A/N: If I owned "The Tudors", every wife and child of Henry's would have a happy ending; the king himself, though...
Summary:She'd never wanted to be a royal; she'd be content as a fifth son of a viscount's daughter, or even a commoner's.

Mary

She'd never really wanted to be a princess. Half her life as a child was filled with the governess going on about how "A Princess of England must..." or "A princess such as your highness should..."

Then there was the matter of names; she was named for many people, so it was a little difficult to keep track which Mary they were talking about and comparing her to: "your aunt, the Queen Mary of France, had the same talent in the virginals", "your great-aunt, the Duchess Mary of Suffolk, was just as noisy when it came to needlework", or "your great-grandmother's younger sister, Mary of York, was said to have the same hair colour, can you believe it?" there were far too many Marys. Sometimes, people even compared her to her mother's cousin – or her grandmother's sister's daughter – Mary of Hungary, Governess of the Netherlands.

She knew from a young age that she was to be Queen of Spain through a marriage to Philip, Prince of Asturias.

Princess Mary of England, daughter of the glorious Queen Elisabeth, future Queen Maria of Spain...sometimes, it was too much. But she knew what Mother expected of her.

She was to do her duty to her family and bring honour to her country like all her siblings. Mary was the great-granddaughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, and Henry VII and Elizabeth of York; she was a Tudor, and never let it be said Tudors didn't do their duty.

So, she kept quiet and behaved like a princess ought to, even if she sometimes- no, always didn't want to. Mary knew she'd be content as the daughter of the fifth son of a Baron, as that didn't heap her with responsibilities; and she'd be gladder as a commoner, for it didn't have many rules about behaviour, etiquette, responsibility...

She met Philip once.

He was nice, if a bit stuffy, but Mother assured he'd be fine enough by the time she was seventeen. And Mary never doubted her mother's word.

Out of all her family, she liked Grandmother Katherine best. Perhaps it was the fact that she was a Spanish Infanta turned English Queen, and she was to be an English Princess turned Spanish Queen. They sat together for hours, revising and revisiting her Spanish, so much so that she was fluent in all dialects of the language, from Castilian to Catalan.

That was not to say she didn't spend much time around the rest of her family: at Hatfield she played with all her siblings, she sat on Papa's lap as he regaled stories of his mother, and she sat with Mother as she spoke of her father, the King Henry VIII.

She was quite sure Grandfather would like Harry.

Sometimes she disliked King Henri II of France far too much; she didn't need to ask if her mother, siblings and grandmother did too at times. And if she disliked her uncle, she loathed Madame Diane de Poitiers, the mother of Monsieur Emmanuel. But, she'd overheard her grandmother saying, "This is what kings do". Mayhap it was foolish of her to dream that Philip wouldn't do this, when even her noble grandfather did. But then, her father and great-grandfather (Henry VII) didn't, so she had right to believe so.

Mary oftentimes wished she was in Kate's place. Kate who was the younger twin, and didn't have any betrothed, and who'd already decided what she wanted in life. Not that Mother knew what it was, but the elder twin knew she suspected, after all, how could she not, with Kate's behaviour?

All her sisters were happy as princesses, why couldn't she be?

Mother had once caught her sitting and brooding about it, and had identified it too quickly for her liking.

"Mary, what is troubling you?" She had asked.

"It's nothing, Madre." Mary had responded hastily. But her mother noticed her slip up: she only called her "Madre" when she was dispirited.

"Well, I don't think anything that troubles my daughter so is nothing. Speak now," her mother had the habit of playing with her auburn locks, which was just what she was doing.

"I- I don't like being a princess." Mary blurted out and winced. What if Mother thought ill of her now that she'd admitted it?

"That's it?" the queen looked startled; then she smiled softly, "Come sit on my lap."

She did so.

"When I was younger, I didn't like the amount of rules and responsibilities either." She'd never known that! Everyone portrayed Mother as a regal lady who was a perfect princess and a golden queen, who took everything in stride. "In my time, England had never had a female monarch save Empress Matilda, and we all know what happened in the Anarchy. It was one of the greatest arguments used against a woman ruling. And then there were us Tudors, newly ascended to the throne, with only two kings under our belt, and a girl as the only heir to the throne. People expected much of me, Father especially. Mother was convinced of my capability, regardless of gender, because she'd been born a daughter of Isabel of Castile. Some wanted me to fail, so that they could seize the throne, others wanted your uncle Hal to be named successor, and a choice few wanted me to succeed. But for the former two, the monarch's word was law, and I became his heiress." Mary knew that now, no one would raise a hand if a woman ruled; it seemed that wasn't the case previously, "I was merely eleven when Father died. Yes, I had plans of how I'd reign, but I never expected to ascend to the throne so young. My mother, aunt and uncle were the regents, and there was an attempt on my life with poison when I was twelve." How on Earth could anyone wish to kill a twelve-year-old? The Queen at that! "Being a ruler was also too much." Mother sucked in a breath, "But most of the time, we don't have a choice. You will do your duty, as I once did."

She nodded quietly. There was no point in bemoaning her fate.

With that, her mother left her to her own thoughts, which were being quite turbulent at that moment.

Years later, when she was seventeen, and about to marry Philip of Spain, she heard her mother's words ringing in her ears: "you will do your duty, as I once did."

The fact that she didn't like being royal mattered little here, and she'd make her family proud. Mary would be a Queen Mother would be proud of.

Her mother, Queen Elisabeth, died in early winter of 1558 and most people would say she was nearly inconsolable. Just like all her sisters who were abroad, she received a small – but valuable, because it belonged to Mother – trinket, and a last letter, which she was said to have kept in her treasure box with her favourite jewels and the trinket.

A/N: *Dodges a mango* Whoa! *runs from a dragonfruit* I'm sorry! Okay, I apologize profusely for not only the long wait, but also the short chapter, but I couldn't find many ideas, and well, I did give something, right?

Part of the credit for this chapter's idea goes to my Madre. ;) Thank you, Mom!

Another thing is that Kate's (as in Princess Katherine's) chapter aka Chapter 12 is sorta planned in my head, but I'd be quite jovial if you readers review or PM me for an idea for Chapter 13, that is, Edmund.

Goodbye for now!

~ Arty