Henry VIII’s Scandalous Daughter-In-Law

Mary Fitzroy’s family was desperate to remain in Henry VIII’s favor, so they came up with a disturbing plan and she was at the center of it. But Mary didn’t take their manipulation sitting down. She betrayed them in an unforgettably brutal way. Mary Fitzroy was born into a powerful and ambitious noble family in sixteenth-century England, and her prospects only improved when she married the illegitimate son of the king. The untimely loss of her husband, however, threw the young Duchess into a whirlwind of political brinksmanship, betrayal, and battle. Born Mary Howard in 1519, she was the third of five children of Lady Elizabeth Stafford and Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey. At the time of her birth, Mary’s father was the third-highest-ranking nobleman in England. He held the influential court positions of Earl Marshal and Treasurer of the royal household, further cementing his sway over matters of great importance for the kingdom. Mary’s grandparents were the Dukes and Duchesses of Norfolk and Buckingham, respectively, making both of her grandfathers the most powerful peers in the kingdom and her family a significant political force. The Howard family wielded a lot of influence in the kingdom of England, both politically and militarily. Her father had led English forces to a decisive victory in the Battle of Flodden, where he crushed Scottish opposition and cemented his position in the king’s good graces, at least for now.

The family were a well-established dynasty with great ambitions toward power, and they weren’t afraid to wield that influence, even if at times it risked alienating them from those in power. Throughout their history, the Howards became well-known for falling in and out of royal favor, a result of their constant scheming and factionalism. Mary’s powerful family tree didn’t stop at her parents and grandparents. Among her cousins, she counted Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife; Jane Seymour, his third wife; and Catherine Howard, his fifth. Each of these wives tried to exert their influence over the king, and Mary’s family watched with bated breath from the sidelines, waiting to make their next move. Henry VIII’s reign was a significant one, with seismic shifts in England’s religious landscape occurring during his tenure, namely that of the Protestant Reformation, spurred on by his desire to divorce his first wife. Mary’s family maintained an outlook of conservative Catholicism, however, instilling these values in her from a young age, although not all her siblings necessarily toed this line. While Mary’s two sisters achieved little of historic significance, her brothers were different. Her older brother Henry became a well-known poet and founder of the English Renaissance poetry movement. Her younger brother Thomas became a politician more in line with the family’s values and would later feud with his poet brother. But no one could say the Howard children had a tough childhood.

Mary grew up primarily across her family’s many properties in the idyllic area of East Anglia. There are few surviving details of her upbringing, but she likely experienced the finest childhood possible at that time, with lavish parties, servant-filled homes, and the best food England had to offer. In 1520, with the Emerald Isle under the brutal boot of English colonial rule, Mary’s father was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland, and he made regular visits to fulfill his authoritarian duty. It is very likely that Mary accompanied her father on at least a few of these trips and probably learned a bit about governance along the way. Her parents, because of their conservative Catholicism, were incredibly strict. But, as was the case with so many fanatical religious people throughout history, her father was a massive hypocrite. Tensions within the household peaked in 1527 when, after the deterioration of her parents’ marriage, Mary’s father took a mistress, Elizabeth Holland, and moved her into the family home. As she got older, Mary proved to be an intelligent and capable young woman and received an education appropriate to her class. Along with her smarts, she was also beautiful and would deploy both traits skillfully in her adult years. And with family troubles escalating, she would need all her wits about her. Mary’s maternal grandfather, the third Duke of Buckingham, was as ambitious as any of the Howards and made many high-profile connections with other aristocrats outside the king’s inner circle. The king eventually grew suspicious of this and ordered one of his cardinals to investigate. Mary’s grandfather was eventually tried and sentenced to execution for treason. Oddly enough, this meant good news for her father’s side of the family. With Buckingham now out of the picture, there remained only two dukes in the kingdom of England: the Duke of Suffolk and Mary’s paternal grandfather, the Duke of Norfolk.

The latter died in 1524, raising Mary’s father to the position of Duke. In 1525, the king ordained a new Duke through the elevation of his illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy, naming him the Duke of Richmond and Somerset. Mary’s father’s position of importance had taken a slight dip, but the politically astute Duke of Norfolk seized another opportunity when it presented itself. The king had placed his newly ordained son into the care of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, but Henry VIII was a fickle man, and when Wolsey failed to secure an annulment for the king’s marriage, the cardinal fell from grace and was imprisoned. Mary’s father saw his opportunity. He volunteered to take Henry FitzRoy under his guidance, to which the king agreed. And with that, Mary became the perfect bargaining chip. The king was pleased with the progress his son made under Norfolk, and soon he sought to join his family with the Duke’s. It was suggested, either by the king himself or by Anne Boleyn, who was close to the Howard family, that the newly elevated FitzRoy should marry young Mary Howard. Her parents quickly completed the marriage negotiations, and in November 1533, Mary Howard wedded the king’s illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy. It was a triumphant moment for both the Howard and Boleyn families, their political ambitions materializing before their very eyes. The two newlyweds, of course, had little say in the matter. At the time of their wedding, Mary and her new husband were very young, an unfortunately common practice in arranged aristocratic marriages of the era. Henry was fourteen years old on his wedding day, and Mary was as young as thirteen. Their status as young teenagers would play a significant role in the drama that followed. With her marriage to Henry, the new bride was now Mary FitzRoy, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset. The Howard family now had both a Duke and Duchess in the family, their daughter proving to be a lucrative political bargaining chip.

