La Reine Blanche: Mary Tudor, a Life in Letters

Mary’s childhood was overshadowed by the men in her life. Her father, Henry VII who took the throne from Richard III, her brother, Arthur, heir to the Tudor throne and her beloved brother, Henry VIII. These men and the beliefs held about women at the time helped to shape Mary’s life. She was trained to be a dutiful wife and at the age of eighteen Mary married the French king Louis XII, thirty-four years her senior.
When her husband died three months after the marriage, Mary took charge of her life and shaped her own destiny. As a young widow Mary blossomed, this was the opportunity to show the world the strong, self-willed, determined woman she always had been. She remarried for love and at great personal risk to herself. She loved and respected Catherine of Aragon and despised Anne Boleyn - again, a dangerous position to take up. Author Sarah Bryson has returned to primary sources, state papers and letters, to unearth the truth about this intelligent and passionate woman. This is the story of Mary Tudor through her own words.