Queen Mary
Queen Mary was born on the 18th of February. Queen Mary was an only child. She was Henry the Vlll's only child. Queen Mary married Philip of Spain in 1554. She became queen on the 1st of October in 1553. She was a Catholic Queen and she had the nickname Bloody Mary because she executed Protestants. She was the first woman to claim the throne. Under Mary's reign English colonist's were settled in the Irish Midlands to reduce attacks on the Pale (the area Dublin controlled by the English). Kings County and Queens County were founded, and their plantation began. Their principal towns were respectively named Maryborough ( now Portlaoise ) and Philipstown ( now Daingean ). Queen Mary died on the 17th of November 1558.