by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2025
Felipe and Mary; Credit – Wikipedia from the Bedford Collection, Woburn Abbey
On July 25, 1554, first cousins once removed, 38-year-old Mary I, Queen of England, and 27-year-old Felipe, then Prince of Asturias and heir to the Spanish throne, later Felipe II, King of Spain from 1556 to 1598, were married at Winchester Cathedral in Winchester, England. This was Mary’s only marriage and the second of Felipe’s four marriages.
Mary’s Early Life
Mary in 1554, the year of her marriage to Felipe; Credit – Wikipedia
Mary was born on February 18, 1516, at the Palace of Placentia (Greenwich Palace), the only child of King Henry VIII of England and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to survive infancy. Mary had two much younger half-siblings from two of her father’s other marriages: Queen Elizabeth I of England and King Edward VI of England. Mary was well educated and studied Greek, Latin, French, Italian, science, and music. Henry VIII was disappointed that Mary was not a male, however in 1525, he sent her for three years to Ludlow Castle on the border of Wales to preside, presumably in name only, over the Council of Wales and the Marches. This was the same castle that Catherine of Aragon and her first husband, Arthur, Prince of Wales (Henry VIII’s elder brother), were sent to after their marriage, and it is where Arthur died. Mary received many of the dignities of a Prince of Wales, and there is evidence that she was sometimes referred to as Princess of Wales, despite never being invested with the title. After the annulment of her parents’ marriage in 1533, Mary was declared illegitimate and barred from the line of succession, but was restored via the Third Succession Act of 1543. During Mary’s childhood, there were some tentative marriage plans to King François I of France and her first cousin, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (also King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Lord of the Netherlands, Duke of Burgundy), but nothing ever came of these plans.
When Mary’s father, King Henry VIII, died in 1547, Mary’s nine-year-old half-brother succeeded him as King Edward VI, but he reigned for only six years. As 15-year-old King Edward VI lay dying, probably of tuberculosis, in the late spring and early summer of 1553, many feared that the succession of his Catholic half-sister Mary would spell trouble for the English Reformation. Earlier in 1553, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and Lord Protector of the Realm, had arranged the marriage of his son, Lord Guildford Dudley, with Lady Jane Grey. Lady Jane was number four in the line of succession because she was the granddaughter of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, Duchess of Suffolk, daughter of King Henry VII of England. Through many machinations, the Duke of Northumberland arranged for his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, to succeed to the throne after the death of her first cousin, King Edward VI.
After great suffering, fifteen-year-old King Edward VI died on July 6, 1553. On July 9, 1553, Lady Jane Grey was told she was Queen of England, and reluctantly accepted her fate. However, the Privy Council switched their allegiance from Jane to Edward’s half-sister Mary, and proclaimed her Queen on July 19, 1553. Mary arrived triumphantly in London on August 3, 1553, accompanied by her half-sister, the future Queen Elizabeth I, and a procession of over 800 nobles and gentlemen. Ultimately, Lady Jane Grey, her husband, her father, and her father-in-law all lost their heads. On October 1, 1553, Queen Mary I of England was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
Felipe’s Early Life
Felipe in 1554, the year of his marriage to Mary; Credit – Wikipedia
Felipe was born on May 21, 1527, at Palacio de Pimente in Valladolid, then the capital of Spain. He was the oldest child of Isabella of Portugal and King Carlos I of Spain, best known as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Charles was one of the most powerful monarchs ever. He held a large number of titles due to his vast inheritance of the Burgundian, Spanish, and Austrian realms. Felipe’s father was the heir to three of Europe’s leading dynasties: Valois of Burgundy, Habsburg of Austria, and Trastámara of Spain, and was the first to rule a unified Spain. As a Habsburg, Charles inherited Austria and other lands in central Europe and was also elected to succeed his grandfather, Maximilian I, as Holy Roman Emperor. Charles’ son, Felipe, was well-educated and received an academic education that reflected the spirit of the Renaissance. He married four times, was a widower four times, and had children with all his wives except Queen Mary I of England.
