The Secret Bride: In the Court of Henry VIII [Paperback]

Being the sister of King Henry VIII, Princess Mary understands that she will one day be a political pawn marrying someone to further her brother's reign. However that does not prevent her from falling in love with the Duke of Suffolk Charles Brandon; nor he with her. She begs her sibling to allow her to marry Charles, but he refuses as she is intended to wed King Louis XII of France. However, feeling some guilt as he likes and trust Charles as a loyal friend of his and cares for Mary, Henry agrees she can marry her beloved if he is single and she is a widow.

In the fall of 1514, Mary marries fiftyish King Louis XII of France. Less than three months later he died allegedly from too much exertion trying to begat an heir on his teenage wife. . Not asking permission as she knows her capricious brother might pawn her off on someone else, Mary persuades Charles to marry her as he and others escort her back across the Channel. However, they time their nuptials perfectly as Henry has no time to deal with either of them as he struggles to obtain papal approval of his divorce from Catherine of Aragon

THE SECRET BRIDE is an excellent biographical fiction tale of the sister of King Henry VIII, who comes across as intelligent, compassionate, and sly. She has to if she is to survive her checkmating her manipulative political keen sibling. Fans of Tudor tales will appreciate this deep character driven look at Princess Mary though her romance with Charles takes center stage over the historical perspective.

Harriet Klausner

I should have known it from the start. There's a trend in the historical novel market these days to have the book published in a trade paperback format, with a brightly coloured cover that has the model portraying the heroine in a pose that is either looking away from the viewer, or with the picture ending about mid-chin so that we don't quite see her face. This, from what I understand, is to let the reader feel 'empathy' with the heroine and her travails of reaching the bliss of true love.

Whatever.

Diane Haeger's _The Secret Bride,_ set in Tudor England of the early sixteenth century tells the story of Henry VIII's youngest sister, Mary. She was certainly the most attractive of the Tudor children, with a ready wit, red gold hair and a talent for charm and music. As with her sister Margaret, Mary knows that it is likely that she will marry for political reasons, even at the tender age of eight, which is how old she is at the start of the novel. She has seen the coming of the Spanish princess, Katherine of Aragon, to marry the Prince of Wales, Arthur, eldest son of King Henry VII. It is a time of hope and promise, and everyone hopes that the Spanish princess will quickly become pregnant and provide an heir for the Tudor kings. But Mary finds out quickly enough that death is something that will be eagerly stalking her family. Arthur has died, and the Spanish princess is now a widow, but the king is unwilling to let her go home to Spain, instead wanting to keep her vast dowry for himself.

Mary feels sorry for the princess, but her attention is more focused on her brother Henry, now to be king when his father dies. Harry, as Mary calls him, is flamboyant, strong and a brilliant star of the Tudor court. In his company she feels safe and able to indulge her flirtatious nature with the king's best friend, Charles Brandon, another young golden god. Through Mary's eyes, we see the friendship between Henry and Brandon, Mary's growing interest in Brandon, and Brandon's money problems and matrimonial entanglements.

At the tender age of eighteen, Mary is married off at last. Her spouse is to be the mightiest king in Europe, Louis XII of France. But he's a dottering old man in his sixties, and fresh young Mary leads him a merry dance indeed -- not at all surprising that he dies within months of the wedding. And Mary proves that she is just as crafty as her brother, for she wheedled a promise out of him that she would be able to choose who her second husband would be...

And just who does Henry VIII send to bring his widowed sister back to England? Why his best friend, Charles Brandon...

It doesn't take too much brainpower to see where this one is going. The fact that it really happened and is well documented is what keeps most readers from scoffing and saying Sure this happened, Ha! and throwing the book at the wall.

Sigh. Does the historical novel market really need another book set in the Tudor court? It seems that every other novel that has a historical setting is during this time, and most of them, to be honest, are pretty badly written. This one was especially difficult to read, as the writing style was so limp and dull, even with vivid descriptions of court festivities, tournaments, and especially clothing. Brandon and Mary endlessly snipe and bicker, with inserts of kissing and making up. Most of all, the premise was fairly unbelievable, with Mary being alone with Brandon, and he fondling and kissing her at every opportunity, and Mary seeing him as her one true love.

Romantic writers in particular seem to think that the young women of the past, especially royal women, were panting after every young stud to walk past them in a well-fitting pair of trunk hose. Far from it. From babyhood, many of these young women were very aware that the one advantage that they had in the marriage market was who they were and their virginity, and while they did grow up quickly and often married in their early teens, I seriously doubt that they were as hot to trot as the author shows them here. Not only that, but a royal princess was almost never ever alone, surrounded by attendants and ladies who had the job of keeping her entertained, and fetching and carrying for her, and the only time that she might be alone was during certain bodily functions, and even then, there was someone within earshot.

And Charles Brandon, king's favourite that he might be, would have known better than to be debauching the king's little sister under her brother's nose. While the stories about his very tangled marriages are true, and the fact that he was very much an opportunist and chronically short of money, this version of him just doesn't feel right.

Finally there are a host of little problems with this story. If I see Katherine of Aragon portrayed as having black hair one more time, I will scream. Portraits of the time, including one that was painted when she first arrived in England, show her as a very fair skinned, with vivid red-gold hair, and while she did keep her Spanish accent for the rest of her life, it certainly wasn't as thick as the author seems to think. There is also a painting that is supposed to be of Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor but she is shown with dark hair.

Too, the author cuts off the story partway through Mary's life, leaving the very surprising second marriage that she made summed up into a few words, and tacked into an author's afterword. Ho-hum! The real story of Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon is told in a far better way in the nonfiction books, _Mary Tudor, The White Queen_ by Walter Richardson, and _The Sisters of Henry VIII_ by Maria Perry.

All in all, this is a boring novel. If the reader hasn't encountered the true tale of Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon, then this might do, but it's rather over the top, and not that well done either. Two stars at best.

Not Recommended.

I'm giving this one 4 stars, because I like the cast of characters, Henry, Katherine, Charles Brandon, etc. etc., and of course, Mary, Henry's sister. But really there is not much here. I kept thinking "Why am I not enjoying this book more?" Usually, anything about the Tudors holds my interest. And there are some unlikely events- one of which is that when Henry and his party came back from war with France, their first stop, muddy and dirty, was Hampton Court. This defies reason, because Hampton Court is many miles inland, and the first stop home from France would have been Dover Castle, or someplace closer, so the boys could freshen up before they got back to London. But in the book, they rode all the way to Hampton Court with mud still on their boots. Nope. That would not have happened. When Henry landed, he would have been met with ceremony on the shore, and celebrating citizens along the way. He would have stopped and cleaned up for his entry into London. None of this happened in the book. Also, when Mary first met Louis, not 15 minutes later, they were having a little heart to heart talk in the garden. The French Court at this time was much too formal for a thing like that to have happened. If the writing had been a bit more interesting I would have overlooked a few faults, but this book just wasn't that interesting.