Although Philip arrived in England on this day in 1554, he and Mary did not actually meet until July 23rd. He could not speak English, so the languages used in their wedding ceremony on July 25th were Spanish, French, and Latin - all of which Mary knew fluently. I'll write another blog post about the wedding in a few days.
Despite all the protest and rebellion - by both Mary's council and the English people - she was determined to marry her Catholic Prince Charming and live the life of wedded bliss that she had dreamed of. It's sad to think that one of Mary's greatest wishes in life was to be a mother, and that would never happen for her - it would be just another disappointment in her difficult life. Truthfully, Mary should have been married long before she actually was. As a beautiful Princess and daughter of one of the most powerful and notorious Kings in Europe, her marriage prospects should have been dealt with when she was only a child - and it's true that some of them had been planned, although they fell through. Marriage negotiations for Mary during her childhood included King Francois I, his sons Francois the Dauphon, and Henri Duke of Orleans, and even with her cousin Charles V himself! However, all of these negotiations fell through for one reason or another and by the time Mary's parents' marriage was annulled, King Henry VIII had other matters to see to, rather than continuing his search for a proper husband for his (now bastardized) daughter. It's sad to think that Mary could have had the life she deserved if her father had only found her a husband when she was younger - since most women in the Tudor time period got married during their teen years. For Mary to have been 37-years-old at the time of her one and only wedding was shocking - not to mention unfair to her. Of course, her beauty and childbearing years were behind her and there was no hope for an heir. This marriage, like so many other things in Mary's life, would be a heartbreaking disappointment for her.