Review: Katherine Of Aragon The True Queen by Alison Weir

The first book in a historical fiction series about the six wives of Henry V111, this book is about Katherine of Aragon, his first wife. Katherine was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the monarchs of a united Spain. Betrothed to the English heir to the throne, Arthur, the son of Henry the seventh, Katherine is sent to England and has to navigate her new life. Married to a weak Arthur, she endured the court and her new family. When Arthur dies, Katherine had to fight for her future in England and in the royal family. The younger brother of Arthur, Henry had caught her eye, and she his. A marrige is proposed between the two, but it didn’t happen until Henry V11 died in 1509. This begins Katherine’s life as queen, and she hoped to give Henry a son quickly. At first the royal marriage was happy, even when tragedy in the form of miscarriages happened Henry was loving to her at first. As the years went on, Henry became unfaithful and resentful that he did not have a son. Instead of accepting that his pretty daughter Mary should be his heir, he resents Katherine and when he meets Anne Boleyn, tears the English church from the Catholic Church in Rome in order to divorce his wife. Katherine refused to accept the divorce and the lowering of her position by Henry, even when he banished her and refused to let her see her daughter. She defied Henry until her death, refusing to think of herself as anything other than Henry’s wife and Queen.
Alison Weir does a good job with the historical details of this time, especially when the divorce happens and the last details of Katherine’s life. It does get a little slow at times, but is more interesting towards the end. A good beginning for this series. 
Content: some sexual content, some language 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#historicalfiction #fiction #tudors #books 

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