Mary Tudor, Princess in Exile

25th of October, 1535: Henry VIII and Mary Arundel were married in an elaborate ceremony. The celebrations went into the night, with a mixture of dances and even some sing-along style games. The main attraction, of course, was the newly married couple. One observer wrote:

“…there is the King, all decked in white and silver, with gold designs stretching from his throat to his toes. His hair, now thin and white, is hidden by a large crown; done in silver with diamonds and sapphires. His beard, neatly clipped, is not nearly as colourless as his head but nearly as thin. On his hands are many rings, mostly sapphires and rubies. He is quite fat. Next to him stands the new queen, slim and short. Also all in white and silver, she instead had a pale blue pattern adorning her dress and all silver and pearl jewellery. Her hair hangs loose down her back, wavy and golden. Her eyes are very light, and seem to change from blue to green. She is quite beautiful; her features quite youthful and soft. Together, they seem to be a happy couple, and the king loved to caress her cheeks and shoulder often…”

It was noted that the king seemed severely out of breath for most of the celebrations; refusing to dance and instead leaving his youthful wife to dance with others. Also, many observed that the Queen danced mostly with George Boleyn, who she seemed to also spend the most time with when not with her husband. But, whatever the case, Henry was happy and Mary was safe.
 
29th of October, 1535: Charles de Valois was gifted the Duchy of Upper Aquitaine, an area of Aquitaine that matched Navarre in size and was made up of both coast and mainland. A move that seemed to come out of nowhere, it was in preparation for the eventual marriage between himself and his cousin Jeanne d'Albret. Henry II of Navarre was very hopeful of the match at this point and Francis I of France saw this as the perfect way to bring Navarre into the influence of France even more so than before. While nothing was official yet, it looked very likely.
 
1st of November, 1535: Mary Tudor’s day begins with a marriage by proxy to Francis: Dauphin of France. A small ceremony, the formality of it all is over quickly and she leaves very soon after to begin to pack for her journey to France. The Princess filled her bags with pretty clothes, fine jewellery and lots of papers laying out the plans that she and her cousin have carefully formulated. She also readied a bag filled with things she needed to bring a small kitten by the name of Isabella that she had been given early in the month. The plan was for her to leave in the following few days and then be in Paris by February at the latest.
 
4th of November, 1535: The ambassadors that were sent from the courts of Habsburg finally arrived in England. While they had been sent away ages ago, storms and other setbacks had hindered the journey home. Their arrival angered the king, and he apparently had very real thoughts on sending the ambassadors back to their various courts to retaliation to this unprecedented move. Instead, the men were simply accepted into court and interviewed as to figure out the situation.
 
9th of November, 1535: After about a week of storms and other weather related setbacks, the Princess Mary is able to leave Brussels and begin the journey to France. The sea was calm at last and so Mary left, bringing with her a small group of friends with her to aid the princess on the journey and in France. On board the ship she mostly stayed in her rooms with her group of friends and the kitten Isabella. She also brought with her a letter to be given to the Queen, though the contents were not known.
 
12th of November, 1535: Riots break out in London. Purportedly about a rise in taxes, they also seek more leniency on the subject of religion, as the King has been pushing a more anti-Catholic style for the Church of England. In the mayhem upwards of 50 people died and many areas went up in flames. In response Henry VIII had the main instigators (Richard Hepton, Mathew Smithson Thomas Break and Thomas Field) publicly executed and at least 20 others done in smaller executions. Also, fines for most of the surviving rebels crippled many families, resulting in an influx of homeless Englishmen. Henry VIII then announced that the Church would be going through a new reform that forbade Latin to be used and other smaller things that would pull the church further away from ‘The Church of Rome’. It was dark days to be a Catholic.
 
15th of November, 1535: Charles V receives a betrothal on behalf of both Anne and Amalia of Cleves, daughters of the Duke of Cleves. Though Cleves was technically Protestant, he was told that the girls were both raised Catholics and would be willing to join the Church. The first offer since Isabella had died, it offered a chance to both secure the succession and separate the Low Countries from Spain. But he was still grieving, and so he offered a very sincere ‘maybe’.
 