Reasons for the Marriage
After the death of his first wife, Felipe made a political marriage with his first cousin once removed, Queen Mary I of England. Roman Catholic Mary needed to marry and produce a Catholic heir to prevent her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth from succeeding to the throne. Edward Courtney, 1st Earl of Devon, a Roman Catholic Plantagenet descendant, was suggested. However, Mary had her heart set on marrying Felipe, the only son of Mary’s first cousin, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Felipe was a widower and was eleven years younger than Mary. Parliament urged her to reconsider, fearing the threat marriage to a foreign royal might have for English independence. When Mary insisted on marrying Felipe, Wyatt’s Rebellion broke out, led by Thomas Wyatt the Younger, to depose Mary in favor of her half-sister Elizabeth. The rebellion failed, and the consequences for the rebels ranged from death to forgiveness.
At that time, Felipe had only one child, a son, Carlos, born in 1545, from his first marriage to Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal, Felipe’s double first cousin, daughter of Felipe’s maternal uncle, King João III, King of Portugal, and his paternal aunt Catherine of Austria. Maria Manuela died four days after giving birth to Carlos, due to childbirth complications. Felipe would probably have wanted a spare heir, especially since his son Carlos had serious physical abnormalities and behavioral issues. Over the years, the behavior issues escalated in their severity and were often very violent. In 1563, the year of his death, Carlos was imprisoned in his rooms because of his extremely violent behavior. His issues are attributed to the serious inbreeding in the House of Habsburg. Carlos had only four great-grandparents instead of the typical eight. He also had only six great-great-grandparents, instead of the maximum sixteen. His maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather were siblings, his maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother were also siblings, and two of his great-grandmothers were sisters.
The Marriage Contract
The Act for the Marriage of Queen Mary to Felipe of Spain was an act of the English Parliament to regulate the marriage and joint reign of Queen Mary I and Felipe of Spain, as King of England.
Felipe would hold the male counterparts of Mary’s titles for as long as their marriage lasted. All official documents, including Acts of Parliament, would be made in both their names with Felipe’s name preceding Mary’s name. The Parliament of England would be called under the joint authority of the couple. Formally, Felipe, as King of England, would co-reign with his wife. He would participate in governing Mary’s realms but would reserve most authority for Mary. However, the act prohibited Felipe from appointing foreigners to any offices, from taking Mary or any child that might be born to them outside her realm, or from claiming the crown for himself should he outlive Mary.
The act assumed that Mary and Felipe would have children and allowed full personal union between Mary’s realms and all the realms Felipe would inherit from his father or his paternal grandmother, Juana I, Queen of Castile and León and Queen of Aragon, if Carlos, Felipe’s son from his first marriage, should die childless.
The Wedding
The wedding took place on July 25, 1554, the feast day of Saint James the Great, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and the patron saint of Spain, at Winchester Cathedral in Winchester, England. The construction of Winchester Cathedral began in 1079, and the cathedral was consecrated in 1093. Over the centuries, there have been renovations and additions, but a substantial part of the original building remains, including the crypt, the transepts, and the basic structure of the nave.
For the wedding, Winchester Cathedral was decorated with tapestries of cloth of gold, and a raised platform had been erected for the wedding ceremony. Two canopied chairs for the bride and groom were on either side of the altar. In front of the altar was a raised dais where the five bishops would stand during the wedding mass.
Felipe entered the church first, escorted by his gentlemen. He wore a white doublet and breeches, and a mantle of cloth of gold trimmed in crimson velvet and lined with crimson satin. Mary had recently made Felipe a Knight of the Order of the Garter, and he wore the jeweled collar of the order.
Mary arrived about thirty minutes later. As she walked down the aisle, Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby, Lord High Steward, carried the sword of royalty before her, while Sir John Gage, Lord Chamberlain, and Elizabeth Capell, Marchioness of Winchester, carried her train. Mary wore a black velvet gown studded with precious jewels and a mantle of cloth of gold that matched Philip’s mantle. In place of her deceased father, Mary was given away by William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester, Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby, John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, and William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, also Mary’s Lord Chancellor, was the chief officiant. After a high mass, Bishop Gardiner led the wedding ceremony in English and Latin, assisted by several other bishops. Felipe’s personal priest from Spain performed the nuptial blessing.
