The Constant Princess

The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory, set in 1491, follows the story of Catalina, later to be known by the world as Katherine. She has spent her entire childhood following her parents on various crusades, traveling, and on the battlefield. Her parents are fighting for Christianity, a cause that makes them participants in many wars. As a young girl, Catalina is not yet aware of the profound impact these events will have on her future, and how her unique upbringing will prepare her to fill the greatest role of her life, as the Queen of England.

Catalina’s fate is laid out before her, and by three years old she is already promised to be the bride of Arthur, the Prince of Wales and the son of the King of England. When she first meets Arthur, she is initially smitten with his good looks, but upon further inspection, she finds there is not much more about him that is interesting. On the way to Ludlow, Arthur’s poor attitude upsets Catalina so much that she begins to cry. Seeing her in this way has a moving effect on Arthur, so much so, he is surprised by the swell of emotion inside himself. He promises from that day on to never upset her again and to always be by her side to protect her.

From that moment forward, Catalina develops a softness for Arthur and the two begin a friendship that evolves into romance. However, their excitement is hampered by the conventions the royal family is beholden to, and they are restricted from seeing each other more than four nights out of the month. Arthur gets around this by sneaking into Catalina’s room at night, and together they conspire about their future reign as the King and Queen of England. They seem a perfect match as they have many similar ideas that they would like to implement together.

A little while later, Arthur becomes deathly ill. Catalina is distraught that her future king is dying, but on his deathbed, Arthur makes Catalina promise that she will still take her rightful place on the throne, with or without him. He tells her to let everyone know that they never consummated their marriage, and therefore, Catalina could be married to someone else, namely Arthur’s younger brother Harry.

Harry is a self-involved eleven-year-old, a child by all accounts who has the weight of the throne suddenly thrust upon his shoulders. Now that he is heir to the throne, everyone is bending over backward to accommodate him, and he is watched over and pampered like never before. He likes his new status with all of its perks, including the promise of Catalina’s hand in marriage. He is enamored with her, and she starts to concoct a plan to make their marriage a reality.

Arthur’s mother dies while giving birth to another child, and Arthur’s father, King Henry, approaches Catalina, making it known that he intends to marry her. Catalina is wary of this arrangement, as she realizes it would be very unlikely that any son of hers with Henry would be heir to the throne, as Harry would supersede him. She refuses his proposal, determined to hold out for a marriage that would see her son take the throne of England.

She makes it known that she intends to marry Harry, whose father approves of the union although he never intends to see the marriage become a reality. A few years later, when Harry’s father passes away, Harry and Catalina quickly arrange their wedding. On their wedding night, Harry is unsure as to whether Catalina is actually a virgin, but he decides not to press the issue. The two are crowned King Henry and Queen Katherine.

While Henry remains self-centered and impulsive, even in his role as king, Katherine quickly overtakes his ruling and keeps the order in the court and her kingdom. They struggle to have children together, Katherine giving birth to a stillborn baby girl and a little boy who is alive for only a few days. Henry begins an affair with another woman who claims she is a true virgin. He says that his marriage to Katherine is not valid because she was not a virgin when he married her. Katherine steps in and, manipulating the situation to her advantage, regains the devotion of her husband.

Katherine goes on to form an alliance between England and Spain, where her father comes from, to unite against their common enemy, France. Henry goes off to the battlefields and Katherine leads a battle to defend England from Scotland. She then makes her own pilgrimage to a particular shrine to give thanks for the fact that she is, once again, pregnant.

At the end of the book, Katherine is portrayed as a triumphant queen, having successfully defended her people against invasion, participated in battle, and tamed the young prince, turning him into her king, just as she had promised Arthur she would.