Mary Tudor, Queen of France

Born 18 March 1496, Mary Tudor was the fifth child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, the youngest to survive infancy. At eighteen she became Queen of France as the third wife of King Louis XII, who died shortly after. While still in France, she secretly married Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, without her brother Henry VIII's consent. The unsanctioned marriage required Thomas Wolsey's intervention; Henry pardoned them only after they paid a large fine. Mary had four children with Suffolk, and through her older daughter Frances became the maternal grandmother of Lady Jane Grey, who would…