 His father planned a marriage for him with Catherine Willoughby, a peeress in her own right and daughter of Maria de Salinas, who had been one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting.Throughout Brandon's life, there was a small but real possibility that he would one day become king of England.At the time of his birth, Mary was Henry VIII's only child, and the king's wife, Catherine of Aragon, was already past the age of thirty and had little prospect of having any more children.