SISTERS AT WAR

By the end of her reign, Mary I's relationship with her half-sister and successor, Elizabeth, was at an all-time low. But had the Tudor siblings always been such bitter enemies? Nicola Tallis reveals how the duo's bond was both broken and strengthened by events beyond their control

- Nicola Tallis

On 17 November 1558, Mary I died and was succeeded by her half-sister, Elizabeth. Upon receiving the news, Elizabeth declared that “the law of nature moveth me to sorrow for my sister”, for whom she professed to have wept tears of sorrow. Yet, despite her claim, there were few people who believed her to be sincere. Throughout the course of Mary’s reign, the relationship between the two sisters – who had once been close – had broken down beyond repair.

Elizabeth and Mary’s bond had faced significant challenges from the start, through no fault of either party. Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn, had caused Mary great unhappiness, for her father Henry VIII’s intense passion for Anne had been the catalyst for his separation from Catherine of Aragon, Mary’s mother. By the time of Elizabeth’s birth on 7 September 1533, the teenage Mary had been rendered illegitimate by her father, their relationship lay in tatters, and her loathing for Anne Boleyn had peaked.