The Constant Princess
by Philippa Gregory
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Book Summary Information
Author: Philippa GregoryEdition: Paperback
Published: 2006-08-28
ISBN: 0743272498
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Touchstone
Book Reviews of The Constant Princess
Book Review: More Fantasy Than History
Summary: 2 Stars
I really wanted to like this book. When I saw it on the shelf and read its back cover, and I was very interested and immediately set about reading it. The idea of a romantic fiction story involving Queen Catherine and set against the backdrop of pre-Reformation England was quite intriguing. Further, I noticed that its end date was in 1529 (five years before the break between Henry VIII and Rome) so it promised to be free from the controversy surrounding the 1534 Act of Supremacy.
In many ways, the book delivered. Its characters were well-developed and the dialog well written. I especially savored the depiction of the final reconquista of Moorish Granada, despite the fact that Ms. Gregory seems unaware that Moslems do revere Jesus and Mary (although they do not respectively acknowledge them as Son of God and Mother of God), and therefore would in all likelihood not knowingly have defiled an Ave Maria prayer in the manner depicted in the first chapter of the book (Granada, 1491).
Unfortunately, this book proved very problematic from that point onward. As the sincerely devout daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel (the Catholic) - under whose rule Catholic Spain completed its 800-year fight for liberation from the Moors - the Infanta would not have been prone to the repeatedly expressed sense of hyper-predestination that Ms. Gregory's writing ascribes to her. As a result, this stands out as a major anachronism pasted onto someone who in reality would have been unable to conceive of such a doctrinal innovation so completely at odds with the Catholic and Apostolic Faith.
Similarly, Ms. Gregory's hamfisted attempt near the end of the book to put the concept of peaceful coexistence between Christians and Moslems into the mind of Queen Catherine is just plain risible. Unlike our era, the 16th Century world believed in doctrinal and objective truth, and so this type of secular Enlightenment mindset is as blatantly out of place in Imperial Spain and Tudor England as atomic warfare. (This, I would assume, is an example of the author simply projecting her own ideology into the past.) Nor, I suspect, would the Infanta have harbored much in the way of positive inclinations toward the Moorish culture that enslaved her people from 711 to 1492, for that matter.
But the biggest sin that this book commits against the historical record (as an earlier reviewer correctly noted) is its unambiguous depiction of the consummation of the marriage between Prince Arthur and Princess Catherine. This is not some minor detail; it is **the** linchpin of what would become the single biggest issue in separating the English realm from loyalty to the Bishop of Rome.
If I am to believe the premise of this book, then I am to assume (against prevaling moral and legal customs, all of recorded history, and evidence to the contrary) that Catherine made an illict vow with her dying husband Prince Arthur in 1502 to effectively deny their marriage, and then lied to her confessor for over 30 years (and to the womanizing Henry VIII, who would have clearly discovered the real truth on their wedding night) - and then, come 1534, when merely admitting this truth would have guaranteed Catherine an annulment from Henry and spared England and Rome the chaos of the Reformation (not to mention smoothed relations between England and the powerful German Empire, led by Catherine's nephew Kaiser Charles V at that time), she still chose to cling to falsehood - even to her deathbed, when she could have reconciled herself to God by freely renouncing such errors, although the book doesn't go far enough for us to find out.
Please, Ms. Gregory, considering the well-known disparity between the personal lives and moral conduct of Catherine compared to those of Henry VIII, this strains all credulity. There used to be a time when maligning a woman's character in such ways were fighting words. I recognize that this is a work of fiction, but historical accuracy is still supposed to count for something. Even in her grave, the saintly Queen Catherine of Aragon deserves better than such shabby treatment.
One unfortunately comes away from this book with a sense that Ms. Gregory is projecting her own 21st Century beliefs onto 16th Century characters and settings that cannot possibly support them. This is a well-written, stylized work, but please do not look to it for historical truth or accuracy, because those things are absent within its pages.
Summary of The Constant Princess
Thus, bestselling author Philippa Gregory introduces one of her most unforgettable heroines: Katherine of Aragon. Known to history as the Queen who was pushed off her throne by Anne Boleyn, here is a Katherine the world has forgotten: the enchanting princess that all England loved. First married to Henry VIII's older brother, Arthur, Katherine's passion turns their arranged marriage into a love match; but when Arthur dies, the merciless English court and her ambitious parents -- the crusading King and Queen of Spain -- have to find a new role for the widow. Ultimately, it is Katherine herself who takes control of her own life by telling the most audacious lie in English history, leading her to the very pinnacle of power in England.
Set in the rich beauty of Moorish Spain and the glamour of the Tudor court, The Constant Princess presents a woman whose constancy helps her endure betrayal, poverty, and despair, until the inevitable moment when she steps into the role she has prepared for all her life: Henry VIII's Queen, Regent, and commander of the English army in their greatest victory against Scotland.
"I am Catalina, Princess of Spain, daughter of the two greatest monarchs the world has ever known...and I will be Queen of England.""
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