Six Tudor Queens: Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen: Six Tudor Queens 1

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The primary driving factor of the Six Tudor Queens series isn’t actually the plight of Henry’s wives, the reasons that compel them to marry Henry or even the rivalries they must overcome to take the throne. And a good one. Alison Weir thoroughly immerses us in the world of Katherine, her household, her retinues and routines, her high and low fortunes. We are with her every step of the way as she lives through the disappointment of her marriage to Arthur, as she floats through the glorious first years of her marriage to Henry, as she slowly becomes beaten down, small defeat by large, when Henry finds Anne, leaves Katherine, and splits Christendom in two in his quest to satisfy his desire to have a male heir. By the end of the book, it's quite easy for the reader to loathe both Henry and Anne as Katherine suffers repeated bouts of ill health, living in constant fear from the specter of poisoning hanging over both her and her daughter, Mary's, heads. Each illness of Mary's fills the reader with the same pangs of terror as it does Katherine, despite knowing that Mary survives these years of hell, years which imprint on her character indelibly. Heinrich VIII und seine sechs Ehefrauen sind immer ein interessantes Thema für einen historischen Roman. Alison Weir hat hieraus eine sechsteilige Reihe gemacht, in der die Ehefrauen von ihrem Leben an der Seite dieses berühmten Monarchen erzählen. Den Anfang macht Katherine von Aragon und ich habe ihre Sicht der Dinge äußerst gerne gelesen.

Six Tudor Queens: Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen: Six Tudor Six Tudor Queens: Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen: Six Tudor

This is the story of Katherine, daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon and the first wife of King Henry VIII. A princess of Spain, Catalina is only sixteen years old when she sets foot on the shores of England. The youngest daughter of the powerful monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, Catalina is a coveted prize for a royal marriage - and Arthur, Prince of Wales, and heir to the English throne, has won her hand. But tragedy strikes and Catalina, now Princess Katherine, is betrothed to the future Henry VIII. She must wait for his coming-of-age, an ordeal that tests her resolve, casts doubt on her trusted confidantes, and turns her into a virtual prisoner. Katherine’s moments of joy and sorrow are captured with nuanced writing. Weir finds a harmonious balance between providing an abundance of historical details and conveying Katherine’s emotional evolution. Though the story is delivered in a third-person narrative, Katherine’s feelings are so resonant that it often seems like a first-person delivery.

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Katherine refused to accept any of the alternatives Henry VIII offered her, annulment, entering a nunnery or divorce. She was defending her daughter Mary's right to royal lineage and her own conscience, which said that she was Henry VIII's lawful wife. She believed that it would be a great sin to give in to Henry VIII. While this is considered a piece of fiction, any reader who knows their history or has devoured much of Weir's past work will realise that it is steeped in reality. As I read, I became aware that the 'fiction' moniker was placed there more to validate the detailed dialogue than a shuffling of facts to create a more dramatic story. Weir lays down a powerful narrative that flows effectively throughout Katherine's life and shows that while she was isolated from her Spanish parents, she held firm to protect herself and her daughter from Henry's self-centred approach to life. While long and highly detailed, Weir offers the reader an insightful look into the life of this first of Henry's six wives, perhaps the strongest advocate of them all. Weir brings Katherine of Aragon to life in this opening novel and leaves readers itching for the next instalment, sure to be filled with as much drama, bridging from the narrative peppered throughout this book. There is surely crossover material to be explored more thoroughly within the second novel, though Weir is able to secure focus on events from Katherine's perspective. This novel offers everything the reader could expect from perusing its title, with chapters full of anecdotes woven into powerful dialogue. Alison Weir is the top-selling female historian (and the fifth best-selling historian overall) in the United Kingdom, and has sold over 2.7 million books worldwide. She has published seventeen history books, including The Six Wives of Henry VIII, The Princes in the Tower, Elizabeth the Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry VIII: King and Court, Katherine Swynford, The Lady in the Tower and Elizabeth of York. Alison has also published five historical novels, including Innocent Traitor and The Lady Elizabeth. Her latest biography is The Lost Tudor Princess, about Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox. She is soon to publish Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen, the first in a series of novels about the wives of Henry VIII. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences and an Honorary Life Patron of Historic Royal Palaces, and is married with two adult children.

