Monarch History

18 February 1516 – The birth of a fair princess

In the early hours of 18th February 1516, at Greenwich Palace, “was borne a fayre prynces and christened with great solempnitie, and named Mary.” This little girl was the future Queen Mary I.

Mary was baptised on 20th February 1516 in the Church of the Observant Friars at Greenwich. The little princess was carried to the font by the Countess of Surrey and her godparents were Catherine Courtenay, Countess of Devon and daughter of Edward IV; Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury and daughter of George, Duke of Clarence; the Duchess of Norfolk, and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.

Women In History: Queens and Princesses

33) Empress Elizabeth of Russia

Louise of Baden (13/24 January 1779 – 4 May/16 May 1826) was, as Elizabeth Alexeievna, Empress of Russia during her marriage with Emperor Alexander I.

Born as Princess Louise of Baden, she was a daughter of Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden, and his wife, Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. She grew up in a close, warm family environment in Karlsruhe during the long reign of her grandfather Charles Frederick, Margrave of Baden.

Princess Louise came to Russia in November 1792, when she was chosen by Empress Catherine II of Russia as a bride for her eldest grandson, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich of Russia, the future Tsar Alexander I. Louise converted to the Orthodox Church, took the title of Grand Duchess of Russia and traded the name Louise Maria for Elizabeth Alexeievna. She married Alexander on 28 September 1793, when he was fifteen and she was fourteen. Initially the marriage was happy. Elizabeth was beautiful but shy and withdrawn. She had two daughters, but both died in early childhood. During the reign of her father-in-law, Tsar Paul I, Elizabeth supported her husband’s policies and was with him in the night of Paul’s assassination.

Today in history - The birth of Mary Stuart ( 8 December 1542 )

I’ve been really into Tudor history lately due to the amazing PBS/BBC series ‘Wolf Hall’! Ironically, today is the anniversary of the beheading of Anne Boleyn so I thought I’d draw something. There’s a legend that Anne’s ghost walks the grounds of the Tower of London, where she was beheaded, delicately holding her head in her hands.

    I apologize if I came off as curt or dismissive. It wasn’t my intention, and I should have learned by now to watch my words. Please accept my apology if I offended you.

    Cheke, as it turns out, wasn’t really that bad in his identifications. He was only wrong twice, out of sixty-four identifications when you break it down as David Starkey and Bendor Grosvenor have. If my math is correct, that means he was right 96.4% of the time. That’s a relatively high degree of certainty.

    In both cases, the incorrect labeling was understandable, given the situation, because they were people he didn’t know all that well, or ones who had been at court while he was absent. Anne Boleyn was John Cheke’s patron, and he most certainly met with her and was present at court when she was there. Out of all of the sketches, she is the person he should have been most easily able to visually identify, the most important person at court.

        Then there’s the internal evidence within the drawing itself. The sitter is wearing a daycap and a nightgown, something only ladies of the highest rank could do during audiences - which certainly narrows the pool of possible candidates. Anne was known to receive visitors in the mornings dressed in her luxurious satin and fur nightgowns. The other sketch identified as Anne in a gable hood matches this one almost perfectly and is a more “traditional” view of Anne’s appearance. The sketch in question was likely made while Anne was pregnant, explaining the puffiness of her features.

    Cheke wasn’t the only person at court who’d seen Anne Boleyn in person. I have a hard time believing the identification of such a notorious person would have stood unchallenged if it was incorrect. Again, for minor courtiers, it’s understandable, but not for someone like Anne.

    Elizabeth seems to have believed Cheke, which is a strong vote in favor of the accuracy of the image. The ring she had created with her mother’s portrait matches Cheke’s identified image. Elizabeth would have been able to confirm its accuracy very easily, especially since the Lumley Portrait still existed and she would have been able to compare the two Holbeins to the image in her ring.

    I guess it comes down to whether you believe Elizabeth wanted an accurate portrait of her mother. If she did, she would have asked living persons who knew Anne if the likenesses were accurate before having the ring made to fit those images.

