History Literature / MaryBloodyMary

** Anne Boleyn in reality had a decidedly unfashionable appearance - when it was fashionable to be fair and voluptuous, she was sallow-skinned and small-breasted. Accounts describe her as someone who had a more alluring personality. Mary frequently describes her as beautiful here.
** Mary herself is an aversion. She was quite pretty in her youth, and is usually subject to ugliness updates ([[BeautyEqualsGoodness for obvious reasons]], sadly). But her looks are described favourably.

* IllGirl: Mary regularly suffers from poor health, including headaches, stomach aches, faintness and irregular periods. It gets worse after her parents start having marriage problems, likely due to stress.

* RapunzelHair: Anne's is described in detail, frequently loose instead of being tucked into hoods or nets.

* ArrangedMarriage: Catherine and Henry’s marriage, though it was a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage for most of it. Mary is betrothed to both Emperor Charles and King Francis, although these both fall through. Susan is forced to marry the Count of Chichester.

** It was actually Elizabeth to whom Henry didn't send new clothes as she outgrew her old ones. Presumably with ''Literature/BewarePrincessElizabeth'' covering Elizabeth's teen years, this was given to Mary for RuleOfDrama.
** Before she is crowned queen, Anne is only styled as Lady Anne because she's a merchant's daughter. Her great-grandfather on her father's side was a merchant, but on the other side they were high-ranking aristocrats. Anne could trace her ancestry back to Edward I.

* TheBluebeard: Henry becomes something of one; he had both Anne and Catherine Howard executed, and Mary believes he could have poisoned her mother (at the least, him treating her like garbage after twenty years of marriage and forcing her to live in cold, damp houses negatively affected her health).

* CallingTheOldManOut: Susan stands up to her father when he insults Mary and callously her she is now a servant, even attempting to physically attack him.

* DidNotGetTheGuy: Mary and Reginald never did get together, despite her feelings for him (it’s implied he feels the same, too).

* DoubleStandard: Highlighted. King Francis requested Mary's portrait to see if he would want to marry her. Mary grumbles that she should have gotten his portrait to see if he pleased her.[[note]]Later in life, she DID receive the portrait of her husband Philip II and was thrilled with it.[[/note]]

* FootDraggingDivorcee: ''Hoo'', boy. Catherine of Aragon's utter defiance in the face of Henry's attempt to divorce her, and the fact half the country and the Pope backed her, lead to the divorce being dragged out for ''years'' and Henry doing everything in his power to break Catherine's will, splitting with the Catholic Church and establishing himself as head of the English Church (thus allowing him to grant himself a divorce). And even then, Catherine refused to accept it, insisting she was Queen [[DefiantToTheEnd right up to her deathbed]].

** Anne Boleyn in reality had a decidedly unfashionable appearance - when it was fashionable to be fair, she was sallow-skinned and small-breasted when voluptuous figures were in. Accounts describe her as someone who had a more alluring personality. Mary frequently describes her as beautiful here.

** Mary Tudor, possibly. She’s portrayed here as an innocent victim of her father and Anne Boleyn’s tyranny and ruthless ambition, who only wants what’s best for the people. Of course, this may be justified in that the novel explicitly tells ''Mary''’s side of the story. And she may have been [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade demonized]] to an extent in real life.
** Jane Seymour is portrayed as trying to help mend the rift between Henry and Mary once she marries him - and trying to reinstate her as princess. While a popular myth for ages, there's no actual proof she did so. It was under Jane's time as queen that Mary feared for her life if she didn't sign the oaths. She was rather passive during her reign.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Anne Boleyn is portrayed here as a [[ManipulativeBitch manipulative]], [[EvilIsPetty vindictive]] bitch who [[AmbitionIsEvil cares only for her ambition to be queen]] and an openly antagonistic stepmother to Mary. However, this may have been intentional, seeing as the story is told from Mary’s perspective (indeed, Anne gets a FreudianExcuse and is portrayed more sympathetically in ''Doomed, Queen Anne''). Anne is in fact an off-screen character for most of the story - the majority of information about her coming from gossip and spies. It’s implied in-universe that Mary herself was subjected to this after her death, with historians portraying her as far more violent and brutal than she actually was, or at least suggesting her ruthlessness was exceptional (which it most certainly wasn’t when it came to monarchs of the time period).

