Catarina de Aragão — A Princesa Determinada

The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels #6

by Philippa Gregory

Um olhar fascinante sobre a vida de Henrique VIII com todas as convulsões sociais e pessoais que marcaram o seu reinado narrado como se fosse Catarina a contar a sua história.

Philippa Gregory prova uma vez mais que, por detrás do rosto aparentemente familiar da história, há uma história surpreendente: o das mulheres que lutam e influenciam o futuro da Europa, dos heróis reverenciados que cometem erros profundos e de uma história de amor que muda o destino de uma nação.

Catarina de Aragão nasce Catarina, infanta da Espanha, filha mais nova dos Reis Católicos. Aos três anos foi prometida ao príncipe Artur, filho e herdeiro de Henrique VII de Inglaterra, e é educada para se tornar princesa de Gales. Sabe que o seu destino é reinar sobre aquela terra distante, húmida e fria.

Lentamente, adapta-se à corte Tudor. De forma inesperada, neste casamento combinado nasce um amor terno e apaixonado.

Mas, quando Artur morre, Catarina tem de construir o seu futuro: como pode ser rainha da Inglaterra e fundar uma dinastia?

Só casando com o irmão mais novo de Artur, o mimado Henrique. No entanto, Catarina possui um espírito lutador, é indomável e fará tudo para alcançar o seu objectivo; mesmo que tal implique contar a maior das mentiras e mantê-la.

«Gregory cria heroínas atraentes e determinadas […] enérgicas, convincentes, vívidas e cativantes.» Daily Express

«Gregory faz um escrutínio vibrante e íntimo da história… e articula tudo com uma pitada de romance» Kirkus Review

A vida de Catarina de Aragão, infanta de Espanha, rainha de Inglaterra e que foi a primeira mulher de Henrique VIII, com quem esteve casada vinte anos, narrado como se fosse Catarina a contar a sua história.

Um drama familiar que é narrado do ponto de vista das mulheres da família envolvidas nesta época tão sangrenta e dramática da história de Inglaterra.

Reedição de um best-seller há muito esgotado: o segundo livro da série Os Tudor, que a Planeta vai continuar a recuperar com novas edições.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Romance, Tudor Period, British Literature, Adult

432 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

About the author

DR PHILIPPA GREGORY studied history at the University of Sussex and was awarded a PhD by the University of Edinburgh where she is a Regent and was made Alumna of the Year in 2009. She holds an honorary degree from Teesside University, and is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff. Philippa is a member of the Society of Authors and in 2016, was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Historical Fiction Award by the Historical Writers’ Association. In 2018, she was awarded an Honorary Platinum Award by Neilsen for achieving significant lifetime sales across her entire book output. In 2021, she was awarded a CBE for services to literature and to her charity Gardens for the Gambia. and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

She welcomes visitors to her site www.PhilippaGregory.com.

Philippa's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/PhilippaGregoryOfficial

Reviews

[alana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ah, Philippa Gregory. You lured me in with The Other Boleyn Girl, which I knew was kind of trashy, but still couldn't put it down. TOBG was like eating cupcakes while watching SVU re-runs. Paradise. The Constant Princess, however, was like eating Doritos while watching Grey's Anatomy. I really wanted to like it, but really, it just made me want to barf. The problem, dear Philippa, is that just as Henry VIII liked his ladies, you seem to love italics. You write whole pages in italics, which in my opinion are best used by teenaged girls IMing with their friends. Or maybe that's CAPS. But I digress. When you write whole passages in italics, you are just inviting me to skim or skip them entirely. Especially when they're written by a character who sounds like a teenage girl even when she's old. And then when you're not writing in italics, you're jumping around to different people's perspectives, although its hard to tell them apart because everyone just seems to think about sex all the time. Or moralize about Arabs. I can't believe I read this whole book.

[Misfit · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Those of you familiar with all things Tudor already know the basics of the long-suffering Katherine of Aragon and the husband who dumped her when she couldn't produce a male heir. Those who aren't might consider this review rather spoilerish so consider yourself warned. That said, since the author skims through a big chunk of the latter part of Katherine's life and "The King's Great Matter", I wouldn't recommend this for newbies as you'll be scratching your head at the end wondering what in the heck you missed. Just be warned, this is Tudor history PG style so expect historical accuracy at your own peril...

In this book, Gregory purports that the marriage between Catalina (Katherine) of Spain and Arthur Tudor was a love match and their union was most definitely consummated - a secret they kept from everyone. When Arthur realizes he'll not survive the sweating sickness, he commands Catalina to marry his younger brother Henry, so that she can still become Queen of England as they'd always dreamed. Catalina is determined to stay *constant* to her beloved's commands, but there's a lot of political turmoil ahead of her, especially over the fact of whether the marriage was consummated,

"I shall keep my promise. I shall be constant to my husband and to my destiny. And I shall plan and plot and consider how I shall conquer this misfortune and be what I was born to be. How I shall be the pretender who becomes queen."

"At Arthur's request I told the greatest lie a woman has ever told, and I will tell it to the very grave...He asked me to say that we had never been lovers and he commanded me to marry his brother and be queen...I was constant to my promise."

But you all know the *rest of the story* so I'll not rehash it one more time, I'm just here to discuss the reading experience. Whether or not Katherine and Arthur consummated the marriage or not is a subject of debate and despite my previous conviction that Katherine spoke the truth about it during "The King's Great Matter", I was willing to keep an open mind (kind of). However, I didn't buy into the twu wuv fowever between Arthur and Catalina, nor did I buy into Henry VIII's portrayal as a bit of an ignorant dolt with no business sitting on the throne of England,

"He is bright and clever, perhaps even as quick witted as Arthur. But where Arthur had been trained to think, had been educated as a king from birth, they let this second son slide by on his charm and his ready tongue."

Bah. Worse yet, towards the end the author appears to run out of steam (and page count) and makes a last minute push to finish in a big hurry as Katherine's latter years as queen and the whole business of "The King's Great Matter" is barely touched upon. Add to that the switches to the first person narrative (Katherine's) appear much too often and become increasingly annoying and soporific. Seriously, did we need to have her recount actual dialog with others, thus telling us what's happened instead of using the third person and showing us? As for Katherine's voice itself, she's very full of herself and her own self-importance and makes for a rather unsympathetic main character, particularly over her disdain for Henry VIII. Then there's the portrayal of Henry VII. Why, oh why does he always have to be portrayed lusting after the main female character from his very first sight of her?

The book started off all right, when the switches to Katherine's narrative were short and well spaced, but by the end I was nodding off at them and was praying for the book to end, and I'd only recommended it for PG fans only. If you are looking for a well rounded, historically accurate look at Katherine of Aragon I suggest you look elsewhere. Oh, and before anyone gets in a tizzy as to why this non-PG fan decided to read another, this is for a group read for the European Royalty Group at Goodreads. I expect lively discussions.

FTC disclosure. I obtained this book from my county library.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a few years since I read any of the books in the Plantagenet and Tudor series written by Philippa Gregory. In face, when I read the last one, I had to write the reviews of the previous books from memories because it had been over a decade. I missed my favorite historical family, so I checked up on the series recently. After realizing there were now ~15 novels, and I was less than halfway finished, I added it to my monthly rotation to catch up by the end of this year. This time, I read my 7th, which is The Constant Princess... a book focused on Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife.

