My presentation aims to provide a brief overview of the representational strategy used by Mary Tudor (1516‒1558) in order to shape the loyalty of her people. Right from the start of her reign in 1553, different types of rituals and a prestigious iconography were deployed to set up an encomiastic discourse focused on her female royal body. Based on a metaphorical and allegorical language, these pompous signs of royal pre-eminence materialized the fact that Mary crystallized in her body all the virtues that brought the harmony, the unity and the concord of the kingdom to perfection.  Continue reading →