Queen Mary I examines the first woman to rule England in her own right. It follows her childhood as the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, her exclusion from the succession and her successful challenge to the attempt to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne.
The biography centres on Mary’s restoration of Catholic worship, marriage to Philip of Spain and persecution of Protestant opponents. It also considers false pregnancies, war with France and the loss of Calais, explaining how later Protestant histories narrowed a complex reign into the hostile image of “Bloody Mary.”
