Mary + Catherine | Lust and Suspicion [3/5]  

Historical femslash (FAN-FIC series).
DISCLAIMER: This is my fictional story and my interpretation of historical figures of the time. The story is only inspired by the lives of the Tudors, it doesn't represent what actually happened behind closed doors.
Henry, Mary and Catherine - the dynamic:
1. Henry VIII
Henry was a ruthless and flaky ruler who changed his mind as he pleased and couldn't be trusted to keep a promise or a wife for long. His worsening health condition made him only angrier and desperate.
He was unable to solve the feuds between Protestants and Christians - the division between them only grew. The court and the people were sick of the unpredictable and cruel King. Plots, uprisings and rebellions took place.
Henry barely won against the rebels. He was able to achieve it only with the help of Queen Catherine's uncle and others. Nevertheless, after it was all over, Henry made sure to display his full power all over England and humiliate his subjects during the Royal Progress of 1541.
2. Lady Mary Tudor
Mary Tudor, on the other hand, was a beloved and influential royal. Although not legitimized, she was thought of as a true princess whom Henry was afraid of just as he was afraid of her mother.
More and more people wanted to see Mary Tudor on the throne. Not just because of her religious views and reputation, but also because of her maturity, spiritual strength and eloquence.
3. Catherine Howard
Catherine was still very young and all she wanted was to dance, have fun, love and be loved. Well educated, free-spirited and married to Henry VIII, she made Mary, the King's daughter, jealous.
At first, they fought but reconciled later on. Soon, they were giving expensive jewelry as gifts to each other...
In my fan-fic series, Mary Tudor is in the lead. As a lover and a political figure.
She rivaled Henry in every aspect, even in the bed-chamber. It's not so hard to believe that the young Queen Catherine would turn away from a fat old and cruel man, but not from the royal way of life.
Catherine didn't just fall in love with Mary - she wanted her to be the next Queen of England. Catherine would gladly give up her own crown for Mary to rule. Mary was HER Queen.
Facts & history (quotes):
"A lot of pity has been wasted on Henry VIII over Kathryn's infidelity - much more than has been accorded Kathryn herself. The chroniclers of her own time treated her with contempt, which is at least understandable in an age when chastity and honour were synonymous when applied to a woman. Less understandable is the determination of 20th-century writers to follow suit. Even her sympathetic biographer Lacey Baldwin Smith, in A Tudor Tragedy (1961), repeatedly refers to Kathryn as "wanton" and "promiscuous"; she was "a common wh*re" and "a juvenile delinquent". As late as 1991, Alison Weir described her as "certainly promiscuous".
Alone of Henry VIII’s queens, she [Catherine Howard] progressed into the North - a land ravaged by the brutal suppression of the Pilgrimage of Grace...[www.thetudorswi...]
About the Royal Progress and it's purpose:
During Katheryn’s tenure as queen, Henry VIII undertook the most significant progress of his reign. The Pilgrimage of Grace, the rebellion of 1536-7 that had spread from Lincolnshire to Yorkshire and even as far as Westmoreland, had threatened to unseat him. It was largely the skill of Katheryn’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, that had kept the king on his throne. The reprisals were brutal, and in an effort to show his power and magnificence, as well as terrorising his subjects into good behaviour, Henry decided to travel to York, second city of the kingdom. Accompanied by Katheryn, his daughter Mary, most of his councillors and a gaggle of other courtiers, the king set out on 30 June 1541.
[tudortimes.co....]
It was armed and three times the size of a normal Progress - and it travelled further than a royal progress had done for over 50 years.
On the long progress, Henry’s 5th wife, Catherine Howard is said to have begun secret assignations with a member of her husband’s privy chamber.
[www.bbc.co.uk/...]
Historians are divided over the main purpose of the progress.
Historian J J Scarisbrick saw the royal progress as an army of occupation and an opportunity for Henry to build pressure on the Scots and rally support in the North, and Lacey Baldwin-Smith saw it as a theatrical invasion, intimidation and the display of a spectacular image of Henry.
The royal court travelled on progress from 30th June to the end of October. [www.theannebol...]
#marytudor #catherinehoward #thetudors