Known as Catalina, given her Spanish heritage, she was betrothed to Arthur in the late 15th century. At ~15, she married the English prince and quickly learned she was suddenly in over her head. Arthur was not marriage material when they met, but in time, he became a wonderful husband during their first six months together. Unfortunately, illness took him from her. And thus was born Catherine of Aragon, a young woman who had to fight for her future in the English court, as she believed since birth that she would be a Queen of England.

She was correct, but the path wasn't easy. I learned so much more about her... and not just the normal focus as Henry VIII's first wife. We all know what happened to the women who married that King: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. What a courageous woman! I wonder if the secret on Arthur's deathbed that she was forced to carry was true or not. How profound... I really enjoyed this book after the first 50 pages. In the beginning, I worried whether I was not as much of a fan of the series anymore but soon enough, it all flooded back.

I do enjoy the writing style. I like the flair for dramatic when there wasn't any in reality for certain aspects / scenes. It's what draws readers in, and that's why I find myself keen to read the rest of the books in this series. I do want to try another author in this realm (Weir?) but I'll wait until I am fully caught up on this one. Anyone else read these novels?

[Andrei Bădică · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Prințesa statornică" de Philippa Gregory este un roman de ficțiune istorică despre Catherine de Aragon, Infanta Spaniei, Prințesa de Wales ca soție a Prințului Arthur și, mai pe urmă, regina Angliei din 1509 și până în 1532 ca soția pretențiosului rege Henric al VIII - lea al Angliei. Philippa redă foarte frumos copilăria, adolescența Catherinei, începând de la vârsta de cinci ani (de la trei ani era deja Prințesa de Wales) și maturizarea ei, sfârșind cu anul 1529 când a avut loc procesul divorțului dintre Catherine și Henric al VIII - lea. Îmi place mult cum scrie Gregory și vreau să îi citesc toate cărțile, bineînțeles, cele traduse la noi.
Cartea debutează cu atacul maurilor din Granada din anul 1491 unde Catalina, în vârstă de doar cinci ani, dă dovadă de statornicie și încredere, precum mama sa, regina războinică Isabella I a Castiliei. Sunt prezente două perspective diferite din prisma cărora se relatează povestea: pe de-o parte, narațiunea la persoana I din punctul de vedere al Catalinei, subiectivă în care sunt introduse impresiile, sentimentele cu privire la noua ei țară, Anglia, trăirile sale și nu numai, precum "Adesea, cinăm în felul englezesc, bărbații și femeile împreună. Femeile au camerele lor, dar oaspeții și servitorii bărbați intră și ies ca și cum ar fi publice, nu există o parte a casei unde se retrag femeile." Pe de altă parte, este prezentă și narațiunea la persoana a III- a, realizată de narator, obiectivă, care redă faptele și gândurile personajului principal, cum ar fi "Copila înspăimântată se ridică iute în capul oaselor în pat, își chemă mama în spaniolă, apoi strigă:" și "Chiar dacă știa că așa e firea lucrurilor, că nuntașii plecau când nunta se termina, nu se simțea deloc mai puțin nefericită.".
Catherine se simte singură, îi este dor de casă, în special de mama ei, regina Isabella I a Castiliei. Oficial este soția Prințului de Wales și este foarte sigură că într-o bună zi va fi regina Angliei. Lucrurile se desfășoară armonios, lin și într-o măsură deosebită pentru a capta atenția cititorului. Pe a mea a captat-o încă de la bun început. Situația se înrăutățește în momentul în care Arthur, soțul Catherinei, moare pe 2 aprilie 1502, lăsând-o pe aceasta văduvă. Statutul său devine foarte nesigur din cauza pierderii soțului său. În tot acest timp menit doliului pe care trebuie să-l poarte, Catherine se închide în sine, nu mai mănâncă, nu mai scoate nici măcar un singur sunet și unde o puneau să stea acolo stătea stană de piatră. Stă și se gândește la soțul ei pe care l-am iubit cu adevărat. M-au impresionat dialogurile lor, comportamentul lor, dar și faptul că din străini au ajuns să fie într-adevăr soț și soție. Moartea lui Arthur a lăsat-o într-o mare de neliniște, nesiguranță și singurătate.
Salvarea o constituie căsătoria dintre Prințul Harry, al doilea fiu al regelui Henric al VII - lea al Angliei cu ea, Prințesa Văduvă de Wales. Cu toate că este improbabil ca ea să fie regină într-o binecuvântată zi, tot nu își pierde speranța. Sunt foarte plăcut surprins de statornicia Katherinei de care a dat dovadă încă de când a venit în Anglia și continuă să spere acest lucru, acela de a deveni regină, care, după mine, a ajuns prea obsesiv pentru ea. Katherine a ajuns, în sfârșit, regina Angliei, după cum întotdeauna a afirmat cu ardoare că este destinul ei și că înfăptuiește voia Domnului. Traversează atât perioade bune, cât și mai puțin bune, făcându-le mereu față într-un mod admirabil întărit de aceeași statornicie de care a fost în orice moment în stare.
Mi-a plăcut mult tot romanul, dar aș fi dorit să nu se termine deloc. O apreciez pe Philippa pentru faptul că a vrut să sfârșească cartea într-o perioadă de glorie pentru regină, fiind vorba despre victoria obținută de ea și contele de Surrey de la Flodden împotriva scoțienilor în anul 1513. Am descoperit, de-a lungul romanului, măreția Infantei Spaniei a cărei ambiție, încă din naștere, a fost să fie Regina Angliei. Răbdarea ei, neclintirea, dar și credința în Dumnezeu au fost elementele care au ajutat-o să atingă culmile succesului în Anglia secolului al XVI - lea.


" - Dumnezeu nu le netezește calea celor pe care-i iubește, îi șopti cu asprime. Le trimite încercări. Cei pe care Dumnezeu îi iubește cel mult sunt cei care suferă cel mai tare. Știu sigur asta. Eu, care l-am pierdut pe singurul bărbat pe care-l voi iubi vreodată. Și tu știi. Gândește-te la Iov, Catalina.".
" Lady Margaret îl măsură din priviri. Fusese luat de lângă ea când era ceva mai mare decât un prunc, pentru a fi dus într-un loc sigur. Încă de atunci, îl privise ca pe o oportunitate, ca pe un posibil moștenitor al tronului. Ca unica posibilitate prin care ea putea atinge măreția. Nici nu apucase să-l cunoască bine în pruncie, nu-l iubise cât era copil.".

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to start out by saying 1) I love historical fiction and 2) I loved Margaret George's, The Autobiography of Henry VIII with notes by his fool Will Sommers (one of my fave books of all time).

So when I have the opportunity to go back to Kind Henry VIII's court I do! I've read the Other Boleyn Girl, I've read Elizabeth I by Rosamund Miles to learn about the time after Henry VIII, etc.

Therefore I was really looking forward to learning more about Henry's first wife, Katherine of Aragon.

