(Cover image – © WeHeartIt)
What I love more than learning and writing about a historical figure is watching or reading a portrayal of said historical figure over and over again, hence, this post will be dedicated to producing a list of representations of Catherine of Aragon in movies, television, shows and literature etc., but be aware that this list is NOT a complete one. Hope you guys enjoy!
Movies and Television:
Notable mention – (not a modern representation of Catherine but) in an 18th century performance of William Shakespeare’s ‘Henry VIII’, an actress called Sarah Siddons played the role of Catherine of Aragon and is quoted as saying the role as the famous queen was her favourite because it was the ‘most natural’ role she has ever played. There is no information about what representation the role of Catherine of Aragon the actress portrayed but it can be assumed through her quote of the role being ‘natural’ that she gave the Spanish Queen justice by portraying her not as the hateful, cold Queen history seems to depict her as but as a calm, collected Queen tired of her husband’s infidelity. Sarah Siddons is also famous for playing ‘Lady Macbeth’ in another of William Shakespeare’s plays; ‘Macbeth’.
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Quickly, I just want to mention that any black-and-white depictions, any depictions of the character as a minor role will not be included because there is not much information or much of a portrayal for me to judge (or any depictions that I have not seen myself), therefore they will not be included so this is NOT a complete list of media representations of Catherine of Aragon so my apologies!
The following list is written in chronological order.
. . .
1. Irene Papas in ‘Anne of The Thousand Days’ (1969)
This portrayal of Catherine of Aragon by the wonderful Greek actress Irene Papas has always had a mixed reaction from me, especially when it comes between the performance vs historical accuracy. Whilst I love the portrayal that Irene Papas gives, how she catches the attention of the audience against the beautiful work of Geneviève Bujold (who plays Catherine’s rival, Anne Boleyn) and portrays Catherine of Aragon (in my opinion) suitably towards the end of her marriage with the King, I cannot condone the choice in casting. The choice to have Irene Papas, a Greek actress, play Catherine is wrong simply because of the fact that Irene Papas was chosen because of her stereotypical Mediterranean appearance which matches popular false beliefs on what a Spanish noblewoman would have looked like and it is well documented that Catherine had a pale complexion, possessed auburn hair (so red hair essentially) and was overweight by her mid-thirties. Whereas Irene was slim and had a slim figure, meaning that her depiction (appearance wise) did not match that of the true Catherine of Aragon, but she did portray Catherine (character wise) in a way that brought the fallen Queen justice.
© Imdb
2. Annette Crosbie in ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII’ (1971)
This award-winning portrayal of Catherine of Aragon by talented actress; Annette Crosbie in a 90-minute first-part drama in the BBC series ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII’ is the second portrayal on our list. The fact that Annette Crosbie won the 1971 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress with this role shows how excellent her portrayal of the Spanish Queen truly was, but this does not mean to say that I do not have some judgement to bestow upon this award-winning depiction of a famous Queen. Alike Irene Papas before her, this actress was appearance-wise not appropriate for this role as she was (rightly pale and quite young-looking for a mid-thirties Queen) not a red-haired Spanish actress which would have been culturally appropriate for this role. I do take into consideration that times are quite different now than they were in the 70s so there would have been nothing wrong with Annette’s performance in those days but nowadays, people are calling for cultural suitability when it comes to specific roles, meaning that Catherine of Aragon arguably should have been portrayed by a Spanish actress (which has been done beforehand but with dark-haired actresses).
However, Annette does a fantastic job of depicting Catherine as a woman scorned by her husband and shamed by her King for wrongly trying to dethrone her as rightful Queen of England—yes, I am a Catherine-stan, sue me (don’t actually!).
© Tumblr
3. Maria Doyle Kennedy in ‘The Tudors’ (2007-2010)
Before I start, I just would like to clarify that this is my absolute all-time favourite portrayal of Catherine of Aragon and that my opinion might be slightly bias so please forgive me, guys, I cannot help it! Despite Maria not being physically matched with Catherine, I believe that Maria is Catherine in spirit; throughout her appearance on the show, she embodied the strong-willed, calm and collected, sophisticated Spanish Queen and does not try and present her as some woman obsessed with shaming her husband’s mistresses. Especially with how she interacts with the character Bessie Blount; no, she would not have been rude and horrible towards a woman carrying her husband’s child. Yes, she would have been upset and felt betrayed but the way that she delicately dealt with her shows her compassion and her generosity towards those who indirectly hurt her. She shows Catherine in an emotional and sympathetic way, in the way that Catherine should be portrayed, therefore, I believe that Maria Doyle Kennedy’s portrayal is one of the—no, is the best portrayal of Catherine of Aragon throughout history because of the beauty, elegance and realistic air that she delivers with the role.
