Born in 1484, Charles Brandon was the second but only surviving son of
Sir William Brandon,
Henry Tudor's standard-bearer at the
Battle of Bosworth Field. William Brandon was killed during the battle. Charles Brandon's mother, Elizabeth Bruyn (d. March 1494), was the daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Bruyn (died 1461). Charles Brandon was brought up at the court of
Henry VII, and became
Henry VIII's closest friend. He was about seven years older than Henry and was a role model for the young prince, especially after the death of his brother,
Prince Arthur. Brandon was becoming an excellent jouster and a ladies' man and as such was an object of admiration for Henry. Brandon is described by
Dugdale as "a person comely of stature, high of courage and conformity of disposition to King Henry VIII, with whom he became a great favourite." Brandon held a succession of offices in the royal household, becoming
Master of the Horse in 1513, and received many valuable grants of land. On 15 May, he was created
Viscount Lisle, having entered into a marriage contract with his eight-year-old ward,
Elizabeth Grey,
suo jure Viscountess Lisle. The contract was ended and the title was forfeited as a result of Brandon's marriage to
Mary Tudor in 1515. He distinguished himself at the
sieges of Thérouanne and Tournai in the French campaign of 1513. One of the agents of
Margaret of Savoy, governor of the
Netherlands, reminded her that Brandon was a "second king" and advised her to write him a pleasant letter. At this time, Henry VIII was secretly urging Margaret to marry Lisle, whom he created
Duke of Suffolk on 4 March 1514, although he was careful to disclaim any complicity in the project to her father,
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. When Brandon was made Duke of Suffolk, there were only two other dukes in the kingdom (
Buckingham and
Norfolk). After being made Duke of Suffolk, he continued to travel around that
county so as to get to know the towns and villages and the local dignitaries. He mainly stayed at his family's homes, including
Wingfield Castle and the now demolished
Henham Hall. After his marriage to Mary, Suffolk lived at
Westhorpe Hall for some years in semi-retirement, but he was present at the
Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, an event organised in part by his cousins, Sir
Richard Wingfield who was English ambassador to France and
Thomas Wolsey who was Cardinal and Lord Chancellor. In 1523 he was sent to
Calais to command the English troops there. He invaded France in company with
Floris d'Egmont, Count of Buren, who was at the head of the
Flemish troops, and laid waste the north of France, but disbanded his troops at the approach of winter. Brandon was appointed
Earl Marshal of England in 1524, a position previously held by
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. However, in 1533 he relinquished the office to
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, "whose auncesto[ur]s of longe tyme hadde the same until nowe of late." After
Wolsey's disgrace, Suffolk's influence increased. He was sent with
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, to demand the
Great Seal from Wolsey (it is possible Henry sent Brandon to Wolsey as they were related); and Suffolk acted as
High Steward at the
new Queen's
coronation. He was one of the commissioners appointed by Henry to dismiss Catherine's household, a task he found distasteful. His family had a residence on the west side of
Borough High Street, London, for at least half a century prior to his building of
Suffolk Place at the site. Charles supported Henry's ecclesiastical policy, receiving a large share of the lands after the
dissolution of the monasteries. In 1544, he was for the second time in command of an English army for the invasion of France. He died at
Guildford, Surrey, on 22 August in the following year. At Henry VIII's expense he was buried at
Windsor in
St George's Chapel. Brandon was perhaps the only person in England who successfully retained Henry VIII's affection for most of a period of forty years.
Marriage to Mary Tudor Charles Brandon took part in the jousts which celebrated the marriage of
Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII's sister, with King
Louis XII of France. On Louis XII's death in 1515, Brandon was sent to congratulate the new king,
Francis I, and was accredited to negotiate various matters with him, including Dowager Queen Mary's return to England. Love had existed between Mary and Brandon before her marriage to Louis. Francis, perhaps in the hope of his wife
Queen Claude's death, had been one of Mary's suitors in the first week of her widowhood, in which Mary had asserted that she had given him her confidence in order to avoid his overtures. Francis I and Henry VIII both professed a friendly attitude towards the marriage of the lovers, but Brandon had many political enemies, and Mary feared that she might again be sacrificed for political considerations. The King's Council, not wishing to see Brandon gain further power at court, were opposed to the match. The truth was that Henry was anxious to obtain from Francis the gold plate and jewels that had been given or promised to Mary by Louis XII, as well as reimbursement of the expenses of her marriage with him; and Henry practically made his acceptance of Brandon's suit dependent on Brandon obtaining them. However, when Brandon was sent to bring Mary back to England, the King made him promise that he would not propose to her. Once in France though, Brandon was persuaded by Mary to abandon this pledge. The couple wed in secret at the Hotel de Clugny on 3 March 1515 in the presence of just 10 people, among whom was Francis I. Brandon announced their marriage to Thomas Wolsey, who was a kinsman and friend. Technically, this was
treason as Brandon had married a royal princess without the King's consent. Henry was outraged, and the
privy council urged that Brandon should be imprisoned or executed. He was only saved from the King's anger by Wolsey smoothing things over and from the affection that the King had for both his sister and for him. The couple got off relatively lightly and were charged only with a heavy fine of £24,000 to be paid to the King in yearly instalments of £1000, as well as the whole of Mary's dowry from Louis XII of £200,000, together with her plate and jewels. Nonetheless, Henry later reduced the fine. The couple were then openly married at
Greenwich Hall on 13 May 1515 in the presence of the King and his courtiers. The Duke of Suffolk already had been twice married, to Margaret Neville (the widow of John Mortimer) and to Anne Browne, to whom he had been betrothed before his marriage with Neville. Browne died in 1511, but Neville, from whom he had obtained a declaration of nullity on the ground of
consanguinity, was still living. Brandon secured in 1528 a
bull from
Pope Clement VII that assured the legitimacy of his marriage with Mary Tudor. Mary died on 25 June 1533, and in September of the same year, Brandon married his ward, the 14-year-old
Katherine Willoughby (1519–1580),
suo jure Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. Katherine had been betrothed to his eldest surviving son,
Henry, Earl of Lincoln, but the boy was too young to marry. The Earl of Lincoln died in 1534. With Willoughby, Brandon had his two youngest sons, who showed great promise: another
Henry (1535–1551) and
Charles (c. 1537–1551), who later became Dukes of Suffolk. However, they eventually died of the
sweating sickness within an hour of each other. Between 1536–1543, Brandon gave his London residence Suffolk Place, rebuilt by him in fine
Renaissance style in 1522, to Henry VIII in exchange for
Norwich Place on the
Strand, London. He also leased
Hoxne Hall at this time. ==Marriages and children==