When Your Gone, I'll Still Be Bloody Mary: A Timeline

When Your Gone, I’ll Still Be Bloody Mary: An Alternate History
Written by Austin Ross


Prologue:
Love is just a history that they may prove

Despite many reports that as she grew with age, The Queen’s once attractive figure was in all actuality quite short, and did not cut an imposing figure. As one Spanish Courtier wrote, The Queen was rather flabby than fat, she is of white complexion and fair, and has no eyebrows. Yet despite her apparently relatively common features seen through the eyes of high Spaniard standards, the Twenty-eight year old King of Napes, Milan and Jerusalem viewed his "cara y muy amada tia", as one of the most beautiful creatures in the world. We have many reports from the Queen’s Ladies-in-waiting; that upon their wedding night, that the King eagerly consummated his marriage, despite some difficulty on the part of the Queen, who had prepared herself the life of a maid and not allowed for any man to enter her chambers before that summer night.

As the weeks turned into months, signs continued to become visible on the form of the Queen that Phillip had indeed performed his marital duty. Court Doctors had confirmed that the Queen’s Belly had grown considerably as well as swelling in her breasts and elsewhere. In the month of April 1555, the royal couple moved to Hampton Court, which was closer to London and the Queen would be able to rally her supporters to her cause in the case of an uprising. During her time at Hampton, she was visited by her sister the Lady Elizabeth, and the two reconciled after her younger half-sibling reiterated formally her lack of involvement in the recent Thomas Wyatt’s rebellion.

The Event which nations across the continent of Europe has waited for took place at Daybreak on Tuesday, April 30th 1555. Bells rang out across all of London, that the good Queen Mary had given birth to healthy son. Although she experienced hours of pain, and there was much danger in a thirty-nine year old woman giving birth in an age of such medical uncertainty. According to a letter that Phillip wrote to his father Emperor Charles V, what was one to expect from an heir who could potentially become King over England, France, Naples, Jerusalem, Ireland, Spain, Sicily, Austria, Milan, Burgundy, Branbant, Hapsburg, Flanders and Tyrol.

King Phillip satisfied the hopes of the Englishmen who waited eagerly outside of Hampton, as they watched as the young consort raised his heir from a window in the palace. In a magnificent display of excitement, shops were closed as the commons rushed to mass and huge block parties erupted over all London. According to Thomas Gresham, the English Ambassador the Netherlands, The Queen was brought to bed of her young Prince, who she aptly named after the shared ancestor John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster; John of the House of Tudor-Hapsburg. A new era in the world was about to begin…

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King Phillip II and I offering John, Prince of Wales to Victory, by Titian ca. 1555​
 
I'll be following this too!

Just a nitpick: I really doubt that Philip would write to his father telling that this son could become king of Spain, Naples and Sicily. Philip already had a son in Spain (Don Carlos, Prince of Asturias) and the agreement among the Habsburgs was that Carlos would rule the Spanish and Italian territories, while any son from Philip and Mary would gain England and Netherlands. So, at the time, Philip telling his father that his second could rule Spain (even if only potentially) would be like saying that he was expecting/desiring his eldest son to die childless. It wouldn't be very "polite", if you know what I mean.;)
 
I'll be following this too!

Just a nitpick: I really doubt that Philip would write to his father telling that this son could become king of Spain, Naples and Sicily. Philip already had a son in Spain (Don Carlos, Prince of Asturias) and the agreement among the Habsburgs was that Carlos would rule the Spanish and Italian territories, while any son from Philip and Mary would gain England and Netherlands. So, at the time, Philip telling his father that his second could rule Spain (even if only potentially) would be like saying that he was expecting/desiring his eldest son to die childless. It wouldn't be very "polite", if you know what I mean.;)

Thanks G, I was kind of unsure how to place the whole smorgesboard of crowns that Phillipian-Marian union know holds. I couldn't really find it substantiated in my agreement on which heir would inherit which crown.Oh and don't worry, I have my plans for our dear Uncle Don Carlos:D
 
Thanks G, I was kind of unsure how to place the whole smorgesboard of crowns that Phillipian-Marian union know holds. I couldn't really find it substantiated in my agreement on which heir would inherit which crown.Oh and don't worry, I have my plans for our dear Uncle Don Carlos:D

Well, given the mental and health state of Carlos probably nothing good will come from this. ;):p
 
Warming pan theory, anyone?

This is a huge blow to the Protestant cause. I think it will lead to widespread dissatisfaction, at least.

The warming pan theory is very intriguing, but im sure this is going to be knocked out of the park, when Mary births another child, a few years after John(Making the two false pregnacies, acual pregnancies). Speaking of John, Prince of Wales, how does everyone like the name, it does seem that John I, does seem to have undergone a rise of populariaty during the Tudor age IOTL. And with both Mary and Phillip having the common ancestor of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, I think it would be a good way of honoring their shared lineages, while also not pissing to many people off by not naming their son after either Henry or Charles lol.
 