** Reginald is even worse in this regard; he never stops criticizing Henry and Anne, [[TooDumbToLive to the point of openly comparing Anne to Queen Jezebel and Henry to Ahab during a period where Henry is in a particularly vengeful mood, executing anyone he perceives as a traitor]]. Reginald is eventually forced to flee the country to avoid certain death, but [[NiceJobBreakingItHero his continued criticism of Henry results in him imprisoning and eventually horrifically executing his mother]].

--> "She wished for my death long before the executioner's sword glittered above her own neck."

* PoliticallyActivePrincess: Mary attempts to be this, [[BeneathNotice using her lowly status and the fact she’s often mistaken for a servant to spy on the court]] and gather information. She also attends secret meetings with Salisbury and her other allies, but she has no real power in court and is mostly just trying to survive.

* WickedStepmother: Anne is presented as one to Mary. She is very hostile to her, resenting her very existence, throwing things at her, encourages Henry to ignore or be cruel to her and forces her to be a servant to her own half-sister. Mary in turn despises and looks down on her as little more than a “whore” or even a witch, blaming her for ruining her parents’ marriage and making her own life a living hell. Jane Seymour, in contrast, is very kind and gracious to Mary, and tries to mend her relationship with her father.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: The novel seems to indicate Mary was one, though the historical note points out that she [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade wasn’t really any worse than most other monarchs of the time]] (indeed, her father had a much higher body count when it came to executions).
----

** Before she is crowed queen, Anne is only styled as Lady Anne because she's a merchant's daughter. Her great-grandfather on her father's side was a merchant, but on the other side they were high-ranking aristocrats. Anne could trace her ancestry back to Edward I.

* NotSoDifferent: Mary feels this way towards her half-sister Elizabeth in the end; they both went from princesses favored by their father to unwanted bastard daughters whose mothers were both discarded when their father no longer had use for them, and have now lost them forever.

* CinderellaCircumstances: Mary goes from a princess and heir to the throne to a nursemaid to her own half-sister who wears [[RichesToRags ragged hand-me-downs]].

* YourCheatingHeart: Henry frequently cheats on Catherine, though she tolerates it as he always comes back to her and she knows they’re only temporary dalliances. Then he meets [[FemmeFatale Anne]]... He later starts cheating on her as well. She is [[ClingyJealousGirl less forgiving than Catherine]]. Anne herself is accused of having affairs with five men, including her [[BrotherSisterIncest own brother]], and all of them are executed. Mary doesn’t know if it’s true, though she believes at least some of the men are innocent.

* DoubleStandard: Highlighted. King Francis requested Mary's portrait to see if he would want to marry her. Mary grumbles that she should have gotten his portrait to see if he pleased her.

* WellDoneDaughterGirl: Mary to her father, at first. Eventually, it becomes less about making him proud and more about not incurring his murderous wrath.

** The book has Mary being crowned Princess of Wales. In real life she was styled and treated as if she was for a time, but was never formally recognised as one.[[note]]The title "Princess of Wales" is strictly a courtesy title reserved for the wife of the Prince of Wales. No English monarch's daughter has ever held the rank of Princess of Wales.[[/note]]

'''''Mary, Bloody Mary''''' is a HistoricalFiction novel aimed at young adults by Carolyn Meyer and the first novel in her ''Literature/YoungRoyals'' series. It revolves around [[UsefulNotes/MaryTudor Queen Mary I]]’s early life, from childhood up to young adulthood, and how she goes from a privileged princess adored by her parents, to an unwanted bastard daughter living in terror of her own father.

* AbusiveParents: The Duke of Norfolk is blatantly physically and emotionally abusive to his daughter Susan, whilst Henry VIII [[ParentalNeglect neglects]] Mary at best…at worst, he threatens to imprison her for treason, with Mary even fearing he may have her killed.

* {{Archenemy}}: Mary generally considers [[WickedStepmother Anne Boleyn]] to be her’s, blaming her for almost everything that goes wrong with her life. It’s debatable, though, how much of what happens is Anne’s fault directly; [[ArchnemesisDad Mary’s father]] is far from blameless either.

** Mary was never betrothed to King Francis, but she was briefly betrothed to his son who was also called Francis.
** Lady Susan is based on Susan Clarencieux who was one of Mary's favored maids. She was not however a cousin to Anne Boleyn, nor the daughter of Thomas Howard.

