Katharine of Aragon --a proud Spanish beauty who became Queen of England From the moment of Katharine's betrothal to Arthur, Prince of Wales, she looked upon herself as the future Queen of England. But Arthur died just after their marriage and it was as the wife of his brother, Henry VIII, that she went to her Coronation.
This delightful, richly tapestried novel tells of her life with Henry--the many happy years; the birth of their daughter, Mary Tudor; her popularity with the people and, above all, her constant and unswerving love for the King. But after nearly twenty years, Henry--his eyes affixed firmly on the ambitious young Anne Boleyn-repudiated their marriage, submitted Katharine to the humiliations of a 'trial' and banished her from his life.
The King's Pleasure is a brilliant re-creation of one of history's greatest tragedies. A story which will impress Katharine in the reader's mind as a noble woman and a great Queen.
From the moment of Katharine of Aragon's betrothal to Arthur, Prince of Wales, she looked upon herself as the future Queen of England. But Arthur died just after their marriage and it was as the wife of his brother, Henry VIII, that she went to her Coronation. The Pope had given a special dispensation to make this marriage legal, and until she died Katharine held herself to be Henry's wife and England's Queenβ¦
The tragic side of her story is well known. THE KING'S PLEASURE shows another side -the happy years, with Henry young and charming, in love with his Kate and inspiring in her love that never wavered, even when he repudiated her as his wife and ruled that Mary their one living child was a bastard. She was not alone in her belief in her marriage; from Sir Thomas More to village ploughman people adhered to her cause and Henry himself said that she could easily have roused the country against him and the unpopular Anne Boleyn.
But a childhood in war-racked Spain had given Katharine a horror of war. She would never resort to arms, nor would she allow Mary to do so. She was prepared to bear loneliness, captivity, deprivation, even death on a matter of religious principle; she did not wish anyone else to suffer. THE KING'S PLEASURE is a novel which impresses Katharine of Aragon lastingly on the mind as a great woman and a great Queen, but the story is not hers alone. Equally clear and convincing is the effect of the breaking up of this marriage on the course of English history.