Running out of TV shows and movies to stream? The Purbalite is here to help, with another installment of our What to Binge Watch feature.
The Spanish Princess is a drama that provides a new and fresh perspective on the Tudor era and what Catherine of Aragon’s life might have been like.
The show first aired in 2019 and there are two seasons and can be watched on Prime Video. The first season covers her life with her first husband, Arthur, Prince of Wales, before he passed away due to illness.
She marries him at the age of 15 and they are only married for five months before he dies. After Arthur dies, Catherine sees an opportunity to keep her position as Princess of Wales and future queen by marrying his brother, Henry.
The second season focuses more on Catherine and Henry’s relationship and their struggle to produce an heir.
Nobody thought Henry would become the king because he was originally second in line for the throne. It was always assumed that his brother would succeed to the throne, so the royals never educated Henry about how to rule, which leads to issues later in the series.
The pair have many children but only Mary I, her last child survives into adulthood. Catherine also gives birth to a son named Henry Duke of Cornwall, but he dies just 52 days after he was born.
With a couple unable to produce a male heir, Henry becomes cold, distant, and unfaithful toward Catherine.
The show has small details that may not be entirely accurate because the show would not be as interesting without exaggeration, but that does not make it a bad series. The show conveys Catherine’s side of the story because a lot of people only know Henry’s side of the story and how she failed to produce a male heir.
The series shows raw emotion, and Charlotte Hope, who plays Catherine, does an excellent job of portraying just how hard having a miscarriage and losing a child is. She also gives an interesting insight into how hard life was for women in the Tudor era.