** The book has Mary being crowned Princess of Wales. In real life she was styled and acted as if she was for a time, but was never formally recognised as one.
** It was actually Elizabeth who Henry didn't send new clothes for as she outgrew her old ones. Presumably with ''Literature/BewarePrincessElizabeth'' covering Elizabeth's teen years, this was given to Mary for RuleOfDrama.
** Before she is crowed queen, Anne is only styled as Lady Anne because she's a merchant's daughter. Her great grandfather on her father's side was a merchant, but on the other side they were high-ranking aristocrats. Anne could trace her ancestry back to Edward I.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Mary did eventually become Queen of England, but her reign only lasted five years, was rather unsuccessful and it didn’t bring her much happiness or closure over her traumatic childhood. Likewise, Anne’s ambition to be Queen brings her only misery and ends in her execution.

* BettyAndVeronica: Catherine is Betty and Anne is Veronica for King Henry. [[LastGirlWins Anne]] ends up married to him, but it doesn’t end well for her….

* CinderellaCircumstances: Mary goes from a princess and heir to the throne, to a nursemaid to her own half-sister who wears [[RichesToRags ragged hand-me-downs]].

* DefrostingIceQueen: Near the end Mary remarks that Anne's aunt Lady Shelton appears to be less grumpy now that she's found a sweetheart.

* DotingParent: Henry is one to Mary…at first. He becomes increasingly alienated from her, until he finally becomes outright hostile to her due to her continued refusal to accept his divorce of her mother.

* FootDraggingDivorcee: ''Hoo'', boy. Catherine of Aragon's utter defiance in the face of Henry's attempt to divorce her, and the fact half the country and the Pope backed her, lead to the divorce being dragged out for ''years'' and Henry doing everything in his power to break Catherine's will, splitting with the Catholic Church and establishing himself as head of the English Church (thus allowing him to grant himself a divorce). And even then, Catherine refused to accept it, insisting she was Queen [[DefiantToTheEnd right up to the deathbed]].

* {{Golddigger}}: Anne is all but stated to be one.

* HeirClubForMen: Henry, and a lot of other people due to ValuesDissonance, believe in this, prompting Henry to try and divorce his aging wife to marry another woman who can bear him a son. However, both Mary and her mother believe she could inherit the throne anyway. Mary in fact ends up becoming the first Queen of England to rule in her own right (rather than being the consort of the king), followed by her half-sister Elizabeth.

** Mary herself is an aversion. She was quite pretty in her youth, and is usually subject to ugliness updates ([[BeautyEqualsGoodness for obvious reasons]] sadly). But her looks are described favourably.

** Jane Seymour is portrayed as trying to help mend the rift between Henry and Mary once she marries him - and trying to reinstate her as princess. While a popular myth for ages, there's no actual proof she did so. It was under Jane's time that Mary feared for her life if she didn't sign the oaths. She was rather passive during her reign.

* LastGirlWins: Subverted. Anne marries Henry and becomes Queen, but her reign only lasts three years before the marriage breaks down and Henry has her executed for treason. Although Jane being the last wife in the narrative does eventually 'win' in the sense that she gives Henry a son (though she dies one week later).

* ModestRoyalty: Mary puts herself in comparison to her father who "preferred glittering jewels to my neat stitches."

* StarCrossedLovers: Mary hopes to marry Reginald Pole. But as England undergoes a reformation, he must go underground as a devout Catholic. Thus the two can never be together.

* SuccessionCrisis: What Henry wants to avoid and one his main reasons (though not the only reason) he seeks to divorce Catherine (who can no longer bear children) and marry Anne.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Henry. Dear God, Henry. He starts out as a relatively decent king and a loving, if somewhat distant, FamilyMan…and by the end he’s a self-indulgent tyrant who’s willing to imprison or kill anyone he perceives as a threat, with even his own daughter fearing for her life.

