Dronning Mary I: Fra barn til 'Bloody Mary'

Mary Tudor was born on February 16, 1516, and three days after, Mary were born into the catholic faith. She was the fifth child of Henry the 8th and Catherine of Aragon but the only one to survive past infancy. At age 6, Mary was betrothed to Charles V, the king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor. Charles broke off the engagement after three years but remained a lifelong ally.

In 1533 Mary was alienated from her dad, during his divorce from her mom, or kind of divorced; the mom did not sense it as a divorced, more as an annulment. Because Mary’s parents got divorced, she was deemed illegitimate and Mary got deprived for a time of her status as an heir to the throne. This fueled her rage regarding her dad’s break from the Roman Catholic Church, which had previously instructed him that he could not divorce from her mom. Mary felt that if her dad, had obeyed the Roman Catholic Church, she would not be seen as illegitimate, and her right to the throne would not have been questioned. Her loyalty to Rome was laid upon this foundation. By the time of King Henry the 8th’s death, however she had been restored as second in line to the throne, after her half-brother Edward, who was physically weak.