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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
I normally love her books but this one just ended so suddenly. They really missed out on telling more of her life.
Hello there, historical liberties! I'm all for the fiction in historical fiction, but this was a little more than I could believe. I won't argue if Katherine's and Arthur's marriage was consummated, but I highly doubt that Katherine ever truly loved the sickly boy in the 4 months before he died. "Oh, Arthur, my one true love! All I do I do for you!" (I'm paraphrasing, but this was basically the book). It's not believable. Sorry, I don't buy it.
I also hated how towards the end, Gregory just starts time jumping, skipping important events. I know Tudor history, but someone less familiar with the time period would have been very confused with the way the book ended, going from victory in battle before the birth of Princess Mary to the Annulment Proceedings between Henry and Katherine.
What I hated most was that this book put Katherine in the wrong. Henry technically had the right to ask for his divorce. I've always believed that Katherine was the true queen and totally got screwed over, but I felt less compassion for Katherine while reading this novel.
I also hated how towards the end, Gregory just starts time jumping, skipping important events. I know Tudor history, but someone less familiar with the time period would have been very confused with the way the book ended, going from victory in battle before the birth of Princess Mary to the Annulment Proceedings between Henry and Katherine.
What I hated most was that this book put Katherine in the wrong. Henry technically had the right to ask for his divorce. I've always believed that Katherine was the true queen and totally got screwed over, but I felt less compassion for Katherine while reading this novel.
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Constant Princess tells the story of Catalina, Infanta of Spain and Princess of Wales. Betrothed at the age of 3 to Prince Arthur she finds England a surprise in relation to its customs, beliefs and behaviours. After a troublesome start the pair eventually settle into a romantic relationship, enjoying their time together planning how they will rule England when they become King and Queen. However that future is not to happen as Arthur dies suddenly in the early months of their marriage. Making a deathbed promise to Arthur, Catalina does everything in her power to secure her position as Katherine of Aragon, Queen of England even if it means marrying the foolish and immature second son Henry VIII.
This story is wonderfully told, with such detail that you feel a part of the Court. I cried at the death of Arthur and went through a whole range of emotions with the development of Catalina. However, I was most disappointed by the last few chapters of this book. Having gone from such a detailed manner of storytelling to the sudden 'simple' ending did not seem in keeping with the book. A little more detail from the defeat of the Scots to Katherine's trial would have made the ending more in keeping with the style and more enjoyable, in my opinion. Although it was still an excellent read.
This story is wonderfully told, with such detail that you feel a part of the Court. I cried at the death of Arthur and went through a whole range of emotions with the development of Catalina. However, I was most disappointed by the last few chapters of this book. Having gone from such a detailed manner of storytelling to the sudden 'simple' ending did not seem in keeping with the book. A little more detail from the defeat of the Scots to Katherine's trial would have made the ending more in keeping with the style and more enjoyable, in my opinion. Although it was still an excellent read.
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If even a quarter of the history in this book is accurate, Catherine of Aragon is one badass bitch. She seriously makes me want to turn my uterus into the female police. What a strong woman! Great book.
emotional
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this book. I've always loved reading historical fiction, and I had heard so much about Philippa Gregory's work. I loved Katherine of Aragon's character in this book, though there were times where I wish she wasn't so stubborn and naive. But, as the book continued and I grew to love her character, I have to say, she probably went through the biggest character growth I've ever seen in a book.
But I really loved reading a book set in the Tudor dynasty, and I hope to read more of her books in the future.
But I really loved reading a book set in the Tudor dynasty, and I hope to read more of her books in the future.
This was a re-read for me. I have read all of the Tudor Court series before and chose to revisit Katherine of Aaragon. Having paid particular attention to some of the other reviews of this book I have to say I find some of them a little harsh. From a factual point of view, Gregory handles the historical aspects pretty well. Katherine of Aaragon was born Catalina - Infanta of Spain, daughter of Isabella of Spain, the warrior Queen, and Ferdinand of Aaragon, who at the time were two of the worlds most revered and powerful rulers. Betrothed to Prince Arthur at birth, she spent her life being groomed to be Princess of Wales and future Queen of England. Her mother raised her a fighter and worker, and instilled in her a belief that she was in God's favour. This in itself made her arrogant and headstrong. It is only when she experiences the first of the many tragedies that plagued her life, we begin to see the humble, unsure, frightened young girl, abandoned by her parents and held captive in a foreign land with few true friends.
Gregory portrays her sensitively throughout, and the book proves to be very well researched, allowing the reader to build a relationship with Katherine, and truly see the Tudor Court through her eyes. Yes, there is sexual content, but the Tudors thrived on sex and violence. The blossoming relationship between Katherine and Arthur, amidst the disdain of the Kings Mother and the confines of Tudor Law is beautifully handled, and the tragedies that ultimately led to Katherine's ill-fated marriage to Henry are handled with sensitivity and decorum. Katherine's steel wit and intelligence are portrayed well as she embarks on her life as Queen of England and endeavours to hold fast the promises she made to Arthur, who was her first and only true love, and build a great and strong empire in the Tudor name. Infact, in the very early years of Henry's reign, it was Katherine, not he, who led England to victory in the war against the Scots.
As far as historical fiction goes, Gregory, for me is one of the greats, and this series will remain a firm favourite. The Constant Princess is a well researched, well written account of the life and reign of one of Englands most beloved Queens - lies and all!
Gregory portrays her sensitively throughout, and the book proves to be very well researched, allowing the reader to build a relationship with Katherine, and truly see the Tudor Court through her eyes. Yes, there is sexual content, but the Tudors thrived on sex and violence. The blossoming relationship between Katherine and Arthur, amidst the disdain of the Kings Mother and the confines of Tudor Law is beautifully handled, and the tragedies that ultimately led to Katherine's ill-fated marriage to Henry are handled with sensitivity and decorum. Katherine's steel wit and intelligence are portrayed well as she embarks on her life as Queen of England and endeavours to hold fast the promises she made to Arthur, who was her first and only true love, and build a great and strong empire in the Tudor name. Infact, in the very early years of Henry's reign, it was Katherine, not he, who led England to victory in the war against the Scots.
As far as historical fiction goes, Gregory, for me is one of the greats, and this series will remain a firm favourite. The Constant Princess is a well researched, well written account of the life and reign of one of Englands most beloved Queens - lies and all!
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.
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this book, as a Tudor history lover it was the perfect mixture between fact and fiction. I loved how it explored Catherine of Aragon in depth and more her life before Henry which is where everyone normally focuses.
Her strength and courage is portrayed so well and I loved her relationship with Arthur being delved into deeper. I learned a lot about 16th century foreign policy as well without it being in a normal non fiction format.
It is written in a mixture of first and third person which took a while to get used to but works well.
I wanted to rate this book higher but for me it is too long and I had to put it down and pick it up a couple of times. I think it could have been split as her story with Arthur and her story with Henry in separate books.
Still a good one to read if you love Tudor history. Going to carry on with the series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage