Mary – Tudor Princess

by Tony Riches Book 1 in the The Brandon Trilogy series.

First published 2018

Amazon

4.4(2,409)

Mary Tudor grows up as the youngest surviving daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, then watches her brother become Henry VIII and turn her marriage into an instrument of foreign policy. Sent to France to wed the ageing Louis XII, Mary enters queenship knowing that her own wishes matter less than alliance. When she is widowed within months, the promise Henry once made—that she might next choose for herself—brings her relationship with Charles Brandon into direct conflict with royal authority.

Set during the opening decades of Henry VIII’s reign, the novel follows Mary from princess to Queen of France and then Duchess of Suffolk. Her marriage to Charles Brandon without prior royal permission risked the king’s anger and a severe political penalty, while her continuing loyalty to Catherine of Aragon later placed the couple awkwardly beside the rise of Anne Boleyn. Mary Tudor, Henry VIII and Charles Brandon anchor a story in which affection and dynastic obligation are never separable.