Saturday, 10 February 2018

Life in the time of… Mary, a Tudor Princess. By Tony Riches #History #Tudors #Giveaway @tonyriches

Life in the time of…

Mary, a Tudor Princess.

By Tony Riches

At the end of my Tudor Trilogy, Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII, is beginning to realise her life will be quite different when her elder brother becomes King Henry VIII. Mary had always been her father’s favourite and even had her own household from the age of six.

She must have been precocious as a child, as her father liked to have her sing and dance and play the lute and clavichord to amuse foreign ambassadors. Of course, the most important thing he could do for his daughter was find her the perfect husband. After much deliberation he chose the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Younger than Mary, Prince Charles would be an important ally and had more titles than he could remember.

Unfortunately for Mary, although she’d been looking forward to becoming Empress of Rome since childhood, her brother had a much better idea - and married her off to the decrepit and diseased fifty-two-year-old King Louis XII of France. Mary was barely eighteen at the time. She might have been a bit miffed but she knew her duty as a Tudor and made the best of it. Mary insisted on being referred to as the Queen of France for the rest of her life. (At least it helped avoid confusion with her niece, Henry VIII’s daughter Mary Tudor, later to become known as ‘Bloody Mary’.)

Louis XII Of France

Meanwhile, back in 1514, Henry VIII knew what he was doing, as Mary’s marriage formed the basis of a useful alliance with France. (He later offered his own daughter to Emperor Charles, although nothing ever came of it.) Unluckily, Mary’s marriage lasted barely ninety days, as her new husband died from his many illnesses. Rumours reached England from France that Mary had causing the death of King Louis with her ‘passionate exertions’.

It’s not impossible that the stories were gleefully spread by the mischievous courtiers of King Louis’ successor, King Francis. The problem for Mary was if she stayed in France she knew King Francis could marry her off to whoever he chose for political advantage. If she returned to England her brother would do the same. What actually became of her took both kings by surprise, as she risked her life to defy her brother – and is the subject of my new book, Mary – Tudor Princess

From the author of the international best-selling Tudor Trilogy, the true story of the Tudor dynasty continues with the daughter of King Henry VII, sister to King Henry VIII. Mary Tudor watches her elder brother become King of England and wonders what the future holds for her.

Born into great privilege, Mary has beauty and intelligence beyond her years and is the most marriageable princess in Europe. Henry plans to use her marriage to build a powerful alliance against his enemies. Will she dare risk his anger by marrying for love?

Meticulously researched and based on actual events, this 'sequel' follows Mary's story from book three of the Tudor Trilogy and is set during the reign of King Henry VIII.

Giveaway

Tony Riches is giving away one Kindle Copy of Mary, Tudor Princess

Giveaway Rules

• Giveaway ends at 11:59pm GMT on February 28th. You must be 18 or older to enter.

• To enter, leave your name on the comment section below.

• Winner will be announce on 1st March

• All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.

• Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.