Claude, Duchess of Brittany (1499-1520)
Henry’s wife from 1516 to 1520
Lily MacGregor had been considered for the part of Catherine of Aragon but was eventually recast as Claude, Duchess of Brittany.
The eldest daughter of King Louis XII of France and Duchess Anne of Brittany, Claude was her mother’s heiress presumptive, even after the birth of her brother François in 1509, although her father hoped to keep Brittany in French hands. Louis’s unexpected death while he and Anne returned from a pilgrimage to thank Saint Anne for giving them their long-awaited son, strengthened Claude’s position.
While Anne, pregnant with a posthumous third child, held the regency for her infant son, François d’Angoulême asked for Claude’s hand in marriage. Anne refused and considered renewing Claude’s betrothal to Charles of Ghent but the young Duke of Burgundy showed more interest in Henry VIII’s beautiful younger sister, Mary.
When the Pope demanded the annulment of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon’s marriage, Anne saw her chance and offered Claude’s hand. Catherine advised Henry to agree: a foothold on the continent was not to be sneezed at. Henry eventually accepted the proposal and the two were married in February 1516. Anne, eager to preserve Brittany’s autonomy at all costs, insisted that a marriage contract similar to her own be established: by it, Claude agreed to bequeath the Duchy to her second surviving son, or, if she had none, to her daughter. It also specified that should Brittany be inherited by Claude’s daughter, the new Duchess would marry a Breton cousin, preferably among the Houses of Rohan or Chalon-Arlay.
Although very different in character, husband and wife seem to have gotten along quite well, Claude being content to be a dutiful wife and mother while her husband jousted, hunted and flirted around during her many pregnancies.
She gave Henry several children. Her eldest son Henry was a delicate child and she and Henry feared he would not survived, especially after his twin brother Edmund died of smallpox, but the baby clung to life. In 1520, shortly after giving birth to her third (but second surviving) son Arthur, she insisted on visiting her recently deceased mother’s tomb and making a pilgrimage to Saint Anne, in order to thank her for giving her another boy. Although Henry asked her to wait till she was completely recovered from the birthing, Claude stood up to him for the first time in her life and returned to her duchy.
The journey proved difficult for the young mother and after resting for a few weeks in Brittany, she decided to sail back to England. However, her ship was caught in a storm on the journey back and sank; the young Queen died of exposure in the craft that was taking her to safety. One of her ladies-in-waiting, Lady Mary Talbot, who survived the shipwreck, later said the Queen’s last words had been: “tell my lord husband the King that I love him dearly and beg him pardon for not listening to his advice; tell my dear Madeleine to take care of my poor children; and tell my children that their Mama loves them and will watch over them from Heaven.”
Her second son Arthur would succeed her as Duke of Brittany but would die a few years later, leaving his eldest sister Elizabeth as his heiress.
Children
1 Elizabeth I, Duchess of Brittany (1516-1583)
2 Henry, Prince of Wales (1517-1532)
3 Edmund, Duke of York (1517-1518)
4 Anne of England (1518-1548)
5 Claudia of England (1519-1585)
6 Margaret of England (1520-1545)
7 Arthur IV, Duke of Brittany and Richmond (1520-1525)