21st of November, 1535: Another proposal comes in, this time from Poland. Sigismund I of Poland offers his daughter Princess Isabella. While this seemed to be a better offer than the Cleves sisters, there was a few things that the put the offer at a disadvantage. One thing was the initially proposed dowry, which was quite small from Poland, especially compared to the Cleves dowry. He was still mourning though, and so he gave the ambassadors the same ‘maybe’ he gave the envoys from Cleves.
 
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Question: Who else could he marry? At the moment I am planning to haves Charles married again, but who else should he marry? My options at the moment are:

-Anne of Cleves (b.1515)

-Amalia of Cleves (b.1517)

-Isabella of Poland (b.1519)

-anyone else suggested
 
30th of November, 1535: A young woman by the name of Isabelle Worthing is found in the King’s chambers in the middle of the night with a bag of ‘powdered poisons’ and a knife. Caught by a servant called Ferdinand Johnson, she was in the middle of the room with a flask of water pouring the ‘poisons’ into the water. Screaming, he alerted the King and Queen and the woman was apprehended. She confessed that she had been sent by ‘the Emperor’ to have him killed and to have the Princess Mary placed on the throne. Total lies, this woman was instead sent by Thomas Cromwell to be caught and place blame on the Emperor, with the situation being a way to get into the good graces of the King by arriving ‘late’ with the information, remaining innocent. But the plan gets disrupted when, facing imminent death, she confesses the entirety of the plan in an effort to save her life. While it does not, it does bring something else. Henry is going to have to have a nice long conversation with Cromwell.
 
7th of December, 1535: Thomas Cromwell attempts to commit suicide in the tower, leaping from the window of his cell onto the ground below. But, in a horrible twist of fate, the impact instead just breaks his legs. So he now awaits his death in absolute pain.
 
10th of December, 1535: Finally, after 3 days of agony, Thomas Cromwell is hanged as a common criminal in London. Due to his inability to stand, he is lifted up by two men and dropped when the time comes.
 
11th of December, 1535: Catherine de Medici is found in her apartments with ‘strange, witch like objects’. While in fact just toys that she had found, they appear to others as supernatural objects that may be her attempting to get pregnant or kill the Dauphin (the people making accusations weren’t sure apparently). While no formal action was taken, privately the King and his son were unsettled by this development and wondered if there was a way for the Prince and her to be divorced. So privately, two emissaries are sent to Rome to have a chat with the Pope.
 
Question: Who else could he marry? At the moment I am planning to haves Charles married again, but who else should he marry? My options at the moment are:

-Anne of Cleves (b.1515)

-Amalia of Cleves (b.1517)

-Isabella of Poland (b.1519)

-anyone else suggested

Hi!

I love this thread!

I vote for Anne of Cleves for 2 reasons:
- the possibility that Cleves will become Catholic (important for Charles)
- the dowry

If in OTL was divorced by Henry because she was ugly... the Hapsburg don't have this kind of... concern :D
 
Hi!

I love this thread!

I vote for Anne of Cleves for 2 reasons:
- the possibility that Cleves will become Catholic (important for Charles)
- the dowry

If in OTL was divorced by Henry because she was ugly... the Hapsburg don't have this kind of... concern :D

1) Thank you! I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying the timeline.

2) That is a good point :)
 
17th of December, 1535: Queen Mary Arundel (commonly known as ‘The Pretty Wife of England’) sends her friend William Smith to tutor the Boleyn Princesses. A young man of common birth, he had gained the acquaintance of the Queen before her relationship with the King started and even then impressed her with his knowledge of the world. So he went to teach the young princesses writing, counting and languages, bringing with him only his equipment and a bag of books.
 
22nd of December, 1535: Henry VIII recedes to his bedchambers with a nasty cold. For a man who loathes merely being close to sick people, this sudden and strong bout of sickness is pure unadulterated torture. But he has men come in to keep his attention on other things and actually bedded his wife, risking her health to keep himself happy during his ill health. While not necessarily out-of-character for him, it showed a selfishness that transcended his dynastic need for heirs. But he would never be brought up on things like that because he was King, right? Kings were never wrong.
 
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