Henry VIII is more patient

that the one way of preventing this from happening again was to have a clear, stable succession that nobody could question. A girl just didn't cut it for that.

Well, as I said Henry VII didn't actually say only a son worked. It was the first choice though.

There's another factor to consider: Mary is unlikely to conceive even if married earlier (probably fibroids).

Some women just lose a lot of fertility after the mid 30s rather tan a slow drop. So this might be a case that Mary got the fibroids later in life. Or maybe she just had a shorter window for her womb that most other women.
 
I'm going to join with those who say a happier life means better health/fertility for Mary. Stress can really do a number on the brain and body, and Mary suffered a lot of that through her later childhood and teens...
 
Except that to change Henry VIII's childhood as is being suggested above, you'd need to change Henry VII's personality. Henry VII spent most of his life before he became king in exile. He was in exile because of the WotR. The WotR came about because someone was claiming a better line than the king's existed (namely the house of York), and that the queen was unfit to rule (she was a foreigner, a woman, and so many other things). Henry was a child when the WotR were in their death throes, and no doubt having the mantle of heir to the throne dropped onto his shoulders soon after made him realize that the one way of preventing this from happening again was to have a clear, stable succession that nobody could question. A girl just didn't cut it for that.
(...)

You conveniently forget how the house of Lancaster obtained the throne in the first place, they deposed the main Plantagenet line in England. IMHO that opened pandora's box, the house of York merely gave the house of Lancaster a taste of their own medicine.

As for the main question, a more patient Henry could have had his pick from French princesses or Habsburg Archduchesses/Infantas, instead which was abroad was seen as mistress raised to regal dignity.
 
You conveniently forget how the house of Lancaster obtained the throne in the first place, they deposed the main Plantagenet line in England. IMHO that opened pandora's box, the house of York merely gave the house of Lancaster a taste of their own medicine.

Fair point. I didn't go further back than the WotR because I figured then we'd be messing with things that even if a Henry Tudor is born he won't be OTL's Harry. Just an alt-figure with the same name.
 
If Henry decide who a male heir is not indispensable no way he marry Mary to anyone who is not either of his nephews...
If his father and grandfather and maybe some uncles will die without being executed or imprisoned as traitors maybe young Buckingham also can be taken in consideration
 
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