Bookworm Chronicles: The Constant Princess By Philippa Gregory

Anyone who loves books about royalty and historical fiction will have heard about Philippa Gregory. She has penned several books on that theme; The Other Boleyn Girl is among them. My personal favorites are The Lady Of The Rivers, The White Queen and The White Princess; the last two have been adapted as TV series.

This recent read of mine, The Constant Princess had been sitting on my reading list for a while. I couldn't even figure out who the story was about based on the title. When I found out that it was about Katherine of Aragon, I sort of felt lazy to read on. I felt that her life won't be an interesting topic. The mere mention of her name conjures thoughts of a frumpy queen who was dumped by the dashing Henry VIII because she couldn't give him a longed-for heir. When I finished rereading The Other Boleyn Girl, I remembered that I also had The Constant Princess so I decided to read it too while I was still high on the Tudor drug.

The book is divided into several parts, to distinguish the different stages of her life: Princess of Wales, Princess-In-Waiting, Princess Again and Katherine Queen of England. What I love about this book is that Philippa took the liberty to fill in the gaps in history with colorful story telling. :)

Portrait of Katherine of Aragon by Michael Sittow, c 1502. Photo Credit: englishhistory.net

I finished the book and as I write this, I know better than to scoff at the memory of Queen Katherine, or should I say Catalina. Henry may have married five times more after dumping her but in my humble opinion, none of them could match up to King Ferdinand of Aragon's and Queen Isabella of Castile's daughter. Her parents were the greatest Crusaders in Christendom, the first kings of the united Spain, hellbent on driving away the Moors from Granada. It is in their military camp that the toddler Catalina would learn about the values of faith and courage - values that she would hold on to in her trying times. While I'm at it, I have peppered this blog post with several photos of The Alhambra Palace: the beautiful palace within a fortress which was turned over to Catalina's family when the Moors of Granada surrendered. It is basically where she grew up. Cozy!

The Alhambra Palace: Photo Credit : traveldigg.com

💟Caught Up In Their Love Story💟

We know from history that fifteen year old Catalina d'Aragon came to England in 1501 to marry Arthur, Prince of Wales, heir of King Henry VII. They got married and lived in Wales as newly weds but after a few months, Arthur dies suddenly. Catalina claims that their marriage was never consumated, bluntly put they never had sexual intercourse, and so she is still pure as a virgin and therefore free to marry the younger brother Henry. They too get married and she becomes queen. Easy peasy!

Philippa's version had me crying cupfuls because she seamlessly weaves a love story between Arthur and Katherine with the Welsh countryside and the Ludlow Castle in the backdrop. She made me root for them, wanted them to rule England together, even if I was aware that anytime soon Arthur would be snatched by death in the story. They had dreams and Arthur was aware that Catalina's ultimate dream was to become Queen of England. On his deathbed, Arthur made Catalina promise that she would maintain that their marriage was not consumated and that they were never in love. In doing so, Catalina would have a chance at marrying the new heir, Henry and another shot at being crowned as Queen of England. It's heartbreaking how Catalina had to rise above mourning for her beloved to fulfill their dreams.

Interior Dome in The Alhambra Palace. Photo Credit: traveldigg.com

Court of The Myrtles, Alhambra Palace: Photo Credit: planetware.com

👑The Constant Princess👑

It's an apt title because she really is constantly the tough one despite all the trials and hardships that she went through. For starters, being a kid raised in a military camp is already tough; she saw and experienced many things that a child ought not to see. As a teenager she served as her parents' pawn to fulfill an alliance with England and married not out of love but of obligation. She eventually found love in her husband but he too was taken away from her. After Arthur's death, her future became uncertain. She waited about seven years more, before she was married to Henry VIII, only after the death of his father. During those 7 years, she was basically neglected by the royal court and was forced to live in destitution. But Catalina was headstrong and she believed that Harry would choose to marry her in the end. Her persistence paid off and eventually she fulfilled her and Arthur's dream and she became Queen of England. On their first night as husband and wife, she convinced Henry that she was still a virgin.

Even as she was Queen, she still received opposition from Henry's grandmother, Margaret Beaufort. until her death. Henry was an ambitious king and he wanted to reclaim lands in France and so he went into war. Meanwhile, England's neighbor Scotland had been a troublesome lot and they kept raiding the borders. So while Henry was campaigning in France, Katherine served as Regent and was busy defending the kingdom against Scotland. I daresay her parents would've been proud of her victory.

Henry and Katherine's marriage was fraught with miscarriages, stillbirth and infant death. More than two decades after their marriage, Henry was doubting that God was punishing him for marrying his brother's wife. He has also been having mistresses but Katherine chose to look the other way and never complained. When Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting came into the picture, she recognized that there could be trouble because it was clear that Anne didn't just want Henry but was also after her crown.

Present day Ludlow Castle.

"Words have weight. Something once said cannot be unsaid, meaning is like a stone dropped into a pool; the ripples will spread and you cannot know what bank they wash against."

On the epilogue of The Constant Princess, Katherine says these words as she recognizes the gravity of the words she told Henry more than twenty years ago when she had to convince him that she was a virgin untouched on the first night of their marriage. The same words have been used by the The King and Anne Boleyn's camp to discredit her; to further prove that God does not approve of their marriage that is why they have never been blessed with a male heir. The same reason was also used as grounds for divorce.

We know from history that Katherine was treated badly after the "divorce". Much like her life after Arthur's death, she was sent away to a faraway castle way from the court. She was not allowed to see her daughter, the Princess Mary and was barely able to communicate with her. She died alone and I wished she had a far better life at the end. But if I were to believe what's written in the book and bank on the story that Arthur was indeed her one and only true love, then I'd be happy to think that they fulfilled their promise of meeting again in "Al-Yanna": the word that means garden, secret place, and paradise.