The Constant Princess, is the story of Katherine of Aragon or Catalina, Infanta of Spain. It covers Catalina's childhood in Spain, her betrothal to Arthur (Henry's older brother), their marriage, his death, her agonizing wait to convince the King of England that marrying her to his 2nd son was the best solution to all the problems of dowry, etc, and the early years of her marriage to Henry and her rule as Queen of England.

I found the beginning part about her childhood and her marriage to Arthur interesting. Her wait to marry Henry was as agonizing for the reader as it was for her (this section became very repetitive), and then the end was incredibly rushed. The author took 400 pages to cover her life up until her 3rd pregnancy and then skipped 13 years of her reign and the turmoil that became her relationship with Henry as he decided to divorce her and marry Anne Boleyn (I think that would have been very interesting material to read about) and then devoted 1 1/2 pages to the court hearing about annulling her marriage to Henry. It was almost as if she got tired of writing about her....

All in all I thought this book was just OK.

[Misty Marie Harms · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daughter of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, Katherine has come to England to wed Arthur Tudor. They are to be the next King and Queen of England. Alas, Arthur dies five months into the marriage, leaving Katherine adrift in the English court. Unable to return home but now a widow, she has to find a way to marry second son Henry, who will now be King.

This was a rough read. I didn't care for the format at all. The story didn't flow as easily as it did in the previous books. At least I didn't have to deal with King Henry being an ass too much in this book. Though, the fact, he wanted to marry his widowed daughter-in-law was gross. So now we are on to King Henry the VIII and his many wives.

[B the BookAddict · Rating 4 out of 5]

You cannot take a person like Catherine of Aragon and fashion some carte blanche story about her; there are facts and documentation which must be adhered to. Gregory brings this fascinating woman to life for us; teaching us as we read.

She gives the reader such a keen sense of this woman; this Catalina, Infanta of Spain more commonly known to us as Catherine of Aragon, betrothed to Henry V111. It follows her story from aged five in 1491 on the battle fields of Spain to 1529 in England at the Papal Legate to hear King's Great Matter.

She is such a compelling figure, bound to and believing in the destiny arranged for her by others. Remember, she is the daughter of two famous warriors: Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Make no mistake, Catalina, this Katherine of Aragon is no pawn; she will remain steadfast to her own hopes and beliefs for her entire life. I now fully understand why she was so loved by the English people and I admit I am in awe of her myself.

To me, Gregory's penultimate words for Katherine feel like a roar: "This is me. This is my moment. This is my battle cry"

A compelling look at Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry V111; this is a must read. 4.5★

[Wilja Wiedenhöft · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh what a marvellous story.

[The Book Maven · Rating 4 out of 5]

If King Henry VIII's wives have any consolation, it is that they are remembered and honored far more in death than they were in life--there were six wives, and now there are dozens of books about them. But The Constant Princess begins at the beginning--with the first wife, Katherine of Aragon, whose unfortunate life did not include the birth of a son and heir to King Henry VIII. It is that perceived fault of hers that inspired Henry to seek sport in the arms of other women, and provided us with some salicious history. This is Katherine's story, and a sad one it is. The most remarkable element of this book is the emotions it evoked within me--I know the end of Queen Katherine and her dignified but fruitless life, and that colored my reading of the story.

Katherine is not a particularly sympathetic character--she comes across as proud, arrogant, stubbourn, and far too dedicated to the belief that her God had intended her to be Queen of England. A misguided sense of destiny, along with a deathbed promise she made, led her into the lion's den, and once the lion bit down, she was caught for the rest of her life. In the book, Katherine was ambitious, and it led her to lie, decieve, even disregard her morals to achieve her goals. But even as ambitious and dishonest as she was, my heart still went out to her--at the end of the day, she was doing what she needed to do to survive, as well as maintain a sense of autonomy and dignity. Virtually all of the men in her life objectified, used, and disregarded her, and kept her in poverty for many years, and if Katherine lied a little--or a lot--to make a place for herself in the world, I think a lot of the readers can forgive her. I know I can.

[Iset · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is difficult to know where to start with this review. Perhaps by highlighting one of the most pertinent points. The novel is written alternately from third person and first person point of view. Usually, a scene will occur written in the third person, followed by an internal monologue from Catalina's character about the events which have just occurred. Is this poor writing, or does this continuous switching of views work within the story? The premise sets off alarm bells that the story may seem confusing or disjointed with so much switching about, and indeed there are other novels which employ this tactic to disastrous effect. Gregory manages to prevent head-spinning confusion, but instead demonstrates a lack of writing skill. To be told facts about a character's personality and opinions is fine from time to time, but these ought to be demonstrated mainly through the character's actions. This gives the reader a sense of plausibility, since in real life we judge others mainly based on what we observe of them and have no magic method to take a peek into their thoughts. When authors have trouble showing, they fall back on simply telling their readers what they want to convey and expecting the reader to buy into it. It's poor writing.

Gregory lacks the skill or imagination to develop a characterisation over time, so she just plops down huge chunks which delve into Catalina's character and emotional reactions by falling back onto character thoughts providing the necessary narration and exposition. It's about as subtle as a charging rhinoceros, and is a bad writer's crutch. Instead of observing for ourselves that Catalina has fallen in love with Arthur, it must be spelt out through an internal monologue. Many of these monologues refer to events and other characters without actually showing us what happened or giving us any real evidence of what we're being told. This would be bad enough, but oftentimes these character's thoughts segments reveal that internally Catalina's thoughts directly contradict the actions she undertakes as described in the preceding third person perspective scene, leaving the reader to feel like they've been hit in the face by a frying pan out of the blue.

The book also suffers from frequent examples of redundant repetition. This is where a writer might write several sentences explaining something in a slightly different way each time but which are essentially all conveying the same message. This makes the passage sound long, clumsy, and unnecessary. For example, in one monologue we are told, with very little variation of the wording, that Catalina and her sisters walked in the gardens and ate the fruit and bathed in running waters, all created by the Moorish architects, no less than three times. This thrice repetition, without hardly any rephrasing, just plopped down there on the page, smacks of cut and paste. It's like Philippa Gregory really wanted to get in there somewhere this idea, tried writing three similar approaches and then forgot to delete two of them. Repetition like this should have been cut out in editing. The most grating example of redundant repetition is however Catalina's constant insistence that it is her destiny to be queen of England. I get that she's the "constant princess" of the title and that Catalina's faith and determination to secure her match is what keeps her going through the long years of hardship, and that it's the running theme of the book, but it doesn't need to be repeated word for word every ten pages.

Gregory's choice of topic piques the interest. Katherine of Aragon is not frequently written about in historical fiction, and the early years of her life even less so - most works featuring her focus on the messy proceedings of her divorce from Henry. However, Gregory misjudges the pacing of events. As a book about the life of Katherine of Aragon, I expected it to cover her entire biography, but instead the book ends only a couple of years into the reign of Henry VIII, thus omitting entirely many of the most significant events of Katherine's life. So, the apparent focus of "The Constant Princess" is the theme of Catalina's struggle to achieve her goal of becoming Queen of England and her constancy in never wavering from this task. Logically, the climax of the story should then be the point at which this goal is achieved, perhaps at her wedding to Henry with the end of the book coming after she has managed to successfully pull the wool over his eyes on the wedding night. Inexplicably, Gregory chooses not to make this the story's climax or end the novel at this point, but plods on for several more chapters into the first couple of years of Henry's reign, in which largely nothing happens at all except Katherine schemes to get her husband out of the country so that she can tempt the Scots into invading England and defeat them in a decisive battle. I suppose Gregory thought that the successful wedding and achievement of all Catalina's hopes wasn't exciting enough, and that she thought it would highlight Catalina's links to her battling mother by having her "heroically" win a battle. After the massive build up that Gregory gives it, the whole matter is resolved when a messenger arrives to tell Katherine that the army she sent ahead under an English commander has defeated the Scots. This may have happened historically, which is fair enough, but Gregory's failure is in building up Katherine as a warrior queen who will personally don armour and lead the English into battle, as the climax of the novel, and then Katherine never has to go through with it - causing the build up of promised heroics and excitement to fall completely flat.

