Page "Mary I of England" Paragraph 30

Thanksgiving services in the diocese of London were held at the end of April after false rumours that Mary had given birth to a son spread across Europe.

Through May and June, the apparent delay in delivery fed gossip that Mary was not pregnant.

Susan Clarencieux revealed her doubts to the French ambassador, Antoine de Noailles.

Mary continued to exhibit signs of pregnancy until July 1555, when her abdomen receded.

There was no baby.

Michieli dismissively ridiculed the pregnancy as more likely to " end in wind rather than anything else ".

It was most likely a phantom pregnancy, perhaps induced by Mary's overwhelming desire to have a child.

In August, soon after the disgrace of the false pregnancy, Philip left England to command his armies against France in Flanders.

Mary was heartbroken and fell into a deep depression.

Michieli was touched by the queen's grief ; he wrote she was " extraordinarily in love " with her husband, and was disconsolate at his departure.