ABSTRACT
Queen Mary was thirty-seven when the death of her half-brother brought her to the throne, and the catholics rejoiced at the prospect of a reign in which the old faith would be restored. Success seemed assured, for the Queen herself was popular. She had shown her courage by raising her standard in the face of what must have seemed formidable odds, and for years before that she had resisted all the efforts of Edward VI's ministers to persuade her to abandon her faith. When a deputation of Councillors waited on her in August 1551 and urged her to change her attitude she not only refused but also put them firmly in their place by reminding them that her father made the more part of you out of nothing. Her courage and pride were typically Tudor, but Charles V's ambassador thought she was too accessible and too innocent of the arts and subterfuges of politics to make a successful ruler.