    Both the ring and the Holbein sketches are intact. The ring has very little wear to its enamel, given its age. The gilding on the hair (you can see it glinting in the image above) was intentional. An artist isn’t going to gild the hair and then cover it over with brown enamel (which has inexplicably - and perfectly evenly - worn away to reveal the golden color below.) The only possible explanation is either that Elizabeth believed her mother had the golden-reddish hair of the Holbein sketch, or that Elizabeth said, “Just put anything in there for Mom’s portrait, I don’t care about it really looking like her.” But if the latter is true, it’s a remarkable coincidence that his finished product matches Holbein’s sketch so closely - which in turn, matches the portrait medallion, and matches the Nidd Hall portrait.

oOK i actually answered this ages ago and saved it in my drafts where it got buried so….. here we are?

numerous, tbqh. i could (and do) talk her for hours at a time, so i’m just gonna list a load of super cool things katherine did.

she really tried to avoid henry manox’s advances, and when he tried to threaten and blackmail her, her response was to set francis dereham on him, and to break into the dowager duchess’ room to steal an incriminating letter he sent.

she got super pissy with mary for snubbing her and stripped her of two of her ladies of service. mary reconciliated with her, and the ladies were returned to her household, and we have no further evidence of katherine and mary quarrelling, but katherine proved able to stand up for herself and act independently. (it also suggests she was quite proud - which i love about her).

she potentially got pregnant once, but had an early miscarriage, in april 1541. we don’t know for definite what happened, but there was definitely a short period where people in court were preparing for a future royal birth and coronation.

she saved thomas wyatt’s sorry white ass from being executed for treason. (she saved multiple people!! katherine interceded on the behalf of at least three people. she also supported margaret pole in the tower by sending her tailor to equip margaret with warmer clothes for her winter in prison.)

SHE REALLY FUCKING LIKED FRENCH FASHION OKAY.

she was fucking besties with anne of cleves. she gave her a ring and two spaniels for christmas, and they danced together all night for yule when henry retired to bed, early.

katherine really liked elizabeth, and went out of her way to show kindness to her. when katherine was formally shown off for the first time as the new queen consort, she made a point of demanding that elizabeth be sat opposite her, because elizabeth and her were related by blood. katherine continued to demand elizabeth sit at the place of honour nearest to her for every formal, public engagement. 

she also organised for her and elizabeth to meet outside of formal events, and travelled to meet elizabeth at chelsea during the 5th and 6th of may 1541. 

katherine also gifted elizabeth a jewel, and a decorated rope of beads, around november 1541.

she kept her family close to her, and we have evidence that she gifted jewellery to her sister, amongst other examples.

she gave jane parker a ring as a gift. thomas culpeper stole it to keep for himself, so jane sought katherine out to complain about it.

katherine called thomas a “little sweet fool”, and bitched to jane about him troubling her.

when jane tried to leave her and thomas alone together, katherine got angry and chastised jane for being a negligent chaperone, calling her back.

katherine rejuvenated henry and made him actually try to get fit again. he got into riding every morning, and started hunting again, to try to please his younger wife. i think, had they been married longer, henry would have lived longer.

katherine represented the conservative catholic faction, and towards the end of henry’s reign, he began to question the reformation and anglicanism. katherine howard, therefore, posed a significant threat to the protestant faction, and she bears some religious significance in her role as queen during this period.

during her downfall, she showed remarkable emotional fortitute and made a tremendous effort to make the best of her situation. she was noted to be calm, cheerful, and even imperious, during her final months - though she did have lapses in confidence, and we know of a few examples of her getting very paranoid and upset and hysterical, in once instance enough to cause men to have to wrestle her into submission to get her into the boat to take her to the tower. nevertheless, katherine tried to put on a brave face, and to spend her final days in as much dignity as she could.

she asked to practise how she would be executed. this is an uncommon request, and as far as i know there are no other instances of this recorded. to me, it’s a very sobering and humbling detail in her life.

October 13th 54 AD: Claudius dies