Giles Tremlett - Catherine of Aragon

review by Maggie Perkovich on show 11th August 2011
IN 1501 A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD PRINCESS FROM
SPAIN RODE OUT ON THE JOURNEY TO DISTANT
ENGLAND TO MARRY PRINCE ARTHUR, HEIR TO THE
ENGLISH THRONE, AND HOPEFULLY TO BEAR MANY
SONS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE ENGLISH THRONE.
SADLY, ARTHUR DIED ONLY 6 MONTHS LATER AND
SHE LIVED IN PENURY UNTIL HENRY VIII CAME TO
THE
THRONE AND DECIDED TO MARRY HERAND MAKE
HER HIS QUEEN.
SO FAR SO GOOD, BUT OVER 20 YEARS LATER
AFTER LOSING MANY BABIES AT BIRTH OR SOON
AFTER, SHE WAS NO LONGER WANTED BY HER
HUSBAND, AS HE HAD FALLEN FOR ANNE BOLEYN,
AND DECIDED TO GET RID OF HER BY STATING
THAT THEIR MARRIAGE WAS ILLEGAL, AS SHE HAD
BEEN HIS FORMER SISTER IN LAW, AND DESPITE
THE CRUELTIES WHICH SHE FACED FROM HENRY,
CATHERINE STOOD FIRM ON THE FACT THAT SHE
WAS HIS QUEEN, AND THAT HER ONE LIVING CHILD
A GIRL WAS THE TRUE HEIR.
THIS BOOK IS A WELL WRITTEN AND ENGROSSING
STORY OF HER PREVIOUS LIFE WITH HER FAMOUS
PARENTS ISABELLA AND FERDINAND AND HER
LATER STRUGGLES WITH HENRY.
SHE COMES OVER AS A BRAVE AND FEISTY
WOMAN,
STUBBORN TO THE END DESPITE BEING
SEPARATED FROM HER BELOVED DAUGHTER AND
HOUSED IN THE MOST WRETCHED DWELLINGS SHE
STOOD FIRM IN HER BELIEFS AS A CATHOLIC AND
HER BELIEF IN THE SANCTITY OF HER MARRIAGE.
HER DEATH ENDED A TUMULTOUS LIFE, AND
TOUCHINGLY HER LAST LETTER TO HENRY IN WHICH SHE SAID ABOVE ALL HER EYES LONGED TO SEE HIM PROVED THAT SHE LOVED HIM TO THE END.
I LOVED IT AND FOUND IT A CRACKING READ