Charles was the son of William Brandon, the standard-bearer to King Henry VII of England who was killed at the Battle of Bosworth. Little is known of him until the accession of King Henry VIII, when he immediately emerges as the King's favourite courtier and friend. In 1513, he became Viscount Lisle and, next year, Duke of Suffolk. He was in command of the English army at the Siege of Therouenne in 1513, of that which invaded Picardy in 1523 and of that which captured Boulogne in 1544. He seems to have been as remarkable for matrimonial entanglements as his master, for he had already had more than one wife, and one at least was living, when he courted Margaret of Flanders in 1514, and when, in the next year, he married Henry's younger sister, the widowed Queen Mary of France. This marriage took place secretly and Henry was only appeased by the gift of all his sister's plate and jewels. For a few years, Suffolk and the Princess lived quietly in the country but, by 1517, he was back in favour and was Henry's right-hand man for the rest of his life. Vigorous, patriotic, bluff and immoral, he bore, both in character and person, a remarkable likeness to his Royal master.