* YourCheatingHeart: Henry frequently cheats on Catherine, though she tolerates it as he always comes back to her and she knows they’re only temporary dalliances. Then he meets [[FemmeFatale Anne]]…He later starts cheating on her as well. She is…[[ClingyJealousGirl less forgiving than Catherine]]. Anne herself is accused of having affairs with five men, including her [[BrotherSisterIncest own brother]], and all of them are executed. Mary doesn’t know if it’s true, though she believes at least some of the men are innocent.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Mary Tudor, possibly. She’s portrayed here as an innocent victim of her father and Anne Boleyn’s tyranny and ruthless ambition, who only wants what’s best for the people. Of course, this may be justified in that the novel explicitly tells ''Mary''’s side of the story. And she may have been [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade demonized]] to an extent in real life.

* LastGirlWins: Subverted. Anne marries Henry and becomes Queen, but her reign only lasts three years before the marriage breaks down and Henry has her executed for treason.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Though the basic plot follows history accurately, some of the private thoughts of Mary and her interactions other characters were obviously made up. Mary was also never betrothed to King Francis I (though she was briefly betrothed to his infant son, also named Francis) and the character of [[CanonForeigner Lady Susan]] never existed, along with a few others.

* DownerEnding: The final paragraph reveals that for all that Elizabeth grew on Mary eventually, in time she came to view her as [[CainAndAbel her enemy]]. The historical note also makes mention of how although Mary achieved her dream of becoming queen and restoring the Catholic faith to England, her reign was brief, tumultuous and by the end, she was hated by most of her subjects, abandoned by her husband and remembered by history (perhaps unfairly) as ‘Bloody Mary’ due to her habit of burning heretics. Poor Salisbury and Fetherston are also horribly executed for treason and heresy, respectively.

* HeterosexualLifePartners / ThoseTwoGirls: Mary and Susan, until Susan is forced to leave Mary’s service and get married by her father.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Anne Boleyn is portrayed here as a [[ManipulativeBitch manipulative]], [[EvilIsPetty vindictive]] bitch who [[AmbitionIsEvil cares only for her ambition to be queen]] and an openly antagonistic stepmother to Mary. However, this may have been intentional, seeing as the story is told from Mary’s perspective (indeed, Anne gets a FreudianExcuse and is portrayed more sympathetically in ''Doomed, Queen Anne''). It’s implied in-universe that Mary herself was subjected to this after her death, with historians portraying her as far more violent and brutal than she actually was, or at least suggesting her ruthlessness was exceptional (which it most certainly wasn’t when it came to monarchs of the time period).

* LastGirlWins: Subverted. Anne marries Henry and becomes Queen, but her reign only lasts three years before the marriage breaks down and Henry has her executed for treason.

* ParentalAbandonment / ParentalNeglect: Henry to Mary, until the end.

* FootDraggingDivorce: ''Hoo'', boy. Catherine of Aragon's utter defiance in the face of Henry's attempt to divorce her, and the fact half the country and the Pope backed her, lead to the divorce being dragged out for ''years'' and Henry doing everything in his power to break Catherine's will, splitting with the Catholic Church and establishing himself as head of the English Church (thus allowing him to grant himself a divorce). And even then, Catherine refused to accept it, insisting she was Queen [[DefiantToTheEnd right up to the deathbed]].

* HonorBeforeReason: Mary and Catherine both steadfastly refuse to acknowledge Henry’s divorce of Catherine, Mary’s illegitimacy and Henry as head of the English Church, even though Henry makes their lives a living hel, and they face the very real threat of imprisonment and execution. Eventually, Mary gives in and accepts her illegitimacy and Henry as head of the Church, fearing for her life otherwise, and believing that if she can only survive until her father dies, she can reclaim her birthright and restore the authority of the Pope. Reginald is even worse in this regard; he never stops criticizing Henry and Anne, [[TooDumbToLive to the point of openly comparing Anne to Queen Jezebel and Henry to Ahab during a period where Henry is in a particularly vengeful mood, executing anyone he perceives as a traitor]]. Reginald is eventually forced to flee the country to avoid certain death, but [[NiceJobBreakingItHero his continued criticism of Henry results in him imprisoning and eventually horrifically executing his mother]].

UnreliableNarrator: The whole novel is told solely from Mary’s perspective. As a result, certain events and characters are interpreted from her viewpoint only, or she doesn’t have access to all the available information.

{{Archenemy}}: Mary generally considers [[WickedStepmother Anne Boleyn]] to be her’s, blaming her for almost everything that goes wrong with her life. It’s debatable, though, how much of what happens is Anne’s fault directly; [[ArchnemesisDad Mary’s father]] is far from blameless either.