YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO MARY I MARY'S STEPMOTHERS
By the age of 27, Mary Tudor, the eldest daughter of King Henry VIII, had known five stepmothers. Her father had famously separated from her mother, Catherine of Aragon, leaving Mary the only living child of their union, and he later remarried five more times. And although Mary always remained close with her mother, the same cannot always be said for her relationships with the stepmothers who followed.
Anne Boleyn, the first to follow Catherine of Aragon in becoming Henry VIII's queen, was by many accounts Mary's least-favourite stepmother, and these two shared the worst relationship. By 1527, and possibly even earlier, the event that would have the most significant impact on Mary's life had already been set in motion, when it became clear that Henry VIII wanted to annul his marriage to Catherine because she had not borne him any living sons. Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting to the queen and mistress to the king, was ready to fulfil this duty – but only as Henry's wife. Mary became a pawn in the bitter battle as Catherine appealed to Henry to