After the wedding, Gilbert Dethick, King of Heralds and Garter King of Arms, proclaimed the royal title and style in Latin, French, and English: “Philip and Mary, by the grace of God, King and Queen of England, France, Naples, Jerusalem and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, Princes of Spain and Sicily, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Milan, Burgundy, and Brabant, Counts of Habsburg, Flanders, and Tyrol.”
The wedding feast was held in the banquet hall of the Bishop of Winchester’s palace, Wolvesey Castle. Mary and Felipe sat at a raised table with Mary in the favored place on the right in a chair finer than Felipe’s. Mary ate from gold plate while Felipe from silver plate. The Spaniards took note of these slights, which they hoped would be corrected after Felipe’s coronation as King of England. Despite the statements about Felipe’s styles and titles in the marriage contract, the English parliament was unwilling to agree to a coronation ceremony. Felipe was never officially confirmed as King of England, restricting his ability to govern England.
Afterword
The marriage was not successful. Although Mary was in love with Felipe, he found her repugnant. In September 1554, Mary thought she was pregnant and continued to exhibit signs of pregnancy until July 1555, when her abdomen returned to normal. There was no baby. After fourteen months of marriage, Felipe returned to Spain in August 1555. Mary was heartbroken and went into a deep depression. Felipe returned to England in 1557 and was happily received by Mary. Felipe wanted England to join Spain in a war against France. Mary agreed, and the result was the loss of Calais, England’s last possession in continental Europe. Felipe left England in July 1557 and never returned. Mary said of these losses, “When I am dead, you will find the words ‘Felipe’ and ‘Calais’ engraved upon my heart.”
Mary became weak and ill in May 1558, possibly from ovarian cysts or uterine cancer. In November 1558, she fell ill during an influenza outbreak and died on November 17, 1558. She was succeeded by her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth I. Mary wanted to be buried with her mother at Peterborough Cathedral, but was buried in Westminster Abbey in a vault that she would eventually share with her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth. The tomb erected above only has Elizabeth’s effigy, but King James I, Elizabeth’s successor, ordered this to be inscribed upon the tomb in Latin: Regno consortes et urna, Hic obdorminus Elizabetha et Maria sonores in spe resurrectionis – Partners both in throne and grave, here we, Elizabeth and Mary, rest as sisters, in hope of our resurrection.
Felipe II, King of Spain, married two more times. He died at the age of 71 on September 13, 1598, and was buried in the Pantheon of the Kings, the mausoleum of the Spanish kings at the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain. Felipe II was succeeded by King Felipe III of Spain, the son of his fourth wife and niece, Anna of Austria.
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Works Cited
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- Flantzer, Susan. (2019). Felipe II, King of Spain, Filipe I, King of Portugal. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-philip-ii-of-spain/
- Flantzer, Susan. (2016). Queen Mary I of England. Unofficial Royalty. Unofficialroyalty.com. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/queen-mary-i-of-england/
- Ridgway, A. C. (2015). The Wedding of Mary I and Philip of Spain – A Primary Source Account – The Tudor Society. www.tudorsociety.com. https://www.tudorsociety.com/the-wedding-of-mary-i-and-philip-of-spain-a-primary-source-account/
- The Chronicle of Queen Jane, and Two Years of Queen Mary, and Especially of the Rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt. Edited by John Gough Nichols, 1806-1873: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming: Internet Archive. (2025). https://archive.org/details/chronicleofqueen00nichrich/page/166/mode/2up?view=theater
- Wedding of Mary I of England and Philip of Spain. (2024). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_of_Mary_I_of_England_and_Philip_of_Spain
- Wikipedia Contributors. (2025). Act for the Marriage of Queen Mary to Philip of Spain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_for_the_Marriage_of_Queen_Mary_to_Philip_of_Spain
