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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
I enjoyed it like I do all her books... but did get a little confused with some of the character's family trees... Would rate this one and The Other Queen as my two least favorite of her books.. but then I think they were written in the same style and that might have something to do with it.
Quando lessi 'L'altra donna del re', i personaggi che più mi colpirono furono Anna Bolena e Caterina d'Aragona, ragion per cui ero curiosissima di leggere questo romanzo storico, che per ora è il mio preferito di Philippa Gregory.
Come nel precedente romanzo, di Catalina mi ha colpita la sua fedeltà ai suoi valori, ai suoi doveri e alle sue promesse, soprattutto quella fatta in punto di morte ad Arturo, la bugia sulla mancata consumazione del loro matrimonio - combinato che però diventa presto d'amore - che le permetterà di diventare la prima moglie del fratello Enrico VIII. Passano infatti sette anni prima che possa sposare Enrico, sette anni dove viene messa da parte sia dalla corte inglese sia dalla sua famiglia d'origine, ma nonostante tutto, Catalina non si arrende, e la sua resilienza viene ricompensata con la corona d'Inghilterra, mostrando di essere un'ottima regina, grazie anche alla maturazione di un pensiero critico che le permette di capire gli sbagli della madre Isabella di Castiglia e di mostrarsi addirittura migliore del modello che ha inseguito per tutta la vita.
Unica pecca forse è l'aver relegato all'epilogo la questione del divorzio con Enrico, ma per il resto leggete questo romanzo perché Caterina è un personaggio che merita di essere conosciuta!
Come nel precedente romanzo, di Catalina mi ha colpita la sua fedeltà ai suoi valori, ai suoi doveri e alle sue promesse, soprattutto quella fatta in punto di morte ad Arturo, la bugia sulla mancata consumazione del loro matrimonio - combinato che però diventa presto d'amore - che le permetterà di diventare la prima moglie del fratello Enrico VIII. Passano infatti sette anni prima che possa sposare Enrico, sette anni dove viene messa da parte sia dalla corte inglese sia dalla sua famiglia d'origine, ma nonostante tutto, Catalina non si arrende, e la sua resilienza viene ricompensata con la corona d'Inghilterra, mostrando di essere un'ottima regina, grazie anche alla maturazione di un pensiero critico che le permette di capire gli sbagli della madre Isabella di Castiglia e di mostrarsi addirittura migliore del modello che ha inseguito per tutta la vita.
Unica pecca forse è l'aver relegato all'epilogo la questione del divorzio con Enrico, ma per il resto leggete questo romanzo perché Caterina è un personaggio che merita di essere conosciuta!
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Catherine is so self righteous and haughty. I just didn't find her likeable. I felt sad for the losses of there children but that's it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Xenophobia
Moderate: Child death, Infertility, Mental illness, Violence, Islamophobia, War
Minor: Death of parent
3.5 stars, rounded up for GR.
Katherine of Aragon is my favourite queen of Henry VIII’s six wives, so I was very excited to read this book. There are not very many books (if any) that feature Katherine of Aragon as the main character. Actually, to my knowledge, this is the only one. Katherine is usually a secondary character in books having to do with the Tudors, never the main character, sadly. Plus, it’s by one of my favourite his-fic author, Philippa Gregory!
The Constant Princess is about Catalina, or Katherine, of Aragon. Daughter of the most feared monarchs in Europe at the time — Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Argon — Katherine has grown up her whole life immersed in warfare, as her parents wage holy war against the Moors and eventually take over Granada. This has made Katherine a battle hardened young lady, as well as very religious, believing that God has her family in especial favor.
Katherine has known her whole life she is to marry the English prince, Arthur, and become Queen of England one day. Finally, that day comes and she marries Prince Arthur. At first they don’t really get along, but over the next five months, a real love blossoms between them. They dream of when they become King and Queen of England and all the things they will do for the betterment of their country.
Unfortunately, tragedy strikes. Arthur dies of the sweating illness and Katherine is left a widow at the young age of 16. Due to various political factors, England doesn’t really want her anymore and neither does Spain, her home country, as she does not have the same worth as before. Mourning the loss of her husband, broken dreams and feeling unwanted, Katherine decides she simply must fulfill the destiny she has always known from childhood — to become Queen of England, somehow, some way.
