The Constant Princess (Boleyn)
by Philippa Gregory
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Book Reviews of The Constant Princess (Boleyn)
Book Review: Amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was truly amazing! Philippa Gregory wove a beautifully romantic tale, and I found it hard to put this book down. The story starts at the Fall of Granada, and then skips over to Katherine of Aragon's meeting with Prince Arthur of Wales. Gregory breathes life into the characters---you can actually understand them and their personality. You really get inside the head of Catalina de Aragon, sensing her problems, her worry, her ambition and every other part of her life. Most breathtaking of all was Arthur Tudor, the heir who never got his throne, seeing his passion and duty to become King, his love for Catalina, his attitude and his brief life. Anyway, after a few fights, that Gregory probably created to cause drama, they luckily fall in love. Each night spent together they learn more about each other, especially Catalina's background and childhood coming to life with her stories and songs. Gregory brought vivacity and wonder to Catalina's childhood---the beauties of Moorish Spain, her relationships with her parents and siblings, and mostly the gorgeous Alhambra Palace, and it makes historical fans wanting to learn more about the Inquistion and other Iberian history. Both become extremely infatuated with each other, and then, of course, comes the question of consummation. Was their marriage consummated or not? Some historians say no, while others nod their heads, and Philippa Gregory was amongst those nodding their heads. Since it states in the Bible that if a man take his brother's wife the union would be childless, people find it hard to imagine how stubborn, devout and saintly Katherine consummated her marriage and then lied about it. And that's exactly what Gregory does in her story---she makes Catalina deny the fact that she and Arthur became lovers after his death. Even though I agree with others that Gregory should have mentioned that this may not have exactly happened (for the sake of first-timers) she does it gracefully, making Catalina promise Arthur that she would become Queen. Others are suggesting Norah Lofts's "The Kings' Pleasure" and having read "Patience, Princess Catherine" by Carolyn Meyer (which states that her and Arthur's marriage was unconsummated) and, of course, there is the so-called Jean Plaidy's "Katharine, the Virgin Widow" whose simple title says it all. Gregory dared to be different, and that is what I like about her. Something I disliked about her novel, however, was how she emphasized Henry VII's consideration of marrying her. Greogry actually made Catalina's father-in-law desire the princess. Though Gregory doesn't pay utter attention to Catalina's years in penury, she gives you a brief summary that makes you pity the Dowager Princess. And then she finally gets on to the exciting part: marrying King Henry VIII and becoming his regent. Gregory smoothly transitions between Princess to Queen for Catalina, who is now Katherine. Katherine appears a bit too deceptive this time, especially when scheming with her father, but she is corageous and strong-willed. What I like most about this novel is that Gregory revealed the real proud and slightly haughty Queen concealed under that submissive face that has been fooling most of us for so long. Immensely popular among the people, Katherine is made Queen Regent while Henry is campagining in France, and she wins the Battle of Flodden, truly her mother's daughter indeed. But what is most tragic is losing her babies, and I have to say I found myself very saddened by this. I was thoroughly disappointed when Gregory skipped over to Blackfriar's Hall, to the King's Great Matter. I wanted to see her later life, even though Gregory repeatedly has said she covered that in "The Other Boleyn Girl". Alas, not only was this novel amazing, but it was powerful. Muslims were a major part of Spain, and thus, a major part of Catalina's childhood. Gregory sends a powerful message through the book about racism, and shows that Muslims are not evil people who do honor killings and are radicalists (Isabella actually seemed to be that) etc. but smart, clever people who are now, currently, broken because of all of this war. Near the end of the book Catalina says that now after what her parents have done to Moorish Spain and Muslims, that the future generations will have to face the 'Jihad'. Jihad is an Islamic word which means Muslims fighting for their rights and religion. They are fighting, aren't they? And doesn't our whole world seem to be torn up and broken? As a reader, a writer, and a Muslim, I applaud you Ms. Gregory.Book Review: The Constant Problem of Being Married to Henry
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the fictionalized story of Catalina, the first wife of Henry the VIII, and the one he was wedded to the longest, unless you buy that the marriage was fairly annulled.
The thing with historical fiction is that you have to read it with acceptance that a writer will make up or fill in that which she cannot know, railing against a writer for doing this when the book is labeled historical fiction is silly.
What we do now about Catalina is that she was the daughter of two strong rulers -- Ferdinand and Isabella. The royal upbringing taught her how to endure with dignity and the royal blood probably saved her life. History shows her to be a woman who again and again patiently accepted adversity and indignities for her belief that she was the rightful Queen of England. The book embellishes this trait, but the truth of it is well-represented in the history books.
Catalina came for a warm, sunny palace into a cold rainy land filled with strangers. She was widowed early, having married Henry's older brother, and then spent years in limbo while her father-in-law tried to see if she could do better than her for the spare who was now the heir. She was reduced to tatters, couldn't pay her staff, and had to sell her valuables, but she waited. And she did this when she was still a child, really.
