Maria de Salinas

Maria de Salinas, known also by her title Countess Willoughby, is one of Katherine of Aragon’s faithful friends. Her brief appearances establish a bond that persists through the queen’s isolation and death: denied access while Katherine is confined, Maria later carries her message to Margaret Pole and bears witness to the king’s seizure of the queen’s belongings.

Identity and Courtly Connection

Maria is associated with Katherine as a trusted friend and with her earlier life as a lady-in-waiting to a Spanish princess. By the time she appears in the narrative, she is Countess Willoughby, having married an English nobleman. The change in her circumstances does not erase her connection to Katherine: at the queen’s funeral, she receives Margaret with the closeness of a relationship rooted in their shared service to the Spanish princess.

Shut Out from the Queen

During Katherine’s confinement near Cambridge, Maria is among the queen’s friends who are not permitted to visit. The restriction reaches beyond her: even Eustace Chapuys, the ambassador, is denied access, and only a few people remain to serve Katherine. Maria’s exclusion makes her loyalty visible through absence; she cannot offer the queen personal comfort, but her continued place in the story shows that the friendship has not been severed by the court’s restrictions.

Reunion after Katherine’s Death

At the abbey guesthouse, crowded with the retinues of noblewomen who have come from London, Maria runs down the stairs to greet Margaret. They embrace and share their grief. The scene recalls Maria’s earlier service to a Spanish princess, while the crowded guesthouse places their private reunion within the public aftermath of Katherine’s death. Maria tells Margaret that the queen was at peace at the end and had sent her love.

The Message and the Seized Bequest

Maria explains that Katherine knew Margaret would be thinking of her and would continue to guard her daughter, Princess Mary Tudor. She also reports that the queen had wanted to give Margaret one of her rosaries. Henry VIII, however, ordered that all Katherine’s possessions be taken into his keeping; Maria says that everything, including the queen’s bequests, has been taken. The intended rosary thus becomes a small but telling sign of the bond among Katherine, Maria, and Margaret—and of how royal authority reaches even into the queen’s final acts of affection.