The Constant Princess covers Katherine’s life from toddlerhood up to Katherine’s third pregnancy. The portrayal of Katherine is that of a very religious woman who truly believes she is living out God’s will and will do what she must in order to make it be true. It got quite repetitive to read Katherine saying that she is the Princess of Wales, that it is her destiny to be the Queen of England, over and over and over again. That was definitely kind of annoying. I feel like I read it every other page, it was just a bit too much.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, but I don’t know if I liked this portrayal of Katherine of Aragon. Katherine is one of my favourite English queens because I admire how she stayed true to being the Queen of England and would not admit, even when she was banished away and prohibited from seeing her daughter, that she was not the queen anymore. In this book, she certainly has that spirit, but I think due to the repetitiveness of her inner monologue, it came off more like stubbornness than an admirable trait. She also came off as a lot of manipulative and sneaky in this novel than I am used to (even compared to Katherine in other Gregory works)! I don’t know, maybe the real Katherine really was like this — no one will really ever know — but I suppose this Katherine was just too different from what I am used to. Naturally, this disagreement in portrayals is not a fault of the book, just that I expected something different from what I got.
I really enjoyed reading about her younger years though. So often the big focus on Katherine was her divorce/annulment from King Henry, where she is always played out to be the victim (which she totally was, in my opinion). I liked reading about her younger years in this book because it showed a strong, hard side to Katherine, a Katherine with a youthful fighting spirit, as opposed to the Katherine of later years, fighting a losing battle against the beauty and charm of Anne Boleyn (who I also like, actually). My favourite thing about Katherine is her battling the Scots in full armor herself, while pregnant (!!!) and I loved reading that scene in this book, I thought it was really well done.
So I feel a bit mixed about this book mainly due to the portrayal of Katherine. Some parts of her portrayal I thought were well done, other parts I felt iffy about. The actual plot itself was fairly interesting; it briefly covered her childhood in Spain, to her marriage with Arthur, her six or seven years as a widow and the early years of her marriage to Henry. Perhaps it is because I am already familiar with her life story, but I thought it could have been made more interesting. It was certainly enjoyable, but I hungered for more. I think the alternating between first person and third person didn’t sit well with me either.
The Constant Princess leaves you wanting a bit more than what you got, but I think it is a solid novel. I definitely appreciated reading this novel, and not just because it’s pretty much the only Katherine of Aragon novel out there.
Katherine of Aragon is my favourite queen of Henry VIII’s six wives, so I was very excited to read this book. There are not very many books (if any) that feature Katherine of Aragon as the main character. Actually, to my knowledge, this is the only one. Katherine is usually a secondary character in books having to do with the Tudors, never the main character, sadly. Plus, it’s by one of my favourite his-fic author, Philippa Gregory!
The Constant Princess is about Catalina, or Katherine, of Aragon. Daughter of the most feared monarchs in Europe at the time — Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Argon — Katherine has grown up her whole life immersed in warfare, as her parents wage holy war against the Moors and eventually take over Granada. This has made Katherine a battle hardened young lady, as well as very religious, believing that God has her family in especial favor.
Katherine has known her whole life she is to marry the English prince, Arthur, and become Queen of England one day. Finally, that day comes and she marries Prince Arthur. At first they don’t really get along, but over the next five months, a real love blossoms between them. They dream of when they become King and Queen of England and all the things they will do for the betterment of their country.
Unfortunately, tragedy strikes. Arthur dies of the sweating illness and Katherine is left a widow at the young age of 16. Due to various political factors, England doesn’t really want her anymore and neither does Spain, her home country, as she does not have the same worth as before. Mourning the loss of her husband, broken dreams and feeling unwanted, Katherine decides she simply must fulfill the destiny she has always known from childhood — to become Queen of England, somehow, some way.