Gregory portrays the relationship between Catalina and Arthur as initially awkward and frosty, but swiftly turns it into a bodice-ripping whirlwind romance worthy of a Harlequin pulp novel, with Arthur sneaking about every night to come and see her. The eponymous character herself was virtually unrecognisable from the actual historical Katherine, and perhaps even worse came across as selfish and unlikable. She ruins the reputation of one of her ladies in order to keep her secret about the consummation, schemes to get Henry out of the way so that she can go to war against the Scots, and denigrates Henry's sisters - Catalina comes across as a self-centred, pretentious prima donna. We are told that she and Arthur imagine a better way to rule, and Catalina's internal thoughts repeatedly tell us that she is supposedly concerned with doing what's best for England - and yet she cruelly orchestrates the downfall of Lady Margaret Beaufort, who is attempting to save the country's finances, for no other reason than Catalina is desperate to keep her grip over the young Henry VIII. Her actions thus contradict what we are being told, causing Catalina to comes across as vain, self-serving, and cruel. Philippa Gregory takes a shot at trying to explain the origins of Henry's later notorious changeable temper and arguably tyrannical actions, by depicting him here as slow witted, fairly self-centred, and a spoilt child. This crude stab fails to even get close to the enigma of the complex personality of Henry, and explain how he transformed from enlightened prince to autocratic tyrant.

Overall, whilst the language is at least competent it is nothing exceptional, and Philippa Gregory falls down in her storycraft, using bad author crutches and warping all the historical fact out of the novel. These characters resemble their historical counterparts in name only. Read if you've got a few hours train journey ahead of you and want to fill up the time with indulgent but mediocre fluff, not if you want something of groundbreaking substance to get your teeth into. If you give this one a pass you won't be missing anything.

[Constantine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Genre:
Historical Fiction

This is the sixth book in this wonderful series (The Plantagenet & Tudor Novels). We follow in this installment The Constant Princess, Catalina of Spain, Princess of Wales, or Queen Katherine of Aragon. The story is told right from her childhood up to the Battle of Flodden in 1513 between England and the invading Scotts.


“You have to have faith that you are doing God's will. Sometimes you will not understand. Sometimes you will doubt. But if you are doing God's will, you can't be wrong, you can't go wrong.”

It was interesting to see how a Spanish princess adopts to the court in England. During her early childhood and teenage years, Katherine's belief that her mother's (Queen of Spain) will is God's will was naive and a laughable matter but at a later stage she realized all that was just brainwashing.

There are two types of narrations in this book, unlike the previous ones which were all in the first person. We have a third-person narration and also a first-person narration that is written in italic font. Not sure why Philippa decided to do that.

One big thing that differentiates the protagonist from the previous book's protagonist (The White Princess) who is her mother-in-law Queen Elizabeth, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth Woodville is that Katherine has a very strong personality. She has taken that from her mother. She is tough enough to look after herself very well in a strange land and even claims it as her own. Those readers who enjoy reading about a strong female protagonist will enjoy reading this book, perhaps more than the previous one.


“True obedience can only happen when you secretly think you know better, and you choose to bow your head. Anything short of that is just agreement, and any ninny-in-waiting can agree.”

If you are reading the books in their chronological order you will understand many things including why Katherine was betrothed to Prince of Wales Arthur and the goal behind that. There will be many known characters like King Henry VII and his mother Margaret Beaufort or My Lady the King's Mother as she loved to be called! Queen Elizabeth has not much interaction or role in this novel which was a little bizarre despite being the mother in law but I guess Philippa Gregory wanted to show her as a weak presence in the court as she presented her in the previous book.

As I was reading this book I was also watching the first season of the TV series The Tudors. What really disappointed me in this book was how it abruptly ended. As a reader, I did not get to see the fall of Katherine of Aragon. King Henry VIII wanted to get rid of this marriage to marry Anne Boleyn. The court hearing is there in just 4 pages which were very disappointing. I really wanted to read more about how the queen acted and reacted to all this. In the TV show, the actress who is playing the queen, Maria Doyle Kennedy gave such a fine performance in that court (Blackfriars Hall) scene.


“when I first saw him I thought he was as beautiful as a knight from the romances, like a troubadour, like a poet. I thought I could be like a lady in a tower and he could sing beneath my window and persuade me to love him. But although he has the looks of a poet he doesn't have the wit. I can never get more than two words out of him, and I begin to feel that I demean myself in trying to please him.”

The problem with this book is that it does not cover a big part of Catalina's life. That is the interesting part of her life that all readers would love to know. This might be because the other books will cover that. Perhaps in The Other Boleyn Girl, we will see all of her interaction with Anne Boleyn and the problems with her marriage to King Henry VIII, but one thing I feel I will not see is her inner voice. I would've rather seen all that in this book.

Despite the shortcomings I have mentioned above, I feel like the previous books this one too is filled with entertainment and information. If you have loved the previous books in the series there is nothing that will prevent you from loving this one. The Constant Princess gets 4.5 stars out of 5.0.


“They say that at the mountain pass he looked back at his kingdom, his beautiful kingdom, and wept, and his mother told him to weep like a woman for what he could not hold as a man.”

[Ashley Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't care how historically inaccurate this story may be, it totally swept me up and I loved it-- and I'm not usually one for historical romances. I read this two years ago and I just remember feeling all warm and fuzzy and then heartbroken and angsty as I went on this journey with Katherine of Aragon.

Favorite book of the Tudor Court series by far-- reading the Other Boleyn Girl after this felt like a big disappointment.

[Erin Clemence · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is for the audiobook version of “The Constant Princess” by Philippa Gregory, published by RecordedBooks.

Audio: (5) The audio for this novel is performed by Jill Tanner, a stage actor and voice talent from Britain. She does a fabulous job with this recording, speaking very clearly and precisely. The narration is really only told from Katherine of Aragon’s perspective, so there is very little need for voice changing, but Ms. Tanner is able to perform Henry and Harry etc. in such a way that the listener knows who is speaking, and yet she does not sound overly masculine and does not over-act. A great narrator, to be sure!

Story: (3) This story had its ups and downs, and I mean that in the most serious and sincere way. There was parts of this book where I was addicted and couldn’t wait to see what happened next, and parts where I completely lost interest. (“Tell me a story”..says Arthur to Katherine. Yes please, Philippa Gregory! PLEASE tell me SOMETHING ENTERTAINING!)
Since Katalina of Spain was a baby, she has known her future- to be Queen of England. She was primed since birth to be the reigning Queen, betrothed to Prince Arthur of England. When her dream comes true and Katalina marries Arthur, she becomes Princess of Wales and quickly begins plotting and planning for her future reign. When Arthur dies, Katalina knows her destiny still remains- to be Queen of England. She plots, plans, conspires and manipulates her way to the throne, in order to achieve the only dream she has ever known.

