The Constant Princess
1 journaler for this copy...
I have had mixed results with my Philippa Gregory reading. I absolutely loved The Other Boleyn Girl, enjoyed The Queen’s Fool, didn’t much like The Virgin’s Lover and feel rather indifferent about this book.
The Constant Princess is set in the time frame prior to The Other Boleyn Girl. It deals with Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife. We meet Katherine when she is still a young girl called Catalina living in Spain with her parents Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand; betrothed to Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, at the age of three, and destined to be Queen of England. Unfortunately tragedy strikes when Arthur dies shortly after their marriage and Katherine must set out to make a new life for herself. She decides to set her cap for Henry, the younger heir, claiming her marriage was never consummated. It is this conjecture that will send the entire future of England into a tailspin, when years later Henry sets Katherine aside for Anne Boleyn.
My problems with this book are many. First and foremost there is a supposition that the reader is familiar with many of the events in Katherine’s life with both Arthur and Henry. Having read much of the history and fiction of this time frame, I am familiar with a great deal of it, but felt that someone with little knowledge of the back story might fell a little confused. I also had trouble with the portrayal of Katherine. I don’t think she would have been quite as modern as envisioned here. I also question whether Katherine would have been as moderate toward the Moors as she is shown to be, given that it was her family’s mission in life to drive the ‘heathens’ out of Spain and return the land to Christianity. I also had some trouble with the inner dialogues presented throughout the book, finding them repetitive and often boring. I had no problem with the premise of Katherine’s great lie, as presented here, since I accept the book as a work of fiction. I do however believe that it goes against the very grain of Katherine’s character as presented throughout history, so I found that a bit disconcerting.
Overall this was just an okay read, one I wasn’t compelled to pick up everyday, which is why it took me an entire month to finish.
Listed at PBS
The Constant Princess is set in the time frame prior to The Other Boleyn Girl. It deals with Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife. We meet Katherine when she is still a young girl called Catalina living in Spain with her parents Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand; betrothed to Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, at the age of three, and destined to be Queen of England. Unfortunately tragedy strikes when Arthur dies shortly after their marriage and Katherine must set out to make a new life for herself. She decides to set her cap for Henry, the younger heir, claiming her marriage was never consummated. It is this conjecture that will send the entire future of England into a tailspin, when years later Henry sets Katherine aside for Anne Boleyn.
My problems with this book are many. First and foremost there is a supposition that the reader is familiar with many of the events in Katherine’s life with both Arthur and Henry. Having read much of the history and fiction of this time frame, I am familiar with a great deal of it, but felt that someone with little knowledge of the back story might fell a little confused. I also had trouble with the portrayal of Katherine. I don’t think she would have been quite as modern as envisioned here. I also question whether Katherine would have been as moderate toward the Moors as she is shown to be, given that it was her family’s mission in life to drive the ‘heathens’ out of Spain and return the land to Christianity. I also had some trouble with the inner dialogues presented throughout the book, finding them repetitive and often boring. I had no problem with the premise of Katherine’s great lie, as presented here, since I accept the book as a work of fiction. I do however believe that it goes against the very grain of Katherine’s character as presented throughout history, so I found that a bit disconcerting.
Overall this was just an okay read, one I wasn’t compelled to pick up everyday, which is why it took me an entire month to finish.
Listed at PBS
Mailing to a PBS member in KY
