“Splendid and sumptuous historical novel from this internationally bestselling author, telling of the early life of Katherine of Aragon. We think of her as the barren wife of a notorious king; but behind this legacy lies a fascinating story. Katherine of Aragon is born Catalina, the Spanish Infanta, to parents who are both rulers and warriors. Aged four, she is betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales, and is raised to be Queen of England. She is never in doubt that it is her destiny to rule that far-off, wet, cold land. Her faith is tested when her prospective fahter-in-law greets her arrival in her new country with a great insult; Arthur seems little better than a boy; the food is strange and the customs coarse. Slowly she adapts to the first Tudor court, and life as Arthur's wife grows ever more bearable. But when the studious young man dies, she is left to make her own future: how can she now be queen, and found a dynasty? Only by marrying Arthur's young brother, the sunny but spoilt Henry. His father and grandmother are against it; her powerful parents prove little use. Yet Katherine is her mother's daughter and her fighting spirit is strong. She will do anything to achieve her aim; even if it means telling the greatest lie, and holding to it. Philippa Gregory proves yet again that behind the apparently familiar face of history lies an astonishing story: of women warriors influencing the future of Europe, of revered heroes making deep mistakes, and of an untold love story which changes the fate of a nation.”
(I originally wrote this review back in October of 2016 and am only now getting around to posting it! Curse you grad school for killing off all of my free time!) I chose to read this book after picking up The Boleyn Inheritance over the summer. Yes, I am reading these books out of order, but it hasn’t ruined the series for me (probably because I’m such a British history nerd that I already know what’s going to happen, so I haven’t really spoiled the story reading them this way). For those of you unfamiliar with the reign and private life of England’s King Henry VIII, then I strongly recommend reading this series in order.
I originally read Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl several years ago when the movie version came out in theaters. I really enjoyed it because it was a refreshing point of view and the writing was extremely captivating. That book is a far cry from the writing style in The Constant Princess. There’s a very strange mixture of internal dialogue, odd use of quotations for thoughts instead of italicization, parts of the story felt slightly repetitive, and the characters were a bit too melodramatic for my taste. It started off very interesting. Caterina was strong and her background was fascinating. I did not know all that much about Katherine of Aragon outside of her marriage to Henry VIII – the younger brother of her first husband, Arthur – and the subsequent dissolution of that marriage. Few people realize how different Spain was from other great powers of that time period (I am familiar with that time period, so I was aware of it, but it was still very interesting and refreshing for me to read). I flew through the book up until the point that (hope this isn’t too much of a spoiler) she and Arthur fall in love with one another. It go sweet…like, sickeningly sweet…unbelievably sweet…annoyingly sweet. “My love” was used so many times I found it almost unpalatable. I get that these are young teenagers in the bloom of their first passionate “love,” but I did not care for it. Gregory tried explaining it away by citing Caterina’s family history of boiling passions and debilitating depressions, but she cited it so often that that it became unconvincing. The stories she told to Arthur about her homeland were interesting and colorful at first, but quickly became too numerous and started to feel somewhat repetitive. I understand Gregory’s desire to deepen the story and create a rich background for Caterina, but it felt like too much. This made the story drag on so much for me that I actually had to return it to the library because it was overdue! It never takes me that long to finish a book! I had to wait a couple of months to check it out again because other people were reading it. I did finish it pretty quickly once I got it back in my possession (*SPOILER* probably because the story moved more quickly once Caterina was a widow *END SPOILER*).
However, I definitely appreciated what a strong female character Gregory created in Caterina. I can only imagine that Katherine of Aragon had to be similarly tenacious and unshakable to overcome what she did to become the Queen of England.
As far as the writing style goes, I felt it was definitely not on-par with Gregory’s other books that I’ve read. In fact, I don’t think I would be able to tell that it was by the same author who wrote The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance. Those two have such similar writing styles that they’re clearly part of the same series. The Constant Princess, however, felt inconsistent. I often mistook internal dialogue/thoughts for actual dialogue (i.e. if a character was thought I must remain strong, it was written, “I must remain strong,” so you couldn’t tell whether or not it was part of the dialogue taking place). Additionally, it was inconsistent. A majority of the minor internal dialogue/thoughts happened in quotations, but some of it was italicized. Then again, entire chunks of the story (meaning numerous pages at a time) were told from Caterina’s point of view and were completely italicized. It all felt a little bit sloppy and was sometimes hard to follow. Essentially, I enjoyed the story, but was not always impressed with the way in which it was presented. It had some interesting history in it and blurred the lines between biography and historical fiction.
This was certainly not my favorite of Gregory’s works, but I am appreciative of how strong she made Katherine. She was an admirable character. The book actually made me want to reread The Other Boleyn Girl, and I NEVER reread books. I will probably end up posting an updated review for that book because it’s been a few years since I last read it. I am currently about ¾ of the way done with it, so be on a lookout for that update!
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