This novel had me completely thankful that I am a female in the twenty-first century. I couldn’t imagine (and don’t know if I could tolerate, to be honest) being treated as breeding stock, a pretty face without thoughts or opinions. This was Katherine’s sixteenth-century England, and she gets bonus points for tolerating the extreme sexism in this patriarchal society.

Katherine (Katalina) eventually marries Henry the VIII, and this story tells the tale of her rise (and fall). Katherine is a great character, powerful and strong and just as bullheaded as any male. I enjoyed the character of Arthur as well, and Margaret Pole, so there are definitely some enjoyable forces in this novel.

As mentioned, the story lost me at parts, and seemed to drag on for unknown reasons. However, when it was good, it was “very very good” (as they say) and I quickly became addicted. The ending is a cliffhanger (although not really since the story itself is based on reality) which was extremely disappointing as I felt the whole novel wasted pages and pages and had no reason to stop at this point in the novel.

In general, I am a fan of Gregory’s and I will continue to follow her stories and the stories of the great Tudor’s and Plantanganet’s with vigor. This one fell a little flat, but had it been shorter and more concise, it would have been a fabulous and absorbing read.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author does quite well in telling the story of the young Infanta Katalina, daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, betrothed at three years old to Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of England's Henry VII.
She knows she will one day be ruler of a distant cold land.

Her reception in England is rude and shocking as she is insulted by an arrogant and seemingly coarse King Henry VII, and married to the callow and awkward Arthur.
She must hold on to all her faith and strength against the rude attentions of the king and the domination of the king's cold and hard mother Lady Margaret of Beaufort.
After the death of Arthur, the ambitious Katalina aims to marry Arthur's younger brother Henry Prince of Wales against the opposition of the king (who had himself hoped towed Catherine) and the dowager king's mother Margaret.
The author does well in exploring the young Katalina's emotions and the power play in the English court.
the central themes are that Catherine's marriage to Arthur was consummated and Catherine kept this a secret in order to become Queen after Arthur's death.
This forms the base of the narrative. The truth is we will never know and historical novel writing is indeed about surmising and filling in the gaps.
What I disliked about the book was the political statement by the author who uses the novel to try to praise what she refers to as "the rich beautiful and tolerant culture of the Muslims of Spain."
The truth is that the Muslim Empire of the Moors was built on conquest and aimed to forcibly convert non-Muslims, treating minorities with a Dhimmi status (Ever heard of the slaughter in Spain by the fanatical Almohads?)
Whatever the case, this was not the time and place for the author to make a political statement about what she sees Christian bias and the need for accommodation with the Islamic world.
It is doubtful that Catherine of Aragon cherished Islamic culture and she certainly did not regret her country's defence against the Moors.
Why ruin the novel with this 21st century PC drivel about 'prejudice' against poor innocent Moslems and how Katherine realizes the wrongs of all of this and how the war against the Moslems by Spain is sooo wrong. The Spanish were fighting to get their land back from the Islamic Empire.,..hardly something to apologize about.
Clearly the author was trotting out the line so popular today that we shouldn't fight back against Moslems.
You wouldn't have got that sort of drivel in a historical novel twenty years ago or before.

[Tanja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am completely fascinated by this time period. It is like reading a soap opera. It also helped me to understand how King Henry could be so cruel and it made me sad for Queen Katherine. This was a beautiful love story and a story of perseverance. I loved the descriptions of the spanish court. It certainly made me glad that I am not royalty.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

Sorry, nope, I can't do this. When I saw this at the library and all the rave reviews it got I thought this would be an interesting take on Catherine of Aragon's story. To me, she is one of the most interesting of Henry's wives, and I thought it would be fun to read a totally different theory about who she was. Sadly, it didn't work for me. I thought I could get around to the idea that a woman so insanely devout would risk her soul by lying, but it turns out I just can't. It's an interesting idea, sure, but it failed to convince me. I stopped listening after Arthur's death when the two lovesick teenagers hatched the brilliant plan that Catherine could just lie to the world about the marriage never having been consummated so she could still become queen by marrying Henry. So admittedly, I never really got very far with this.

Part of it could've been the narrator's breathy "I'm a princess!!!" voice (which made the childish little Catherine even harder to tolerate for me. That could've been the point, but it just made me want to slap her even harder.) But the author's habit of writing in the third person only to switch back to letting Catherine basically summarize what just happened and how she felt about it in the first person (and in the beginning, there wasn't much besides "I. Am. A. Princess!!!! Why does no one in this filthy country respect me?!?!" and "OMG, I hate my new hubby. Oh wait. I slept with him. Now I'm totally in love!!!" if you ask me. She was highly educated and intelligent by all accounts, and I guess I just expected someone more... dignified? mature? given her upbringing) also didn't work for me.

I will give some of the author's other books I picked up at the library a try though.

[••Camila Roy•• · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

[CS · Rating 2 out of 5]

"A near-constant bore"

Catalina is the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, the Spanish Infanta, betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the throne of England. From childhood she was prepped for her queenly position; she grows up alongside a battlefield, in the splendid palace in Spain, until she is sent to be married to Arthur. And thus begins the life of the future Queen Katherine of Aragon.

Despite their flaws, I rather enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool. But while I liked Catalina more as a protagonist than either Mary Boleyn or Hannah Green, I found myself more irritated and bored with "The Constant Princess" than I was for either TOBG or TQF.

NOTE: I'm no historian, so if you want to see how historically accurate this book is, you might want to seek another review.

I think the first notable difference between TCP and TOBG or TQF is the switching of viewpoints. At first, I thought TCP would settle into the traditional third person past point of view (POV). But this time around, I think Gregory wanted to experiment and decided to intersperse the traditional 3rd person sections with ones where Catalina speaks in first person present--either as the Older Catalina or as the "in-book present" Catalina.

I can see where an author would want to do this. The 3rd person POV is limited and cannot give the best insight into a character, not in the same way that a 1st person POV can (though a truly gifted author will be able to work around such challenges without resorting to changing POVs so drastically). To Gregory's credit, there were a few instances where the right balance was struck--the 1st person POV complimented and gave more insight into the 3rd person POV. Unfortunately, most of the time, these 1st person POVs just repeated the exact same things that were discussed in the 3rd person sections--or, worse, repeated the same point over and over again ("I was Infanta of Spain", "I was born to be princess", etc.).

In the beginning, the switching of POVs made some sense; something would happen to Catalina, then she would think about what happened. But towards the end, it seemed the POVs changed willy nilly. First person present now had action scenes, scenes where actual dialogue between characters was exchanged. In fact, the number of 1st person POVs increased towards the end, as if Gregory was tired of writing in 3rd person.

Since I opened with writing, let me continue in that vein for a bit more. There were no egregious spelling or grammatical errors that I could find. The text itself is a bit dry and bland (although I was stirred a bit when I read of Catalina's poverty).

