The sad story of Mary's pregnancy

 No matter how distasteful Philip found the task, the marital duty was mandatory to be done in order that the Habsburg dynasty to be firmly established in England. Therefore, he had nothing else to do, but perform.

Weeks after the wedding, it seemed that he was rewarded for his pain. ..Mary's period stopped, she began to feel sickness in the morning and gained weight.

In November 1554, the Parliament thanked God for the Queen's grace quickening and a ballad was composed for "our Prince to come ".

Eager as she was to attribute these symptoms to a pregnancy, they were very were worryingly similar to those she had on her puberty.

By that time, her doctors concluded she had a "strangulation of the womb " a condition associated with irregular periods, abdominal swelling, nausea, and mood swings.

In the past she has been subjected to one or more horrible treatments like inhalation of noxious fumes in order to drive the blood down, or , worse, a tube inserted into her vagina and steam sent up to fumigate her uterus .

A number of theories have been put forward to explain her disease: ovarian tumor or a prolactinoma , a tumor of the pituitary gland, both associated with irregular periods and infertility.

Yet Mary was confident of her condition and she wrote to her father in law, Charles V, assuring him.

The fact that she felt it necessary to confirm the pregnancy suggest that even at this early stage there were rumors that the pregnancy was false . Mary's menstrual issues were known and there was also her age, another cause to doubt that she had fallen pregnant so quickly.

Although all her ladies assured her that they could feel the baby moving, only one of them, Frideswide Strelley had the courage to express her doubt: " feel you not the child stirr ? asked Mary " " My fortune is not so great she said.

Excerpt from the private lives of the Tudors by Tracy Borman.