Tudor Court (1) - The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory – Part one of the Tudor Court Series (in German die ewige Prinzessin, in French not published yet). I read it in English where it contained 490 pages and was published in 2006. Age 17 following.
Catalina, the Infanta of Spain, was raised to be Princess of Wales. Now the time has come: She has to leave her family for her fate. Unfortunately, her fate is a feeble, disrespectful boy and his vulgar father. As time goes by, Catalina learns to love her husband, and his idea of the England they could make together. But making this will be so hard... When Arthur Tudor dies, Catalina is left alone. How can she live without him? How can she fulfil the deathbed promise she made?
W.O.W. Seriously. Okay, first of all to what I did not like – because this is shorter. The story can not be connected to the Cousins' War series. The dialogues and characterisations differ far too much.
Now to what I like:
First point: Isabella. What. The. Fuck. Sorry for the choice of words. That woman is the most fascinating character of all and had a huge influence on Catalina – not surprising, since she was her mother.
Spoiler:
In the first chapter or so we get to know her, how she raised her children, mostly Catalina, in a camp before Granada. She left her youngest, five year old daughter in a burning camp of tents in order to lead her troops in battle. When she came back, she let the soldiers build a camp of stone. She knelt with all her daughters on top of a building under which the armies of the Moors and Spain clashed, one of her beloved children tried to jump from the roof and she didn't even stand up. Isabella is a woman made of stone, with a determination that is really, really impressive. She was the best Queen militant of that time to show her husband that she loved him, Ferdinand became one of the best generals to be her equal. I wonder what they could have done, if they had chosen a better course for their country and for Europe. They are hard, actually even bad persons, but I have to admire their strength, courage and determination.
As for Catalina: I'm not at all surprised that she is determined, knows what she wants and how to get it. But I'm glad that what she wants is good for the country she rules. I wonder what would have happened if Arthur was not replaced by Henry.
By the way: Arthur is a really, really nice person. He's petty at first, but once he realises that he hurt Catalina, he's so sweet.
As for his brother: Oh. My. God. Seriously, that boy's so spoiled... I wonder if he would have been different in the end, if Catalina had formed him more.
His father sucks. I know, I've said it before. But he does.
Another thing that's interesting is how the timeline of this book was chosen. In The King's Curse (Der Königsfluch) you see some parts of the story, but mostly the ending. Here you see how she actually reaches what she wants: How she manages to fulfil nearly everything she and Arthur had planned, and all without her husband. It's really, very well done. I like Catalina. And the epilogue is very well done – even though, unfortunately, it doesn't work out for her.
The story is tense. I like the point-of-view thing she does: First an all-knowing narrator, than the insight of Catalina in retrospective. Very interesting, and nicely done.
In brief:
I give stars for the ideas, the style and characters. Plus one for the timeline and the point-of-view, minus one for the content – because it doesn't fit to the Cousins' Wars.
Sequel:
(Three Sisters, Three Queens)