Special Guest Post by Sylvia Barbara Soberton, Author of Secrets of the Tudor portraits

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Unveiling the Masterpieces of Holbein, the Horenbouts,

Hilliard, and Others

The Many Faces of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk

Charles Brandon was Henry VIII’s friend, councillor and brother-in-law. His father was a standard bearer for Henry VII and died during the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Charles was brought up in the royal household where he befriended the future Henry VIII. In 1515 Charles married Henry VIII’s younger sister, Mary Tudor, Dowager Queen of France. 

Their marriage lasted until Mary’s death in 1533 and produced four children: Henry, Frances, Eleanor and another Henry. Following Mary’s death, Charles married their son’s betrothed, who was also his ward, the teenaged heiress Katherine Willoughby, by whom he had two more sons (who tragically passed away within hours of each other after contracting the sweating sickness in 1551).

 
Charles Brandon captured public attention in 2007 when British actor Henry Cavill portrayed him in The Tudors. But was the real Charles as handsome as his on-screen counterpart? Let’s take a closer look!

The wedding portrait

One of the most recognisable depictions of Charles comes from the double portrait where he is depicted standing next to Mary Tudor (figure 1). It is not known when the portrait was painted but there are at least two theories. One theory, proposed by Celia Fisher, is that the portrait was painted in 1515 to celebrate Charles’s and Mary’s marriage.

However, this theory was debunked recently by Rosalind Mearns, who suggests 1532 as the likelier date for the portrait, based on the details of the sitters’ clothing aligning with fashions worn at the Tudor court around that period and the unlikelihood that the portrait would have been painted during the turbulent year of their secret and scandalous wedding.

The National Portrait Gallery portrait

A portrait of Charles Brandon is currently housed in the National Portrait Gallery in London (NPG 516, figure 2). Charles is shown seated, holding a nosegay of flowers in his left hand. Several copies of this painting exist, including ones at the Vyne Estate and Grimsthorpe Castle.

Master of the Brandon Portrait

Another portrait painted by an unknown artist known today as the Master of the Brandon Portrait (probably a follower of Gerard David working in England), was sold at Sothebys in 2016 (figure 3). The portrait is believed to have been painted c. 1530 and depicts Charles dressed in silk shirt, cloth of gold doublet and fur lined cloak.

Do you have a favourite among these portraits? If you found this article intriguing, you’ll love my book! Secrets of the Tudor Portraits is out now—unravel the hidden stories behind these iconic works of art. Get your copy today!

Sylvia Barbara Soberton

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About the Author

Sylvia Barbara Soberton is a writer and researcher specialising in the history of the Tudors. She is best known for The Forgotten Tudor Women book series, which concentrates on shifting the perspective from famous figures like Henry VIII’s six wives to the lesser-known, but no less influential, women of the Tudor court. Sylvia has written ten books to date, and her newest titles include The Forgotten Years of Anne Boleyn: The Habsburg & Valois Courts, Ladies-in-Waiting: Women Who Served Anne Boleyn and Medical Downfall of the Tudors: Sex, Reproduction & Succession. Her ground-breaking paper on Anne Boleyn and the accusation of witchcraft was published in the Royal Studies Journal in 2023.  You can find Sylvia on Facebook,  Goodreads and Twitter @SylviaBSo