Sarah Bolger

"I don't know what you've read, but young Mary certainly wasn't all that "weaker-willed' than her mother--she had just as much mettle and pride and determination, which I thought Sarah pulled off beautifully. I agree though that there have been far too few portrayals of Mary in her youth, which is why I have been so excited to see her included on the show as both a child and a teen--usually no one ever shows her going to live in Eliz's household, etc, which is a shame.

Of course it'd be even more perfect if they could cast someone with the right hair color, but since pretty much EVERYONE (from Catherine to Henry to Elizabeth) has the wrong hair color on the show, it's not too much of a surprise....:p In any case, well done Bolger! I can't wait to see more of you next season...."

If you look again at my sentence I was describing Alison Frazer's Mary and not making a sweeping generalization of the historical Mary Tudor. In Frazer's portrayl Mary is shown as weeker willed than Katherine of Aragon in that it showcases Mary's submission to her father's demands, which her mother had NEVER done and preferred to die in exile than submit. The episode even shows a saddened Mary praying to God and her mother for forgiveness and regretting she could not have held out longer.
This is historically accuarate, Mary did submit to her father in a letter which can be read on this webpage: http://englishhistory.net/tudor/primary1.html . When I said "weeker willed" it wasn't by any means meant as a put-down of Mary. If anything I've always thought the submission showed a very human side of Mary. The letter was written a month after Anne Boleyn's execution, and although Mary would be regretful of ever acknowleging herself as a bastard, Mary probably reasoned that with her mother's adversary gone and a new, Catholic Queen consort, she was surely hopefull that her life would improve in exchange for her submission. In regards to her submission Mary didn't have the same courage as her mother, who is still remembered as the Queen who defied one of the most powerful absolutist monarchs ever till the very end of her life.

 out of  found this valuable. Do you find this valuable?