On this day in Tudor history, 6th November 1514, the streets of Paris glittered with banners, music, and colour.
Eighteen-year-old Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, had been crowned Queen of France the day before… and now she was the radiant heart of a lavish royal procession.

Imagine it: a fountain flowing with a lily and a rose, pageants of goddesses and virtues, and Mary herself portrayed as the Queen of Sheba — the bringer of peace to France’s King Louis XII.
Every display was rich with meaning: divine unity, peace between nations, and the promise of a new era.

But behind the splendour lay a fragile truth.
Mary’s marriage to Louis would last only a few months before his death, yet for that one November day, she was the embodiment of beauty, hope, and Tudor diplomacy:
the rose of England e ...