The essay on Sir Francis Bacon caught my eye about his father-in-law, Sir Anthony Cooke, being the tutor to the ill-fated Edward the Sixth; he died at sixteen presumably of tuberculosis. Then I read at fifteen or so he proposed to Mary Queen of Scots, his sister Elizabeth’s foe.

Most feel he was insulting and arrogant in his proposal but he was fifteen and king, while she was all of ten, and frankly I think most are letting Lady Antonia Fraser’s overly romantic biograph cloud their logic. This is supported by history btw. King Henry VII, Edward’s grandfather has proposed to the King of Scotland, James, a descendant of Robert the Bruce, his eldest daughter Catherine in 1495 when she was ten years and six months old to avoid Scotland tying themselves further to France. Sir Anthony would have known this, even if Edward had not.

Henry, Catherine and James

Henry’s reasons for promoting the marriage, probably no different than Edward’s, was to stop the further incursion of France into England’s northern border. The problem was at this point England was not a very strong or well regarded power, and France was the European leader, so from the Scot’s point of view getting Catherine did not seem like much of a bargain — they could do better in France.

Also as the Scottish and English royalty were fourth cousins, at that time both being Roman Catholic countries, needed Papal dispensation for the marriage. But Henry did not relent and eventually got his way, and his daughter marriage was celebrated the 16th of June, 1503, in Edinburgh. Henry VII’s gambit paid off and peace reigned between the two the rest of his days, and it was this marriage that gave little Mary her standing as a competitor to Edward’s sister Elizabeth through her father James, of course, the son of that union.

Henry, Mary and James

And was another wrinkle that the learned tutor could have imparted to his young King: Henry VIII had courted Mary’s mother, the French Mary of Guise, the duchess-dowager of Longueville , one of the richest and well-connected widows in Europe vying with James V of Scotland for her hand because she thought she could make the ties between Scotland and France all the closer, while she knew that there was no chance of that with Henry’s England. Thus the Queen Regent, more than her daughter, probably made the response to Edward’s overtures as she felt her daughter could do better in the French court, where her ambitions still lie, and in the short term she was right.

Charubel’s Black Pall

This chart seems to fit better with his father and his strong willed sisters. The other one out there makes him look like milquetoast and that is really out of character for the Tudors, there is nothing very dull, listless or nonchalant about any of them — they all have strong egos, defiant imperial spirits and some type of vision; whether you may agreed with it or not. His ascendant is the same as Bette Davis’s,(see the Bacon post for the clip who would play his sister, Moon and perhaps that is what she did such a grand job of it — she understood ambition. Alas it also has the unfortunate symbol from Charubel (say Cher-u-bell) of a black curtain like pall over their life.

Henry, Jane and Edward

But to be honest how could it? His mother, Jane Seymour, died at his birth and father the great Henry viii died when he was nine, and shows up inconjunct his ascendant at 15 Saturn in the sixth house, distant far away and busy with his kingdom. His sisters were Mary, from Katharine of Spanish Aragon, resented him and Elizabeth was too young to take much note. He had no other friends or family just toadies and enemies who wanted to control him and secure their position; not really a favorable place to be.

His part of fortune is in the fourth house of country and land of his fathers, at 24 Cancer suggesting a strong spirit and self-reliance. The natural yod between the PoF, Mercury and Saturn to his ascendant with its head at the descendant, suggests he felt his aloneness keenly and thought beyond the political alliance, an engagement would give him a friend at court.

As for the tuberculosis issue, sounds suspicious doesn’t it? But then the same rumours happened with Mary’s other intended, Francois II of France who died just two years after their wedding, also at sixteen. It seems no matter who she had chosen she was to be a widow.