudor the Elder Marries Francis I of France
- Thread starter FalconHonour
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I wouldn't be so sure. Henry managed a child in 1537 OTL and that was *with* the jousting accident in 1536, which he won't be having ITTL. Catherine de Medici would be 19 in 1537. She could easily have had more than one child by then. And a young bride might keep Henry 'younger' and fitter than OTL. I could see him managing to sire children right up to the early 1540s if he keeps the weight off. He could easily have a Prince of Wales yet.
I couldn't resist the irony...As soon as I had Marie send Diane to England, I knew I had to get Catherine over there too somehow...
I thought I'd made myself perfectly clear. I was answering @Henderson and explaining why I don't think that Henry's marrying Catherine de Medici in the early 1530s when she's just twelve or thirteen necessarily means that he won't have a son to succeed him and that Mary and Sawney will take the English throne...
I couldn't resist the irony either...
On the other hand, otl Catherine gave Henri many children, although many of them were afflicted with subpar health. It is to be hoped that ATL Henry VIII's genes fare better this TL...
Weren't Henri and Catherine's kids plagued by ill health due to Henri having syphilis?
Hmm I'm not sure about that in particular, I think that several of Henri's siblings were also sickly, so I don't know if syphilis was inherited by his kids or anything
Ooh so Marguerite has given Charles enough sons, he's rather lucky. Also interesting to see Catherine de Medici chosen, I was probably hoping for etiher her or Amalia. Nice chapter!
Well, he's done all right with Diane and Mary, hasn't he? I wouldn't necessarily panic yet...
Marguerite actually had a son, Jean, born in July 1530 OTL. He just died at five months old. Not so here, I can promise you that this little Duke of Burgundy lives a long healthy life - as, in fact, do all Marguerite's children. She's the lucky one ITTL.
And yes, it was always going to be Catherine. As I said upthread, once Marie sent Diane to England (which I had no idea she was going to do until she did it) I couldn't resist the irony of Catherine and Diane both being entangled with a different Henry this time around.
I read that some were clubfooted, or hunchbacked, because Catherine had those traits.
Caterina de' Medici, Queen of England! It sounds great!
Well I hope none of their kids has hematidrosis, as OTL Charles IX seemed to have.
Catherine is very, very young, and Diane, while she still loves Henry to distraction, will be more than ready to end their family by the time Catherine is old enough to be a mother safely. It's almost going to be a 'He's yours now, don't mess this up' moment. At least the way I plan to write it. The characters may decide differently...
Catherine was VERY fertile IOTL (and she could have had more than 10 kids if she'd started having them earlier), Diane was 20 years older than her, maybe by the time Catherine is 18 or so, Diane goes through menopause
Oh, I think Diane will always have an awful lot of influence on Henry. But she might be more willing to hand him over here, where they've already had a family of their own and she knows Henry needs a Prince of Wales pretty much yesterday.
Well, exactly. I mean, she's fighting time on Henry's side here, but I'm fairly convinced they'll manage a few kids at the very least!