The new Duchess was a former member of Queen Anne’s household, meaning the ambitious Boleyns knew her well and could bend the young girl to their will. Mary also seemed open to religious reform, something the Boleyn family strongly advocated for. But the young girl wasn’t just a pawn; the marriage strengthened her own position, too. At the time of Mary’s wedding, Henry VIII had no legitimate sons, meaning there was no male heir to the throne. Now a duke, Henry FitzRoy was seen as the most likely candidate to ascend the throne. Mary likely already had dreams of being crowned Queen of England, but fate had other plans. Three years into their marriage, Mary’s husband contracted tuberculosis and died on July 23, 1536, a little over a month after his seventeenth birthday. Upon Mary’s marriage to Henry, the king, fearing that bedroom activity too early was unhealthy, forbade the newlyweds from consummating their marriage. After Henry FitzRoy’s death, this agreement came back to have real consequences. Henry VIII insisted that because the marriage wasn’t consummated, it wasn’t valid. In normal circumstances, marriage entitled aristocratic widows to lands in the event of their spouses’ untimely demise. Because of the king’s assertion that the marriage wasn’t legitimate, Mary was stripped of many of the lands she would have otherwise inherited. But while the king remained tight with his purse strings, he also kept Mary in his good graces, and the royal family permitted her to stay at court. She settled into a quiet widowhood amongst her fellow courtiers and continued building her social circle. Mary FitzRoy was a jovial and well-liked presence at court, and she had a few of her own favorites among her fellow aristocrats. She grew particularly close to her late husband’s cousin, Margaret Douglas. Pushing politics to the side, the two women curated and contributed to the Devonshire manuscript, an impressive collection of Tudor-era poetry featuring works by the women themselves along with several pieces by various court poets. Mary seemed perfectly content to live out her days creatively, but soon political scandal reared its head.

By 1542, Henry VIII married his fifth wife, Mary’s first cousin, Catherine Howard. After hearing allegations of Catherine’s infidelity, however, the king imprisoned her and her entire extended family. Mary FitzRoy ended up in the Tower of London with the rest of the Howards. The Howards found themselves in a tricky bind, and Mary’s father could think of only one way out for his daughter: marrying her off again. The Earl petitioned the king for Mary to marry his third wife Jane Seymour’s brother, Thomas Seymour. Surprisingly, the king gave the approval for Mary to marry his ex-brother-in-law. The Howards breathed a sigh of relief as they saw a potential way back from their fall from grace through their treasured daughter. But not all Howards were on board, especially not the one that mattered. Despite her predicament, Mary had no interest in marrying Thomas Seymour. She strongly objected, and as a result, the marriage never took place. She wasn’t alone in her protest. Her brother, Henry, the Earl of Surrey, also objected to the match. It turns out he had an idea of his own. Mary’s brother was scheming independently of his father to get the Howard family into the king’s good graces. And like his father, the Earl of Surrey was not hesitant to use his sister as a pawn. Surrey suggested Mary seduce the king himself. This suggestion outraged the young woman, and she wasn’t shy about making her feelings known. The two stubborn siblings had a falling out and ceased all communication with one another. This would have devastating consequences for Mary’s brother. Soon after, Mary’s father and brother ended up on trial for treason, and Mary’s next move shocked everyone. She testified at the trial against her family members. Whether acting out of self-interest or from her genuinely held beliefs, Mary’s dramatic testimony sealed the fates of two of the most powerful Howards and represented a complete severance of familial ties for the cunning Duchess. Mary’s father and brother were deemed guilty of treason, and both were sentenced to execution. Her brother, the Earl of Surrey, faced the music on January 19, 1547.

Her father was next on the chopping block, but he was saved by the bell. Mary’s father was to be executed on January 28, nine days after his son. However, a stroke of cosmic luck spared his life. In the early hours of that morning, Henry VIII died, throwing the kingdom into disarray. King Edward VI ascended to the throne after his father’s demise, and he never bothered to see through the execution of a man who was charged with treason against his predecessor. Mary’s father was instead imprisoned in the Tower of London for the remainder of the new king’s reign. Mary grew up Catholic. In fact, her father was the premier Roman Catholic nobleman in England. Despite her pious upbringing, however, Mary was much more sympathetic to reformist ideas than the other Howards, a contrarian position that perhaps explains her willingness to turn on her family in their darkest hour. Though she never had any children of her own, Mary took charge of her brother’s five children after their father’s execution. Given the direction of the religious currents at court, the duchess set her wards up wisely, hiring Protestant martyrologist John Fox to tutor the kids and ensure they remained in the royal family’s good books. Interestingly, Mary never remarried after losing her husband. This is particularly strange considering her stature, the young age at which she was widowed, and the fact that she never consummated her marriage to begin with. Perhaps it speaks further to the duchess’s autonomous nature. Mary largely faded into the background after the demise of Henry VIII, becoming essentially a faceless courtier, exercising no meaningful power or influence again. She was probably more than happy to do so. January of 1556 saw the beginning of the reign of Queen Mary I, a period of upheaval in the English monarchy. The queen attempted to reverse many of the reforms implemented by her father, and though Mary FitzRoy had advocated reform in the past, she wasn’t worried about facing the queen’s wrath because she was her sister-in-law. Mary FitzRoy, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset, died on December 7, 1557, at the age of thirty-seven or thirty-eight, possibly after a difficult bout of flu. The duchess left behind a legacy of quiet independence and wisely deployed political smarts.