From what I gathered it seems the two were childhood friends and grew up together, but given how difficult it was to navigate Henry VIII's court for so long, how did their friendship lasted so long? Brandon was even named duke in order to marry Henry's sister despite Henry being against it, instead of falling from grace for it. Some even claim there was more than simple friendship between the two, but I couldn't find trustworthy sources on the matter.
Why was Brandon so special for Henry VIII? Was their friendship really so strong or was he also too good or too indispensable to be cast aside?
(sorry if the question isn't well written, English is not my first language)
All available evidence suggests that Brandon benefitted much from growing up alongside Henry in his father’s court. His family were Tudor loyalists, and he formed a strong friendship with Henry in childhood.
This trust served him well. He was Henry’s man. Utterly loyal. Most people look at his titles as a measure of his success, but we gain a much more revealing picture of how trusted he was based on the smaller, more intimate, tasks given him.
When Katherine Parr was summoned to The Tower of London for her execution, Brandon led the party of important men of state who escorted her. It was Brandon who was part of the delegation who told Anne of Cleves that Henry had annulled their marriage. When Jane Seymour finally gave Henry the son he had been seeking, it was Brandon who the King named as Godfather of the future King Edward.
Henry also trusted Charles with genuine military matters. When he wanted Scotland invaded in 1544 it was Brandon he asked to do it (although the scorched earth campaign that followed was led by the Earl of Hertford eventually).
In Henry’s final war with France, Brandon was initially in charge of armed reconnaissance for the English army, and later, when the threat of French invasion reared its head in 1554, he placed Brandon in charge of defending Kent and Sussex. Henry and Brandon watched the freak sinking of the Mary Rose from the ramparts of Suffolk castle together.
In all ways these intimate details suggest not so much a friendship like the other men of court but more one closer to brothers; the man who can be trusted at a deep familiar level.
And in many ways they were brothers. Perhaps Charles marriage to Mary Tudor, the King’s Sister, is why he managed to survive as long as he did. And she probably was crucial in helping him survive.
Because it is clear from the evidence, Brandon wasn’t the instigator of their relationship and had he married any other Princess (if one existed)? He would have been killed.
Most versions of Mary’s relationship with Charles removes her agency in this. She was a daughter of Henry VII; she was fairly formidable in her own right and she was expert, like few others, at manipulating her brother.
It was Mary who pushed the union of her and Charles; Mary who convinced her brother to accept the wedding; Mary who no doubt negotiated the fine the couple had to pay as punishment, down to a less astronomical level. It was Mary’s utter loathing of her former Lady in Waiting Anne Boleyn that led Charles Brandon to risk much by speaking out against her proposed wedding to the King (he did right by his wife and then crawled back to Henry), and she was clearly part of Henry seeing Charles as his brother in law and the level of trust that came from there.
Certainly when Charles died Henry was genuinely upset; and arranged for his funeral, a grand affair despite the King’s precarious financial situation. The significance is Brandon was buried in St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
For me, Brandon was in many ways a surrogate (in part if not completely) for Henry’s brother Arthur. He was a brother in all ways emotionally, and this explains away the deep seated respect and above all, longevity of his career around Henry.
Hope that helps.