The absolute worst is the repetition coupled with the classic violation of "show, don't tell". Catalina repeats herself more times than I could count. She goes on and on about how she is the true Queen of England, the Infanta of Spain, born to be Queen, and on and on. Everyone refers to her as being "constant", in a heavy-handed way of referencing the title. Conversations that shouldn't last more than a couple of sentences are drawn out to several minutes of listening time (such as: Arthur and Catalina discussing plants, Arthur and Catalina whining about how hard their lives are, Catalina moaning about meeting a woman whose brother was put to death by Catalina's family). The absolute worst was the description of Allahmbra, which had to have gone on for 10+ minutes. I know that Gregory was trying to give her audience of how opulent it was, but having Catalina talk to the audience about how opulent it is is BORING and repetitive. Instead, have your characters DO something that shows the opulence.

For the first time in a Gregory book, I actually didn't mind (too much) the protagonist, Catalina. I thought it was nice to have a smart, cunning, flawed woman. Catalina is able to keep her wits about her, manipulate things to her own end, and is shown to be a competent, powerful leader.

However, that doesn't mean that Catalina didn't bug me. Here is a list of the ways that she did:

1. Insta-love with Arthur. Sure, in the beginning, Arthur and Catalina didn't get along. But when Arthur apologizes to her for neglecting her in the cold (where she could have suffered severe injuries from frost bite), Catalina's feelings for him changelike a light switch, and suddenly, they are the most intense lovers of all time. This was just too sudden for me. There was no build-up, no gradual breaking down of walls--something that was sorely needed in this over-long, dull book.

2. Religion. Catalina was a devout Christian; here, she spends more time praying to Arthur and worshiping him beyond the grave. It's rather disturbing that she is still so obsessed with Arthur (after a mere 5 months of marriage!) that YEARS later, she is basically praying to him, asking him for help. I understand people mourn differently, people remember the dead differently, but this was just disturbing. And where was the religious Catalina from history? Also, this quote rather bothered me:

"But if my earthly father can forget me and forget that I was his favorite child as he has done, then I suppose My Heavenly Father can forget me too."

I know that, at the time, Catalina said this, she was in despair, but I would have thought that a devout Christian would realize that earthly father =/= heavenly father (because the earthly father is DUH human and fallible!). There are ways to do the "God has forsaken me" without drawing this odd conclusion.

3. Modern views. Catalina meets up with a Moor (Muslim) at one point, and actually begins to change her mind about the Moors and their treatment. Not saying this wouldn't have happened back in that day, but it feels awkward and unnatural in this context (and unnecessary?).

4. Marriage with Henry. While occasionally Catalina talks about her love for Henry, I never can buy it. She only rarely mentions her feelings to Henry, instead harping on her long-lost Arthur. I do appreciate how Gregory tried to let Catalina move on; I would have liked to see something more pronounced, where Catalina did more things for her love of HENRY instead of her love of ARTHUR.

5. Ambition via MY MAN. Catalina swears to Arthur she will marry Henry and become queen. And that is what motivates her throughout her life (oh, sure, there's this one line about "her own ambition", but I don't believe it at all). Why is every ambitious woman BAD (Anne Boleyn) unless she wants to do it for her husband (Catalina)? Why can't a woman have her own ambition and not be good?

Not as long as with Mary or Hannah, but just as irritating.

I'm tired of writing this, but other characters are one-note. "Childish" Harry. "Lover" Arthur. "Crass" Henry. "Wise and respectable" Moor physician. I just get tired of seeing characters written as one thing and never given any chance to change or grow or be anything like a real person.

The romance was saccharine; a brief fight, then a nuclear bomb couldn't drive Arthur and Catalina apart. As for whether or not they consummated their relationship, I don't know. I think you could make a case for either side. But I certainly don't buy that they had sex basically every night, and SOMEHOW Catalina didn't get pregnant.

I looked up Catalina on Wiki and was shocked by all the awesome things she did in her reign as queen (regent and Spanish ambassador?!). Unfortunately, this book really didn't make me all that interested in researching her or finding out more about her. Most of her early life is skipped; far too much time is on her telling Arthur far more interesting stories of time in Spain (another instance of breaking the "Show don't tell" rule) or jumping his bones. The latter half is more interesting, but the repetition and near-constant "my love, Arthur" business was enough to make me scream. The novel ends abruptly in an odd place, with many more years of Catalina's life (including the birth of her daughter) to go. And the entire battle was hastily managed. One minute, Catalina is riding out to meet the Scots; the next, a messenger comes back to announce the Scottish King is dead! I literally had to go back and relisten to this section to make sure I hadn't missed anything.

As for the narrator, Jill Tanner was brilliant. I think she was more than capable of sounding queenly and regal (though Jill did not give Catalina the foreign accent she did in TOBG) and the other characters were decently voiced as well, distinct enough that I knew who was saying what.

I think this may be the end of the Philippa Gregory Tudor Series line for me. I know that TOBG and TQF weren't the best novels in the world, but I actually was somewhat interested in their stories and mildly entertained. "The Constant Princess" I found to be a "constant bore". I struggled to get through parts and couldn't even muster the will to look up the amazing Queen Katherine on Wiki. Maybe if you like Queen Katherine or Philippa Gregory or are just wanting historical (romance) fiction lite, you will enjoy this. If that doesn't apply to you, I recommend avoiding.

Wanna rough idea of what I think?

This book was:

+ boring

+ dry

+ dull

+ repetitive

The switch in viewpoints (from 3rd person past to 1st person present) was:

+ unnecessary

+ redundant

+ not utilized in most cases to its fullest extent

The characters were:

+ cliched

+ one-note

+ irritating

+ much more boring than their real life counterparts

+ not what history tells us they are (e.g. Catalina being devout in RL vs Catalina worshiping Arthur in PG's world)

Catalina made me want to:

+ strangle her

+ duct tape her mouth

+ fine her for every time she said the words "constant", "princess", "queen", "infanta", "child", "beloved", "lover", and "born to"

The story was:

+ boring

+ occasionally interesting

The ending was:

+ odd

+ incomplete

[Marissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is, in my opinion, Gregory’s best novel. Some historical fiction can be a little too tawdry for my taste. (But don’t get me wrong, tawdry is awesome as long as it’s accompanied by some substance I can sink my teeth into). Gregory’s novels can lose this balance every now and then and she is sometimes guilty of repetitive phrases that can force your mind to wander. I did not notice these pitfalls in this particular novel. There are, of course, passionate love scenes (because what hf would be complete without them?!?!?) But she does it with enough nuance that I found that not only did I not mind it, but it truly enriched the story. It was a little hard to get into at first, as military history was my downfall in college and it begins describing Catherine of Aragon’s life as the youngest daughter of the Catholic warmongers Ferdinand and Isabella. Tudorphiles often forget that Catherine of Aragon was the infanta. She was quite beautiful when she was young and she was the daughter of Spain’s most glorious monarchs. Needless to say, I found myself drawn into the story. I was extremely emotionally affected by many episodes in the book and by Gregory's interpretation of Catherine’s oh-so-debated virginity after her first husband’s (Arthur) death. In fact, had to put the book down for a week because I couldn't think about anything else and it was really getting to me. It reads like an alternative history and it breaks your heart to think that this woman, who is so often portrayed as the dowdy, helpless first wife of the infamous Henry VIII, could have lived such a painfully sweet existence. The ending is abrupt but necessary for your sanity after the heartbreak that you will feel throughout the book's duration. I recommend this novel for amateur and professional historians everywhere but beware: you must have not let your historical prowess get the best of you. Just enjoy the story for what it is.

[Robyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although “The Constant Princess” has never been recommended to me specifically, the enthusiastic response to “The Other Boleyn Girl” – Gregory’s most well-known novel – was enough to encourage my purchase of it a couple of years ago. She is touted as a fabulously emotive historical fiction writer, and yet my initial response was to discard it after I had read the first couple of pages. Roll on 18 months, and my recent second attempt at ploughing my way through was barely underway before I remembered what it was that had put me off from finishing the introductory chapter, let alone the novel, the first time around.



To be fair to the author, my biggest gripe is less to do with her and more a fault with the editing. It’s a shame that they don’t give the name of the specific editor on the publication page in novels, because he or she would probably never work again. The oversights in this book were so progressively irritating that I was almost on the phone to HarperCollins begging them to fire the fool who created such a shambles out of an already questionable manuscript.



The most common issue was the punctuation. It was a disaster. The misuse of commas was almost painful; thrown around with wild abandon where semi-colons or full stops would have worked infinitely better. Now, I admit that I am a grammar Nazi and that the majority of readers would probably not be worked up into such a fluster by a few misplaced dots and squiggles, but the fact is that the ideal novel should read smoothly and cleanly, with no attention paid to the punctuation whatsoever. Just like theatre stagehands and butlers, stops and commas are noticeable only when they’ve made a mistake. Do their job properly and they should fade into the background, embedded neatly into the lines of the story, allowing a flow of semantic traffic like a well-placed literary roundabout. When you start to notice, comment upon, and get angry at the comma situation, you know there’s a problem. And it wasn’t just once or twice, but several times . . . on every page. Whilst I acknowledge that perfect punctuation in the English language is a endless and thankless debate with no clearly defined boundaries or answers, quite frankly an editor should have at least have a fundamental working knowledge of the use of commas. This is a person who works with words for a living; and he or she has even less of an excuse when the language and style is as basic as this.



And so to my second point: vocabulary. Apparently the average person has a vocabulary of approximately 30,000 words. Journalists can claim between 50 and 70,000, and Shakespeare’s limit supposedly ran up to six figures (although admittedly he made most of them up himself). Gregory would have trouble bypassing 1,000. The monotony of her descriptions astounded me, especially with such passionate claims on the cover that she is able to “bring the sights, sounds and smells of 16th century England to life”. I wonder whether the critic and I were reading the same book – or if her publisher cannily chopped off the start of the sentence, which began “certainly does not”. She frequently uses the same adjective in one sentence, which is beyond lazy, and into the realm of questionable literary sanity. Shift+F7 will conjure up a list of basic Microsoft Word alternatives for the most inactive of authors, and one would hope that a writer as prolific as Gregory might have a real-life thesaurus to hand. Apparently, however, she does not. Repetition and inane lexicon aside, her descriptions are vapid and uninspiring, as is the fictional love story upon which the entire novel is based.



Katherine of Aragon no doubt had a fascinating life. From cradle to grave, she was surrounded by figures who would become steeped in history and legend, and she herself performed and was party to deeds and occurrences which had an enormous effect on the political and geographical future of Europe. And yet, despite all this, Gregory STILL manages to paint her as two-dimensional and forgettable. I never really cared about her, or anybody else. Again with the editing, some parts of her life were impossibly drawn out, whilst others were glossed over in a matter of sentences. The whole thing reads like a historical Mills & Boon, and not a particularly fascinating one at that.



After finishing the book, and remembering embarrassingly little of my history, I had a quick glance through the Tudor queen’s Wikipedia page, to bring myself up to date on the later years of her life. It concerned me somewhat that the brief, yet detailed, amateur article was far more captivating than the entire novel I had just read – and gave me more information than Gregory had managed into the bargain. The fictional relationships and descriptions are simply dull, which is beyond frustrating since this was all Gregory had to work at in order to create an interesting novel. She was handed the ideal subject on a plate; a fascinating woman, surrounded by myths and legends, with exotic royal parents and married to arguably the most famous monarch of all time. The story was basically written for her; all she had to do was fill in the gaps, and make up some interesting fluff to pad out the pages and make it into a rip-roaring read. Quite how she managed to fail so spectacularly, and make an interesting story into a boring book, is beyond me. Next time I’ll just stick to Wikipedia!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally love Philippa Gregory. I do not apologize for taking great pleasure in going to visit historical places like a fly on the wall and peeking into the way those lives might have been. Most of time, I can feel that Gregory’s version might have been true, because she sticks very close to the facts and only interpolates feelings and emotions to make the characters human. Somehow, I felt she went off the rails in this one. I even had cause to doubt the accuracy of her history. I can find no evidence, and have never heard it even implied, that Henry VII lusted after his daugher-in-law and sought her for his own bride before she was married to his son, Henry VIII.

For anyone who is familiar with Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII, they will know that she was first married to his older brother, Arthur, with whom she was meant to have never consummated the marriage. The way Gregory deals with this issue of the remarriage is disappointing. I cannot imagine that it could have EVER happened this way. There is a specific conversation that takes place between Arthur and Catherine that is ludicrous, in my opinion. I think this is the first time I have ever had that reaction while reading one of her novels.

It also seemed unlikely to me that even the most constant heart would cling, as she did, to a memory that had an endurance of six months and occurred at the tender age of fifteen. I also found the idea that she wavered in her religious views and came to think of the Moors as equal, if not superior, to her own countrymen untenable. She is known to have fought for Catholicism to her death and the attitude toward the Moors would have been far too modern a view to have made sense in her time. It is, in a word, an anachronistic invention to propound a modern view.

You would think this would mean I did not enjoy this book, but you would be wrong. I did enjoy it. Had it been 100% fiction, with no claims to history, I might not have even minded the plot development. Gregory has a writing style that I love and she can create characters that you genuinely care about and root for. I did not, however, feel that I closed this book understanding any more about Katherine and her time, and while I agree that Katherine was not a virgin when she married Henry, I do not think Gregory has even come close to deciphering the whys and wherefores of what came after Arthur’s death.

[Kristen "Kirby" · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me start by saying this: If you hated The Other Boleyn Girl for it's lack of exciting events and boring pace, good luck getting past page 100 of The Constant Princess.

Now, I'm no fan of Philippa Gregory. To be honest, I HATE the way she writes. She spins in circles, repeating the same crap over and over again. She includes tons of unneeded fillers. Ugh. I simply read her books because I like the history.

After enjoying The Other Boleyn Girl, I went on to the Boleyn Inheritance, finally deciding to go back in time with the Constant Princess. The Constant Princess provided an insider's view into the world of Queen Katherine and Henry. I was surprised to find that Katherine actually had substance.. I had originally thought that she was just some obedient moron who wouldn't move it on out of there for the next girl. But by reading the Constant Princess, I learned that she was simply determined and driven by her faith. She stayed unwanted because she had already spent many years waiting for the throne. She was used to being mistreated, and didn't think it'd be possible that she'd lose her position. And so on with the revelations.