Decades later her husband sought to deny their marriage, to have it annulled. He kept her daughter from her. She stripped her of her title, only allowing her the title of Dowager Princess due her for being his brother's widow. In seeking to take away her dignity he lost his own.
This is the historical truth and it's fascinating, but these facts alone don't make a novel, they don't honor the fact that this woman lived. What the book does is imagine what the flesh and blood woman would have been like, where did she get her resolve? Did she love Henry? Did she love his brother, Arthur? Did she ever doubt? Did she ever want to waiver? She'd denied her first marriage was consummated and Henry was eager to believe it until he wanted her gone. What the author does is give one theory on her first marriage that there would be no way to verify...
But that's okay.
It doesn't matter if Gregory is right, and it's doubtful that she was exactly right, because that ceases to be the point. We don't know and will never know what Catalina did or felt, but what Gregory reminds us is that she lived, and that she felt love for her countries -- Spain and England -- and that she was cast aside for no other reason than she hit menopause before producing a male heir for a man who'd become a petulant child. And that she deserved better than that, but that she knew that.
I like the historical woman and I liked the fictional version I met in the book, and I don't need to think that Gregory got her exactly right, because writing this genre seems pretty thankless. I can enjoy both the framework of history, as well as the made-up story.
The journey of the fictional woman was from a place of a well-indoctrinated child with many admirable qualities, but also the prejudices of her parent, to a place where she can question her past beliefs. There is no indication this is factually true, but was believable and interesting in the context of fiction.
When history buffs get angry at fictional elements in a book clearly marked as such, when they get wild-eyed because a writer doesn't support their pet theory, they harm the memory of the historical character more than help that memory, because they don't allow the person a chance to live again. They also insult the reader by saying they can't comprehend the difference between the truth and the make-believe parts. I'm sure there are confused people, aren't there always?
I recommend this story for history buffs, for people who enjoy women's fiction, and for those people who can handle both in one book.
Book Review: Boring narrative and questionable history. Not recommended.
Summary: 1 Stars
I've recently developed an interest in the Tudors and King Henry VIII. This was a dynasty that changed Europe forever. I've been watching the TV series and absolutely loved the novel "The Other Boleyn Girl" by this author. Naturally, I've also been doing my own research on the internet and trying to figure out the truth among all these fictionalized versions. That said, I'm still interested in reading the novels. I like a good story line and a well-paced tale. In the few versions of the story I've encountered, Katherine of Aragon was already a mature woman who King Henry VIII divorced and changed the history of Europe forever. I was drawn to this book because I wanted to learn something about Katherine's earlier history.
Katherine was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. This was the couple who funded Columbus's expedition to the new world. They also were the couple who brought Christianity to Spain, expelled the Moors and created the inquisition. Spain was on the rise at that time and Katherine was betrothed to Henry's older brother when she was only three years old. As a teenager she was sent to England. It was a shock to her. The English climate was cold and damp and she missed the gardens and the warmth and the baths of Spain. Her wedding to Arthur was all pomp and ceremony and the couple was married for a few months before he died. The history books do not record the nature of their relationship, but in this novel, the couple had a hot romance.
After Arthur died however, Katherine was treated badly. For seven years or so, she lived in limbo. As her dowry wasn't fully paid, she wasn't given living expenses and she was not accepted at Court. However, when Arthur's younger brother Henry was about 18 and she was about 24 they were married, after the Church gave them a special dispensation. According to the novel, Katherine led a battle against the Scots while he was away in France. According to the internet, this battle occurred but it is credited to someone else. This part of the novel disturbed me because I am sure that if an English woman had ever led a battle, this is a part of history that would have been applauded by ever feminist group in the world. It's a good story, but true fiction. We do know though that Katherine bore six children. With the exception of her daughter Mary, all the others were stillborn or died shortly after birth. Later, Henry fell in love with Anne Boleyn, divorced Katherine and separated England from the Catholic Church. This novel doesn't get into all those details. It basically applauds Katherine's life in her early twenties and summarizes the rest in a couple of pages.
I found "The Constant Princess" hard to read because it seemed to add parts of history that never existed in real life. Surely, there were enough real experiences to base the novel on without going into conjecture. It also moved slower because much of it is about Katherine's feelings and there are pages and pages and pages of her thoughts about what was going on around her with very little action. So, unlike "The Other Boleyn Girl" which I read in one fell swoop and couldn't put down, "The Constant Princess" was a struggle to get though.
Book Review: disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
As a fan of Philippa Gregory's other books about the Tudor households, I was delighted to discover this one, which I hadn't heard about, and it seemed that Queen Katherine of Aragon was a completely fitting subject for the type of work Ms. Gregory has produced so far.
