The Tudor Society
  • July 20 – Philip of Spain arrives in England

    A portrait of Philip of Spain by Anthonis Mor

    On this day in Tudor history, 20th July 1554, Philip of Spain arrived in England, at Southampton, in readiness for his marriage to Mary I.

    Winchester Cathedral, seat of Bishop Stephen Gardiner, had been chosen as the wedding venue, due to the recent Wyatt’s Rebellion in London, and Mary and her court set off from Richmond on 16th June.

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  • July 3 – Mary I says goodbye to Philip of Spain

    A portrait of Mary I and Philip of Spain by Hans Eworth

    On this day in Tudor history, 3rd July 1557, Mary I bid farewell to her husband, Philip of Spain, at Dover as he set off for war with France.

    Philip had only returned to England in March 1557 after an absence of over 18 months and he had only returned then, as historian Anna Whitelock points out, because he needed money and for England to declare war on France, which they did on 7th June 1557.

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  • August 26 – Mary I prepares for her husband’s departure

    On this day in Tudor history, 26th August 1555, Mary I and her husband, Philip of Spain, departed from Whitehall to prepare for Philip’s departure. He was returning to the Low Countries.

    Mary had just come out of confinement after months of believing she was pregnant, and now her husband was leaving her, so it must have been difficult for her. Philip would be gone for over 18 months.

    Find out more about Mary’s state of health and mind, the arrangements for Philip’s departure, and Mary’s reaction…

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  • July 25 – Mary I gets married, and a kidnapped child actor

    On this day in Tudor history, 25 July 1554, on the Feast of St James, Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII by Catherine of Aragon, got married at Winchester Cathedral in a ceremony officiated by Lord Chancellor Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester.

    The thirty-eight-year-old Mary married twenty-seven-year-old Philip of Spain, son of her cousin, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

    Let me share a contemporary account of Mary and Philip’s wedding ceremony…

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  • July 20 – Philip of Spain prepares to marry Mary I, and John Knox attacks Mary

    On this day in Tudor history, 20th July 1554, Philip of Spain, son of Mary I’s cousin, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, arrived in England.

    He had come to prepare for his forthcoming marriage to Mary I.

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  • 3 July – Mary I bids farewell to Philip for the final time

    On 3rd July 1557, Queen Mary I said goodbye to her husband, King Philip II of Spain, for the final time, although she didn’t know it at the time.

    Find out more about why he had returned in the first place and what happened next in this latest edition of #TudorHistoryShorts…

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  • 26 August – A devastated Mary I prepares to be abandoned

    On this day in Tudor history, 26th August 1555, Queen Mary I and her husband, Philip of Spain, departed from Whitehall in preparation for Philip’s return to the Low Countries.

    This was an awful time for Mary I. She had just come out of confinement after months of believing she was pregnant, and now her husband was leaving her. He’d be gone for over 18 months.

    Find out more about Mary’s state of health and mind, the arrangements for Philip’s departure, and Mary’s reaction, in today’s talk.

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  • 25 July – Mary I gets married

    On this day in Tudor history, 25 July 1554, on the Feast of St James, Queen Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII by Catherine of Aragon, his first wife, married Philip of Spain, son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

    The couple got married at Winchester Cathedral and Mary’s Lord Chancellor, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, officiated at the ceremony.

    In today’s talk, I share a contemporary account of Mary and Philip’s wedding ceremony.

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  • The Wedding of Mary I and Philip of Spain – A Primary Source Account

    On 25th July 1554, the feast day of St James, Mary I married Philip of Spain, son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The wedding took place at Winchester Cathedral and the ceremony was performed by Stephen Gardener, Bishop of Winchester and Mary’s chancellor.

    In the appendix of The Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary, and especially of the Rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt, written by a Resident in the Tower of London, edited by John Gough Nichols, there is an official account of the preparations for the wedding and the wedding itself by the English Heralds:

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