The book begins on with young Catalina, the Infanta of Spain, idolising her warrior mother, Queen Isabella of Castile. She borrows fortitude from her mother and God in order to travel to England to meet her destiny as Queen of England. However, tragedy strikes when her young husband, Arthur, Prince of Wales, dies. In order to follow her destiny she must follow an obstacle-strewn path to marry his brother, Henry.
The imagery Gregory used for Katherine's childhood Spain is inspiring and rich, one almost wishes this where the book was based in its entirety. Gregory allows the reader to time-travel into her own ideas of what Tudor England must have been like, and I find myself under her spell.
The story line is well researched, with plenty of details to satisfy a keen history fan. Almost like an academic book, Gregory puts forth her perception of the love triangle between the Tudor men and Katherine of Aragon convincingly.
My only niggle is the constant shift between third person and first person perspective. I anticipated a logical reason behind this writing device but I failed to find one. Other than this, The Constant Princess was a delightful read which I would recommend to others.
Overall, I give this book a glowing 4 out of 5. It is definitely as good as her much loved The Other Boleyn Girl.
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