Mary I, Britain's first female monarch, ruled England for five years.
Mary was the only living child of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, who ascended the throne after a brief reign of her half-brother Edward VI. Under the written guidance of the Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives, she received an English tutoring education, excelled in Latin, and, like her father, was a skilled musician.
Mary I: Early life. Mary Tudor was born on 16 February 1516. She was the fifth child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, but the only baby to survive. Henry married four more times before his death in 1547. He was in the future given the long-awaited male heir Edward VI, the son of his third wife, Jane Seymour. After Henry's death, the official order of succession was Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth. Edward VI was a minor throughout his six-year reign.
Henry was desperate to have a son as heir and sought the pope's permission to end his marriage. When Pope Clement VII refused to approve the repeal, Henry declared himself out of the pope's jurisdiction, claiming that the King of England should be the sole leader of the Church of England. Lords of Somerset and Northumberland served as his regent, working to expand his father's church reforms. They also changed the order of succession in favor of the Protestants, placing Henry VIII's niece, Lady Jane Gray, second to the throne. However, when Edward died in 1553, Mary planned her own succession strategy: printing proclamations and assembling troops at her Norfolk estate. At the urging of Edward's regent, the Privy Council appointed Jane queen, but nine days later, in the face of Mary's general support, the privy council changed direction.
At the age of 6, she became engaged to Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor. Charles dissolved the marriage three years later, but remained a lifelong ally
Mary and Philip's marriage was almost as difficult as her father's marriage. She was twice declared pregnant and reclusive, but no children were born. Philip found her unlikable and spent most of her time in Europe.