Six Tudor Queens: 1-6 Book Bundle - The Works Six Tudor Queens: 1-6 Book Bundle - The Works

If you are familiar with Katherine’s life, there is little point in rehashing it here. If you know little about her, then you will find this an engrossing portrait of a women who believed completely in doing her duty. She would never have questioned her parent’s, or later, her husband’s, wishes. She was sent to England to be Queen and she had every intention of carrying out this role to the best of her ability and creating an alliance between England and Spain. So, it makes it even more moving that when Henry decides he wants a divorce that, for once, she digs in her heels and refuses to move over gracefully. What becomes apparent in the reshaping of history here is the reconfiguration of Henry's personality, obsessed with the birth of a legitimate male heir, and the zealousness of Katherine's temper, placing all belief and responsibility of her marriage rights on the Catholic Church and the Pope. It's obvious that the claims of both of these self-possessed adults had negative effects on their only child, Mary, who grew to become an ill, anxious, tormented young woman preoccupied with the health of her soul and conscience.

TUDOR ENGLAND, who doesn’t love it. Alison Weir is embarking on an ambitious project here, to write detailed novels about each of Henry VIII’s storied wives (how she’s going to do super-boring Jane Seymour, I do not know). I’ve had a special place in my heart for Katherine of Aragon since The Tudors, and Katherine of Aragon goes it from her excellent point of view. It could be easy to make her seem overly pious and kind of lame, but this is the daughter of ISABELLA OF CASTILE, and she is damn fascinating. Henry and Katherine were married by far the longest out of any of his wives, and this book gives you a blow by blow of their marriage without sinking into tedium. And Anne Boleyn is now out! Get it. Read it. Love it. If you like historical fiction. If not, then maybe do not do that. and his mother, the Lady Margaret, had specially requested it, as they spoke no Spanish or Latin. And they had urged that Katherine cultivate a taste for wine, as the water in England was undrinkable. She had duly complied. She had expected many such requests and instructions to prepare her for her life in England, but there had been just one more, one that had immeasurably troubled her. But then the people she trusted turned on her and King Henry VIII gave his heart to another. Once admired and feared, Katherine is now a virtual prisoner.

Six Tudor Queens: Katharine Parr, The Sixth Wife: Six Tudor

Katherine of Aragon is the first book of the Six Tudor Queens series (in which each book is dedicated to recounting the life of one of King Henry VIII’s wives). Spanning from 1501 to 1536, Katherine’s life is examined from the time of her crossing the seas at age sixteen to the moment when the last breath leaves her body. It amazes me very much how it is perfectly in line with the true historical facts, let us clarify not only the rise of Henry VIII, the court life, about all the Dukes and Counts that revolve around the figure of the King., but absolutely true are all the epistolary references that we find reported in the book, obviously leaving room for all that romanticized component that keeps the story of Catherine standing up. She becomes the sixth wife – a queen and a friend. Henry loves and trusts her. But Katharine is hiding another secret in her heart, a deeply held faith that could see her burn… La vita a corte viene descritta molto bene, ma non saranno mai gli intrighi messi come fulcro di questo libro, .. ma il dolore straziante di questi due sposi, che pur amandosi tantissimo, si proprio così..... Enrico amava alla follia Caterina, non riuscirono mai piu a ritrovarsi a causa di questi impedimenti, l'assenza di un erede maschio al trono e il terrore di aver disobbedito a Dio avendo sposato la moglie di suo fratello. Life at court is described very well, but it will never be the intrigues put at the heart of this book. but the harrowing pain of these two spouses, who, while loving each other so much,.... Henry loved Catherine madly, they could never find themselves again because of these impediments, the absence of a male heir to the throne and the terror of disobeying God by marrying his brother’s wife, despite the papal written authorisation .Her resistance against Henry’s demands and the conflict that ensued between her and Anne Boleyn placed King Henry VIII on the path to a destination he could never have foreseen. Solo ed unicamente la Fede in Cristo e alla Chiesa Cattolica ha mosso così questa donna, non ha smosso ne ha ceduto la sua coscienza neanche sottomettendola al bene di sua figlia Maria, unica figlia vivente di Caterina ed Enrico... I love British history and I love seeing different interpretations. Whether it be a speculative piece of fiction based on a place name, a tale inspired by vicious court rumour, or a story founded on fact, I love it all. What I enjoyed is that Alison Weir wrote this from Katherine’s perspective. We get an eagle eye view of events unfolding in “real time”. From being deeply and happily in love with King Henry, to the betrayal that later followed, you can feel every wave of happiness and each stab of hurt and regret.