The Constant Princess covers Katherine’s life from toddlerhood up to Katherine’s third pregnancy. The portrayal of Katherine is that of a very religious woman who truly believes she is living out God’s will and will do what she must in order to make it be true. It got quite repetitive to read Katherine saying that she is the Princess of Wales, that it is her destiny to be the Queen of England, over and over and over again. That was definitely kind of annoying. I feel like I read it every other page, it was just a bit too much.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, but I don’t know if I liked this portrayal of Katherine of Aragon. Katherine is one of my favourite English queens because I admire how she stayed true to being the Queen of England and would not admit, even when she was banished away and prohibited from seeing her daughter, that she was not the queen anymore. In this book, she certainly has that spirit, but I think due to the repetitiveness of her inner monologue, it came off more like stubbornness than an admirable trait. She also came off as a lot of manipulative and sneaky in this novel than I am used to (even compared to Katherine in other Gregory works)! I don’t know, maybe the real Katherine really was like this — no one will really ever know — but I suppose this Katherine was just too different from what I am used to. Naturally, this disagreement in portrayals is not a fault of the book, just that I expected something different from what I got.
I really enjoyed reading about her younger years though. So often the big focus on Katherine was her divorce/annulment from King Henry, where she is always played out to be the victim (which she totally was, in my opinion). I liked reading about her younger years in this book because it showed a strong, hard side to Katherine, a Katherine with a youthful fighting spirit, as opposed to the Katherine of later years, fighting a losing battle against the beauty and charm of Anne Boleyn (who I also like, actually). My favourite thing about Katherine is her battling the Scots in full armor herself, while pregnant (!!!) and I loved reading that scene in this book, I thought it was really well done.
So I feel a bit mixed about this book mainly due to the portrayal of Katherine. Some parts of her portrayal I thought were well done, other parts I felt iffy about. The actual plot itself was fairly interesting; it briefly covered her childhood in Spain, to her marriage with Arthur, her six or seven years as a widow and the early years of her marriage to Henry. Perhaps it is because I am already familiar with her life story, but I thought it could have been made more interesting. It was certainly enjoyable, but I hungered for more. I think the alternating between first person and third person didn’t sit well with me either.
The Constant Princess leaves you wanting a bit more than what you got, but I think it is a solid novel. I definitely appreciated reading this novel, and not just because it’s pretty much the only Katherine of Aragon novel out there.
This book straddles the historical fiction/romance line and I really enjoyed the historical fiction aspect. I am slowly and somewhat reluctantly coming to the conclusion that I don't like romance novels. Don't get me wrong, I love a good love story, but I tend to think that most modern romance novels have shallow characters. I tend to find myself annoyed at the characters, the things they say, and the situations they get in. I think, In order for me to really enjoy a love story, I need to be able to identify with at least one of the characters. Maybe my standards are too high, maybe not.
I did like the book, but I probably wouldn't re-read it. I do want to continue reading the series and I look forward to reading The Other Boleyn Girl.
I did like the book, but I probably wouldn't re-read it. I do want to continue reading the series and I look forward to reading The Other Boleyn Girl.
I started reading the ebook before switching to the audio book. Both are library loaners so I wasn't paying that much attention to specifics. I didn't realize the audio version was abridged until I started listening to it, but if I didn't know certain scenes were cut, I wouldn't miss them. The last book seemed to drag on and on forever (possibly because Henry VIII's story is told so much and you know what's coming next), so I decided I'm okay with this one being truncated.
Reason for switching: I borrowed a huge ebook volume containing several books in the series but didn't get very far into it before my loan was up. Rather than get back on the wait list, I went with the readily available audio book.
Final review: Nope. This dragged on and on and on, and it was even abridged! There's probably too much overlapping in the stories here, because the same story is told from different angles in at least three different books. It's so unnecessary.
Reason for switching: I borrowed a huge ebook volume containing several books in the series but didn't get very far into it before my loan was up. Rather than get back on the wait list, I went with the readily available audio book.
Final review: Nope. This dragged on and on and on, and it was even abridged! There's probably too much overlapping in the stories here, because the same story is told from different angles in at least three different books. It's so unnecessary.
Decent book, but my least favorite of Gregory. Parts were slow and I didn't care for the style of narration. The switching between voices was really irritating. It's hard to not find the story of Katherine of Aragon interesting. I think the History was what made the book, not Gregory's writing.
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Princess Diana would have loved you, Katherine of Aragon, Queen of England.
I normally like Phillipa Gregory but I found this boring (except for the bit about fighting the Scots) and, quite honestly, beyond believability. I’m all for historical fiction, and I know for people who lived so long ago in order to flesh out characters, there’s a heavy weight on the fiction part, but I don’t believe that Katharine of Aragon was this kind of strong. Yes, I think she was strong to a degree, but not the way portrayed in this book and it kept pulling me out on the narrative.