Hey, this is Heather from the Renaissance English History Podcast, and this is your Tudor Minute for July 20.
On July 20 1554 Prince Philip arrived in England to marry Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII. Mary’s love life, like much in the rest of her life, was sad, and didn’t end well. She had originally been betrothed to Philips father, the Emperor Charles V, when she was still a child, but that was called off when the Emperor couldn’t wait for her to come of age, and married a woman with whom he could have children. After Mary was declared illegitimate when her father married Anne Boleyn, her prospects on the marriage market plummeted.
When she became Queen, she negotiated a marriage with Philip that was deeply unpopular. People were afraid that he would become the King of England, and add the country to his growing dominions. The English did not want to be subjects of the Emperor. Mary seems to have felt she was in love with Phillip and she believed herself to be pregnant almost immediately after the marriage. Sadly, she would go on to have phantom pregnancies, and eventually Phillip left England to see to his other lands. When Mary died, he wrote
But there was much more optimism for an heir and a reconciliation with the Catholic church when he first arrived today, July 20.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com