Speaking of John, Prince of Wales, how does everyone like the name, it does seem that John I, does seem to have undergone a rise of populariaty during the Tudor age IOTL. And with both Mary and Phillip having the common ancestor of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, I think it would be a good way of honoring their shared lineages, while also not pissing to many people off by not naming their son after either Henry or Charles lol.

Well, John was a regnal name both in Castile and Aragon, so it would normal Philip think about it as a possible choice. Maybe he could have named him Philip after himself, but IOTL it seems that he tried to avoid it, only his last son shared his name. But other likely possibility would be Ferdinand, after Ferdinand of Aragon, father of Mary and ancestor of Philip.
 
Curses! Somebody stole my gimmick! :mad:

Look at the TL in my sig, the update titles in particular. Notice anything?

*(mock) furious rant mode off*

Seriously, good TL. I'll be following this...
 
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The most amusing idea TTL is that if John II/III proves to be a successful ruler then it will recover its vogue as a regnal name in England.
 
Chapter 1:
I’ll Dance, Dance, Dance

The Birth of John Hapsburg, scion of a new English dynasty sent shockwaves through not only the British Isles, but on the continent as well. The Queen’s beloved Father-in-law, although was once the stalwart defender of Catholicism, and protector of those of his Hapsburg blood, was almost 60 and constantly suffered from gout due to years of not physically being able to properly chew his food. Yet the birth of his grandson, who would eventually bring about his dream of a complete Hapsburg encirclement of the House of Valois in France, seemed to raise the last of the Renaissance King’s spirits tremendously.
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Within weeks, Prince John was christened at Hampton court, a splendid yet remarkably traditional ceremony. Mary and Phillip waited patiently in their own bed chambers, as neither could watch nor take part of the ceremony according to precedent. The Lady Elizabeth, as still second in line to the throne, was ecstatic at the news of the birth of her nephew…partially because it removed from her the stresses of Mary potentially dieing in childbirth, and her very own ascension to the throne. Cardinal Reginald Pole, began the ceremony at midnight, and after the traditional twenty-four horn salute by the Knights of the Garter; the young Hapsburg was proclaimed, “God of His Almighty and infinite grace give and grant good life and long to the right high, right excellent and noble Prince, Prince John, Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester, most dear and most entirely beloved so to our most dread and gracious Lords, King Phillip and Queen Mary.
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Prince John Hapsburg, Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester c.a 1560

Phillip for his part, despite signs that had continued to show that his young son was strong enough to make it past infancy, and his wife’s own health improved, continued to play the role of the dotting father throughout the summer and early autumn of 1555. He ignored letters from his own father, beginning him to lead Charles’ army against the French in Flanders. Yet, despite not having his son on the continent, the birth of an Hapsburg prince on the English Throne, gave Charles the bargaining power he needed with King Henri II of France, in the aftermath of the fall of Sienna. The Treaty of La Marque ending the Hapsburg-Valois War for Italy and was signed by both nations in September of 1555, in which the Free County of Burgundy was ceded to the Emperor.
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A painting commemorating the signing of the Treaty of La Marque

This defeat, coupled with the election of a Pro-Hapsburg Cardinal as Pope, upon the death of Marcellus II, forced Henri to begin looking elsewhere for a new Anti-Hapsburg Alliance. Henri continued to support the young Queen Mary of Scots at court, and hoped that his support for the renewal of Auld Alliance, with the timely marriage between Mary and the Dauphin would provide for not only a Valois heir to the Scottish throne, but also a powerful claim to the English Crown; If Mary and Elizabeth Tudor failed to have any remaining children and the young Prince John go the way of other Tudor first born sons. Yet, the Scots were not the only potential outs, as Henri increasingly looked to the frigid Kingdoms of the North and antiquated East for potential matches for his other six remaining children.
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King Henri II of France

Yet it would be the Patriarch of the Hapsburg clan would truly rest with ease in the aftermath of the birth of Prince John; fresh from his final victory, and satisfied after decades of being the most powerful man in the world, Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, racked with constant pain decided to abdicate all of his royal titles. Charles son Philip, received the lordship of the Low Countries and in January of 1556 received the united crowns of Aragon and Castile. Phillip could not waste time any longer in England with his wife and child, and had to return to the continent to secure his throne over so many countries. Phillip struggled with on how to tell his beloved wife, that he would have to leave her and his son; and after a long private holiday in East Anglia, Phillip and his Spanish cohorts left for Europe on the 14th of February, 1556 sailing across the channel’s icy waves.

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King Phillip of Spain, England, Naples and Lord of the Netherlands
 
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