The Tudor Rose: Princess Mary, Henry VIII's Sister

by Jennifer Kewley Draskau

Princess Mary Tudor, the "Rose of Christendom," led a romantic and tragic life; this is the first full biography of her and the role she and her descendents played in Tudor England

Known as the beautiful sister of Henry VIII and the spoiled darling of the court, Princess Mary Rose Tudor was married off to the ailing King of France against her will, and, after his death, had to fight for the right to marry Henry's favorite companion, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. After bearing him four children, Mary Rose died in the full flower of her beauty. Her adored husband, too busy to attend her funeral, soon married the 14-year-old fiancée of their only surviving son, who shortly thereafter died of TB. Her older daughter, Frances, was the mother of the ill-fated Jane Grey, the "Nine Days Queen." Her second daughter, Eleanor, was the grandmother of Fernando, 5th Earl of Derby, intended by Henry VIII to inherit the throne after Elizabeth. This is the previously untold story of Mary Tudor and the role she and her descendants played in Tudor England.

Genres: Nonfiction, Tudor Period, History, Biography

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Jennifer Kewley Draskau was born on the Isle of Man. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool, where she is currently researching WWI internment. Quadrilingual in English, French, Danish, and German, she has written eight award-winning plays which have graced stages around the world. She has recently published the officially commissioned biography of Illiam Dhone.

Jennifer is the author of upcoming MP Publishing title Black Tiger - available soon in print and eBook.

Reviews

[L'aura]

I liked the book. I read another Mary bio a while ago, I believe by David Loades, which was clearly unispired, so this one was a huge step forward. However, it looks self-published. The layout is a uni dissertation's and the cover design, as beautiful as it is, is grainy as if meant for a much smaller format. There is no way I'm going to judge the book's quality over its presumed means of publishing, especially because it was flawless in terms of punctuation and grammar, which I can hardly say about most books I've read recently. But I did spot at least an inaccuracy that I know of and it makes me wonder if there are more.

Having said that, a criticism about this biography I read often is that it's not much about Mary. This isn't untrue, but having read tons of Tudor biographies I just know that many people from the era are little documented or not documented at all. I will admit that I didn't much care for the future of Mary's children and grandchildren, which I would have just summarized in a way shorter chapter. I do believe the author did what she could with the little sources she could work on and I certainly appreciate her efforts.

[Neeuqdrazil]

This was not very good.

While the title leads you to believe that it's going to be about Mary, less than half the book is about her, and nearly a third details events that happened after her death - her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

There was nothing new here, either - it was rehashing well-known historical stories, covering the same ground as a number of other works, with less analysis.

There was almost nothing about Mary herself - almost no discussion of her personality, her attitudes and behaviours. Even her death was approached from afar - the story followed her husband, Charles Brandon, and just said that she had died.

I can't recommend it.

I'd love to read a GOOD biography of Mary Tudor, but this isn't it.

[Mary]

Not the best Tudor book

I gave this book three stars for several reasons. One, there were a number of typos and grammatical errors. Second, the author several times repeated information she had just given. Third, this book was supposed to be about Mary Tudor, but the author included a great deal of detail about events that were tangential to Mary Tudor’s life. More details about Mary Tudor would make this a better book. Also, the author needed a better editor. Good editing would have taken care of these problems.

[Sennen Rose]

This book isn’t really about Mary Tudor daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York but I guess that’s because she did precisely one fun and sexy thing in her life (marry Charles Brandon her brother’s best friend without her brother’s permission) and then died. So a lot of this book is about her children and grandchildren and it just felt too messy and confusing for me to enjoy. Nicola Thee Tallis has written a book about Lady Jane Grey and I think I’m really going to enjoy that. It’s a shame Margaret and Mary haven’t had better writers take a look at their lives.

[Bethany Martin]

Very nice and fascinating too!! 🤗

[Carole P. Roman]

Jennifer Kewley Draskau writes a wonderful biography on Henry VIII youngest sister. Easy to read, this book fills out the outline of Mary Rose, youngest child of Elizabeth and Henry VII. While most know her as "The White Queen", teenage widow of the French King, that secretly wed Henry's best friend, this book describes her dazzling wit, as well as her iridescent charm. Draskau often uses young Mary's own letters and we get to know this bright, young lady. We watch her grow to be a major arbiter of French fashion, and a darling of the Tudor court. If she lived today, no doubt she'd have a bang up reality show! We get a nice portrait of her older sister Margaret, describing her marital troubles too. The book then goes on to describe her many descendants and their impact on the shape of history. Well done! Hope to see more from this author.

[Anney Ng]

I am reading this book and enjoying it. I agree with another reviewer that it contains less on Princess Mary than what the title promises but I do enjoy the storyline and how it is written in the narrative form. I am only halfway through the book for now.