This is a personal history of Mary I, the eldest of Henry VIII’s three children. The book shows that the popular image of Bloody Mary, the evil queen who sent hundreds of Protestant martyrs to the stake and effectively sold her realm to Spain, is an invention of Elizabethan propagandists.
The real Mary suffered much in her tragic life but her memory has suffered even more. A determined and courageous survivor, Mary’s life and reign deserved a thorough scholarly re-appraisal but also one that was accessible to the general reading public.