Unfortunately, this one is out of balance, in my opinion. There is far too much time spent of Katherine (Catalina's) early childhood, too much time spent on making sure the readers understand how her parents shaped her. It's a case of, "Alright, I got that several pages ago, let's move along."
WARNING: The following may be considered "spoilers", particularly for those unfamiliar with the events that unfolded around that era of the Tudor reign.
The best parts of the book are the way the relationship between Catalina and Arthur is fleshed out, particularly since Gregory presents a version of it quite different from that which has gone down in history (but which was soon, and then often, questioned), and the deft political and personal maneuvers that lead Catalina to become Queen by marrying Arthur's younger brother, with no foreshadowing at all of how this would be her ultimate undoing.
After that, however, Gregory seems to have gotten into a hurry to finish the book, which goes from sometimes excruciated history detail to moving forward in leaps and bounds. At the end of the book, she jumps from the first suggestion of Anne Boleyn as competitor for the throne, at the end of one chapter, to Katherine being called in to court and, a few hundred words later, the book ends.
This was my biggest disappointment: I had looked forward to reading about Katherine's life AFTER she was thrown over. Gregory excels at bringing life to uncertain aspects of a time in history; she did so at the beginning of this book (too much) and again in the time of Catalina's and Arthur's brief marriage, and it is just too bad that she abandoned the events where she did.
It would have been fascinating to consider Katherine perceptions of events after Anne Boleyn, especially since Gregory makes frequent (sometimes excessive) use of a device in which the story is interrupted with Catalina/Katherine's thoughts on it.
I wish Gregory had devoted less energy to what felt like a Michener-esque display of the historical research she had done by over-describing things and having her characters wax inappropriately eloquent about details, and had instead spent that time and effort on telling the story.
The worst thing I can say about a book is that I never finished it. I did finish this book, but I was skimming, not really reading, the last 20% or so, just in a hurry to get to the end, mostly to see what Gregory left in and what she left out or stopped short of. I don't normally write reviews of books I don't finish, but since I did technically finish this one, disappointments and all, I gave it two stars.
I still look forward to the possibility that Gregory will write another book about the Tudor reign. She's a prolific author on this subject and others, and not every book is going to be a jewel.
Book Review: Pleasant Reading ...
Summary: 3 Stars
If you are like me ~~ a historical fiction fan ~~ you'll pick this book up and snuggle down on the couch for a cozy reading. I can guarantee that this is a cozy reading and you'll finish the book in a short time ~~ but it is not the best historical fiction I've picked up. After reading Jean Plaidy's books, I am hard pressed to even compare Gregory in the same genre ~~ while riveting, the writing style is just not the same. You also get the feeling she is taking great liberties with historical facts. Plus, in this one, Katherine (whom I have always wanted to know more about) is just not all that winning of a character.
Katherine or Catalina is an Infanta of Spain. She is the daughter of two of Spain's most notorious rulers (I am not going to say that they are the greatest because they did a lot of harm to a lot of people of different faiths). From birth, she was betrothed to marry Arthur, the prince of England and the future king. That alone gave her an inflated sense of self-worth. She comes to England as a spoiled young child and eventually falls in love with her husband. Tragically, he died. But on his deathbed, she promised to fulfill his wishes for an united England. She goes on to marry Henry after waiting seven long years of poverty and unwanted by either her parents and by Henry the Seventh, whom she spurned his marriage proposal. Then it goes on to where she conquers Scotland while Henry was fighting in France. That's it. Gregory skipped entirely the Boleyn affair, Mary's birth and all those details that I would love to read more in depth (especially since I am a fan of the new Showtime series, "The Tudors").
While it is entertaining, there are some things that did drive me nuts as a reader. One thing, Katherine keeps repeating to herself that she's born to be a queen. Ok, I get that, and understand that, but come on, after fifteen times of saying that, I really get it and that alone starts to turn me off of the character. (I was like, NO WONDER Henry went after other women!) I do agree with the author's assessment that Henry is a spoiled young boy who hasn't been tried by war or treasonous friends or whatever. But eventually, he does become to be a ruler in his own right and a very dangerous one at that.
The constant reference to being God's chosen people and following God's will ~~ it is annoying but that is how people think back then and still do. Katherine took it to a new art. I found her first miscarriage very interesting, her love affair with Arthur very sweet and tragic ~~ and her subsquent marriage to Henry interesting. It is a very interesting novel to read ~~ as long as you keep in mind that it is fiction and it is entertaining. It is not as good as "The Queen's Fool" or "The Other Boleyn Girl" ~~ those two novels I just loved. But it is entertaining and written well ~~ definitely better written than "The Queen's Lover" ~~ which is my least favorite of the Tudor series.
So go ahead and snuggle on the couch and read ~~ you will be carried back into time where danger and intrigue are the way of life. That I can guarantee you of.
8-15-07