As for Henry, that big selfish boy, you learn about his upbringing and why he married Katherine. You understand why he claimed that the marriage wasn't blessed by God. I still consider the King unloyal, selfish, and gross, but now I know what made him tick.

The ending was very rushed. I wasn't discontent because I knew how it all ended, but she cut off right after Katherine won the battle against the Scots. She then skipped to a time later in her life when Henry had strayed many times and eventually turned against her in court. She didn't even include the verdict or mention that she had a girl. Nada. It was like Gregory had had enough of the story and wanted to quit writing.

SO, Great story, poor execution as with all of Phillipa Gregory's books.

Note: If you liked The Other Boleyn Girl and want more history read this. If you didn't like The Other Boleyn Girl, but want to learn more about the History, do a little research on the internet and skip this.
I'd read The Constant Princess, then The Other Boleyn Girl, then The Boleyn Inheritance in order. The story is probably more interesting that way.

[Celia Lisset Alvarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, Gregory's big problem is point of view. Her first-person narratives are fantastic, but her third-person ones suck. Here is an interesting combo: The Constant Princess is written mostly in third, but with about just as much in first-person asides that aren't really justifiable in any way. Are they journal entries from the protagonist, Katherine of Aragon? Just musings? Often, the narratives overlap, which could be interesting, but really just comes off as jarring. I don't really get what she's trying to do; obviously, many of her books revolve around Henry VIII, so writing each first-person would not have been too repetitive, and would have added to the strength of her Tudor novels, which is her uncanny ability to see these characters each in a different light. Although she's written about the court of Henry VIII several times now, each new focus manages to be fresh. I don't know why she just didn't write Katherine's story first person.
That being said, I did enjoy it. Katherine's a great character, and she picks her up early enough so that we see her grow, drops her off right at the Boleyn moment. It's also the first time we see Henry so young, and that was interesting, especially knowing what we know about whom he would become. The secondary characters aren't that great, however, despite--and this is what gets me--the switches to third-person narration. The best one is Henry's older brother, Arthur, but the love story between him and Katherine is rather sappy and contrived, very Scheherazade. Very.
So basically this one's flawed but still plotted, so nowhere near as horrible as The Virgin's Lover. Anyway I'm hooked on Gregory even despite her faults. Not really sure why; she's a good character writer, I think, creates very human ones. I'd love to see her tackle Henry straight on, as protagonist. You hear me, Philippa?

[Sofialibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Catarina de Aragão é uma das filhas de Isabel de Castela com Fernando de Aragão, rivais e amantes.
Ficou noiva de Artur, filho de Henrique VII, aos 3 anos e foi treinada desde criança para ser Princesa de Gales e Rainha de Inglaterra.
Quando era mais nova viajou muito com os pais por Espanha, assistiu a muitas batalhas com os Mouros e aprendeu muita coisa que tentou sempre transmitir à corte inglesa.
Teve muita dificuldade na adaptação a Inglaterra por ser um país muito mais frio, com comida e costumes muito diferentes dos seus.
Infelizmente Artur morreu 5 meses depois do casamento e Catarina, depois de várias peripécias, acaba por casar com Henrique VIII, irmão mais novo de Artur.

De todos os livros que li até agora sobre esta saga e sobre todas estas mulheres importantes ao longo da história de Inglaterra, Catarina de Aragão foi das minhas preferidas. Não sei se por ter sido treinada desde cedo, se por ter nascido em Espanha ou por ser naturalmente seu, foi uma mulher determinada, inteligente, destemida, corajosa, refilona, respondona, lutadora e indomável, a verdadeira mulher de pelo na venta. Não se resignou, lutou pelo que queria mesmo num cenário com poucas probabilidades de sucesso e sozinha. Que esta mulher possa ainda inspirar muitas outras.

[Rita Tomás · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philippa Gregory traz-nos mais uma história de uma mulher incrível. Já nos habituou a mulheres destemidas, que sabem o que querem e para o que nasceram, e que lutam pelos seus direitos.
Catarina de Aragão sabia qual era o seu destino. Nasceu para ser Princesa de Gales e Rainha de Inglaterra. Ambiciosa e determinada, lutou pela sua posição.
Nunca se falou tanto em empoderamento feminino e igualdade de géneros como nos dias de hoje, portanto ainda que seja um livro sobre a Época Tudor em Inglaterra (séc.XVI), é um tema extremamente actual.
Para mim, uma leitura fácil. Daqueles livros que se devora. Ainda que já se tenha conhecimento dos acontecimentos narrados no livro de antemão.
Philippa Gregory é, sem dúvida, a rainha do romance histórico.

Lido para o #gregorychallenge da Sofialibrary.

[AsToldByKenya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
The book is very repetitive and often feels like the author was trying to find something to write about. You could tell Philippa Gregory was bullshitting and didn't have much historical facts to ground the story or write the characters. It was still impulsively readable and cleverly written and I enjoyed myself. It just felt empty at times.

[Shirley Revill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never been disappointed with a Phillipa Gregory book. She knows her subject well. Highly recommended.

[Carole P. Roman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philippa Gregory is a genius. Each of her books delves into the personality of the historical figure. We think of Kathern of Aragon as the hapless, dowdy wife thrown over for the more glamorous Anne Boleyn. Few realize that both Henry and she were distantly related though John of Gaunt. Even fewer know that she was quite the warrior, daughter of Isabella of Spain ( yes, THAT Isabella) and groomed for Queenship her entire life. Gregory gets not only into their head but imagines the essence of what made them special. Fiction, who cares? If you want to imagine what was going on in the Tudor court, Philippa Gregory is a terrific way to explore.

[marta (sezon literacki) · Rating 4 out of 5]

„every girl has three obsessions” kind of book

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who is this woman, whose fame rests on her inability to produce a male heir for Henry VIII? In this book the author attempts to envision her life.

The first part is credible. The author describes how Catalina, the child of Spain's powerful co-monarchs, could have developed a belief in her destiny. From this seed, Ms. Gregory builds the case for a steely purposeful woman who affects all the airs of the monarch she aspires to be and exudes its sense of entitlement. This is the attitude and the outlook she would have to have to endure her later abandonment.

I don't know the evidence on which history rests a judgment that Arthur was too sickly to consummate his marriage, but Gregory doesn't buy it... at all. Arthur is shown to be healthy. His fatal illness is sudden. His deathbed charge to his wife, while not realistic for the time, does have some novelistic development in how the young couple plans their future reign.

History pays little attention to the emotions of this abandoned 16 year old girl/widow. She is subject to international games over which she has no control and little access to knowledge. Gregory is at her best as she imagines Catalina's thoughts and feelings in the 7 years uncertain wait for Henry VIII. I don't know the historical probability of the attentions of Henry VII to his daughter-in-law but the writing (or maybe this plot line) doesn't ring true.

Another difficult plot line is the imagined pregnancy and the call to the doctor who is a Moor. Catalina's attitude to Moors would be highly unusual. After this, the story races to an end.

While the whole telling doesn't fully hold together, the book gives a different look at Katherine and posits some interesting ideas as to her character and how she might have interacted with her new English family.