It turns out Ashley is great at recommending books! I really enjoyed reading The Constant
Princess. I wasn’t sure how much I would
like it since I’m not HUGE into Medieval history and stuff like that. I couldn’t even tell how historically
accurate this book was. I assume it was
relatively accurate since there was a bunch of notes and references
though. While reading The Constant
Princess I found myself wanting to know the real, accurate story of Katherine
of Aragon. When a fiction book inspires
me to go to the library to find a biography on a Renaissance queen I know it’s
a good book.
The Constant Princess tells the story of Katherine of Aragon
(obviously), the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Katherine has been betrothed to Prince Arthur
of England since she was a young girl.
All her life she knew that she was going to be the Princess of Wales and
then the Queen of England. When she
turns 16, she weds Arthur. After a few
months of misery and a loveless marriage, Katherine and Arthur fall in love and
have a happy marriage. That all comes to
a sudden end when Arthur gets sick and passes away. Katherine is left a Dowager Princess with no
heir to the throne. On Arthur’s
deathbed, Katherine promises Arthur to marry Henry, Arthur’s younger brother,
so that the dreams they had for the future of England can still come true. Katherine has to tell many lies in order for
the marriage with Henry to come to fruition. She even has to refuse Arthur’s
father’s advances and marriage proposal. Finally Katherine and Henry get
married, 7 years later, after Arthur and Henry’s father has passed away. Katherine and Henry also find happiness and
love in their marriage. Katherine gets
pregnant, and then miscarries. Doctors told her that she could still be
pregnant with a twin after the miscarriage because of how large she still is. The news that Katherine might still be
carrying a child brings great joy at a time of sadness for Katherine and Henry.
Katherine goes into confinement to keep herself and the possible baby safe from
any danger. When the expected delivery time comes and no baby is born,
Katherine and Henry suffer great sadness, especially since they have been apart
for so long with nothing to show for it. Henry feels shamed and Katherine feels
like Henry doesn’t love her anymore, or has at least found someone to replace
her in his heart. Katherine learns that
while she was in confinement Henry took a lover, Ann Boylen. She confronts Henry about it, who says it was
a moment of weakness, but he is all hers now.
Katherine gets pregnant again a few months later, and gives birth to a
little boy. Both Katherine and Henry are
ecstatic that they have given birth to an heir to the throne. Tragedy strikes
again when their son dies a few short days later. This is the beginning of the end for
Katherine and Henry. Eventually we learn
that Katherine gives birth to another child, a girl. Then we learn that Katherine is appearing in
court to testify as to whether her and Arthur had every consummated their
relationship. Henry is trying to
invalidate their marriage so that he can marry Ann Boylen. Katherine, who had
consummated her marriage with Arthur, but had lied about it for years,
continues the lie. The story ends with
Katherine vowing to do what she promised Arthur many years ago, no matter what
the cost.
Like I said, I didn’t know a bunch about Katherine and Henry
VIII, besides the fact that Henry had a bunch of wives. I found myself exploring Wikipedia to learn
more, and, like I said before, I even checked out a biography at the
library. I absolutely loved this book.
It was great read. The story progresses well and keeps you turning the page, wanting
to know more. While I knew the gist of
what was going to happen from my high school world history classes, the story
kept me guessing about the little details. I know the story isn’t entirely historically
accurate, but it was close enough for my liking. I’m excited to read Phillipa Gregory’s other
books about the Tudor Dynasty and all of Henry VIII’s wives.
I decided to pick up another Jodi Piccoult book for my next
read. I can normally read those pretty quickly, so you should be getting
another post relatively soon. And my goal is to get the book for this infamous
book club I joined forever ago and maybe attempt to read it before the meeting
on Saturday. We’ll see how that
goes. If the books are good I can read
both the Piccoult book and the book club book before Saturday. Fingers crossed!!!
Happy reading!
~Tara
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