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Revision as of 18:28, 21 March 2010 by Tpbradbury (talk | contribs) (ce refactor misplaced comment)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) For the duchess whose married name was Mary Seymour, see Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort (1630-1715).Mary Seymour (30 August 1548 -after 30 August 1550) was the only daughter of Thomas Seymour, Baron Seymour of Sudeley, and Catherine Parr, widow of Henry VIII of England. Complications from Mary's birth would claim the life of her mother on 5 September 1548, and her father was executed less than a year later for treason against Edward VI.
In 1549, the Parliament of England passed an Act (3 & 4 Edw. 6 C A P. XIV) removing the attainder placed on her father from Mary, but his lands remained property of the Crown.
As her mother's wealth was left entirely to her father and later confiscated by the Crown, Mary was left a destitute orphan in the care of Katherine Willoughby Duchess of Suffolk. After 1550 Mary disappears from historical record completely, leading to the conclusion that she did not live past the age of two.
Speculations of an adult life
Victorian author Agnes Strickland claims in her biography of Catherine Parr that Mary Seymour did survive to adulthood, and in fact married Edward Bushel, a member of the household of Queen Anne of Denmark, consort to King James VI of Scotland and I of England.
Mary was also believed to have been removed to Wexford, Ireland and raised under the care of a Protestant family there, the Harts, who had been engaged in piracy off the Irish coast under the protection of a profit sharing arrangement with Thomas Seymour.
There was reference found in old Elizabethan texts of 'The Late Queen's heir.' However, this could be various other women. Historian S. Joy states that "Mary definitely lived past the age of 10, but after that little is known."
A lozenge-shaped ring inscribed "What I have I hold" reputed to have been an early gift to Thomas by his brother Edward passed down through her descendants the Seymour-Harts up to at least 1927.
The fictional story, The Red Queen's Daughter, by Jacqueline Kolosov, centres around Mary Seymour, and speculates a life in which she never marries, and becomes lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I.
References
- "Catherine Parr: Children". The Six Wives of Henry VIII. PBS. Retrieved 2008-10-11.