Tudor Times is the online repository for all things Tudor and Stewart (1485–1625)

On 24th April 1558 the wedding of Francois, Dauphin of France to Mary, Queen of Scots, took place in the grand cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Mary had been brought to France in 1548 at the age of 5 in contemplation of this match, which was preferred at that time in Scotland to the alternative on offer – marriage to Edward VI of England. Mary and Francois had been brought up together and were very attached to each other, although their characters were very different – he quiet and studious, she boisterous and fun-loving. He was fourteen, and she fifteen. In July 1559, they became King and Queen of France, as well as Scotland, but Francois died in December 1560 in excruciating pain from some sort of infection that began in his ear. Mary nursed him devotedly.

On 23rd April 1506, with much ceremony, Philip, Duke of Burgundy and titular King of Castile, was installed as a Knight of the Garter at the Chapel of St George, Windsor (pictured). Philip, and his wife, Queen Juana of Castile, had been shipwrecked en route between Burgundy and Castile, and had been obliged to enjoy Henry VII’s hospitality for an extended period whilst Henry turned their visit to his advantage. Philip was a keen participant in tourneys and other chivalric displays, and was no doubt delighted to receive the Garter.

On this day, 22nd April 1451, Juan II of Castile’s second wife, Isabella of Portugal, gave birth to a daughter, named for her mother. There was no thought that the young Isabella of Castile, with an older half-brother, and later, a brother, would ever be more than some prince or King’s wife, but from an early age she had her eyes on a throne for herself. On the death of Enrique IV, her half-brother, she claimed the throne of Castile in her own right, being crowned in Segovia in 1474. The action led to a civil war, in which she eventually triumphed. Her marriage to Ferdinand II of Aragon enabled them to conquer the last Moorish kingdom in Europe and united Spain more or less into its current boundaries. Their dynastic alliances took their grandchildren to almost every throne in Europe. Not content with Spain, Isabella funded Christopher Columbus’ exploration which brought the riches of the New World to her kingdom.