The Tudor Rose: Princess Mary, Henry VIII%E2%80%99s Sister

Draskau is among the growing number of British historians examining England%E2%80%99s most colorful dynasty through the prism of the lives of previously overlooked Tudor women. During her youth, Mary Rose, Henry VIII%E2%80%99s younger sister, was promised to Charles of Castile, with whom Henry wished to forge a strong alliance. After peace was negotiated with France, Mary instead married Louis XII of France in 1514. Louis, more than 30 years older than Mary, died 82 days later. Risking her brother%E2%80%99s wrath, and flouting social convention, Mary secretly married the man she loved, Sir Charles Brandon, before returning to England. Mary, regarded as an arbiter of fashion at Henry%E2%80%99s court for years before Anne Boleyn eclipsed her, died in 1533 at age 37, leaving behind four children by Brandon. Their proximity to the English throne was, Draskau notes, a %E2%80%9Cpoisoned chalice.%E2%80%9D One granddaughter, Lady Jane Grey, was executed by Mary I; Jane%E2%80%99s younger sisters, Katherine and Mary, were imprisoned by Elizabeth I. Draskau%E2%80%99s narrative emphasizes the extent to which women from elite families were regarded as pawns in early modern Europe, their marriages a seal to political and economic transac-tions between powerful men, their primary duty to bear a male heir. (Dec.)