© Tudors – Fandom
4. Ana Torrent in ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ (2008)
Now, I was considering excluding this depiction of Catherine of Aragon from this list because Ana Torrent’s role as the Queen is not a major role in the movie and is only in it for a few minutes. However, her role is dynamic to the story and has a lot of depth behind it, so I felt that it was only right to include it, especially when Ana Torrent does such an amazing job at it! As I just mentioned, Ana is only in the movie for a short moment but her ability to translate how much of a natural-born Queen that Catherine was. The scene between Catherine and Mary Boleyn where she basically ‘initiated’ Mary into her employment as a lady-in-waiting is not completely accurate as I’m pretty sure that a grand Queen such as Catherine would not have requested for Mary to sing in front of her when she would have already learned of Mary’s talent from her previous ‘employer’. But I believe that Catherine would have definitely noticed how Mary was a mistress or at least of romantic interest to her husband and would have been certainly uncomfortable or distant towards the ‘Boleyn Whore’ as she would later be known to both the English and French courts. And I cannot help but love the scene where Catherine proudly announces her heritage and her status as Queen, that is definitely something that the real Catherine would have done so Ana Torrent’s persona in this role is 100% suitable for Catherine. And yes, she is not physically suitable because of her dark-hair but she was suitable age wise because Catherine was quite a bit older than Henry and would have been in her mid-thirties, nearly forty. Also, I loved the accuracy of the costumes, I would say that they were around 95% accurate to what the real Catherine of Aragon would have worn in her time!
© The Other Boleyn Girl
5. Mélida Molina in ‘Carlos, rey emperador’ (2015)
Surprisingly, this is one portrayal that I absolutely hated (I’m so sorry!), sad to say. Although I had originally loved the series ‘Isabel’ about Catherine’s mother, I could not for the life of me stand the portrayal of Catherine in this show. In my opinion, the casting and the writing was well off, despite Mélida Molina being Spanish which kind of made it a tiny bit better. The writers did not do Catherine of Aragon justice in my opinion because of how well-written the character of her mother was in the previous show, I expected her to be showcased as the strong, head-screwed-on-right, powerful Queen that she was, and she was absolutely butchered in this show. I believe that the actress tried to save the show as much as she could with her acting efforts (she is a fantastic actress, I am not disputing that) but with bad writing, there is only so much that you can do. And I felt a little let down considering that this was a Spanish television series and I thought that they would want to do justice and homage their beloved Spanish Queen but clearly, the writers could not figure out how to bring the beautiful Catherine of Aragon to life, nor did I feel the costumes did the real-life monarch justice. A big fat ‘no’ from me, I’m afraid.
6. Jarneia Richard-Noel in the musical ‘Six’ (2017-)
This portrayal is absolutely ground-breaking! Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss are absolute geniuses for creating this musical because this musical brings comedy and elegance to six tragic Queens’ lives. What I love even more is by having the musical include professionals from different backgrounds and ethnicities because this is a modernised version of history and I honestly believe that the energy, sassiness and the humour that Jarneia brings is flawless and would have made the real Catherine of Aragon proud. The lyrics, the aesthetic, the casting and the performance overall just slayed every single time, in my honest opinion. Especially the lyrics ‘My name's Catherine of Aragon / Was married 24 years / I'm a paragon of royalty, my loyalty is to the Vatican / So if you try to dump me / You won't try that again’. This just brings Catherine of Aragon out of the shadows and recognises how much of an icon she is to female history and to the history of intelligent and strong-willed Queens.
© Tumblr
7. Charlotte Hope in ‘The Spanish Princess’ (2019-2020)
Our final mention on this list is the recent portrayal of Catherine of Aragon in the television adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s fictionalised version ‘The Spanish Princess’ by Charlotte Hope. What I feel that Charlotte’s portrayal does right is that it shows her emotionally (through her suffering over and over by Henry’s cheating) but it also shows her political skills and knowledge. But I do feel like the show overdramatises a lot of things to fit Gregory’s depiction of Catherine as there are moments within the show that absolutely did not happen in real life. For example, Catherine would not have caught Henry and his mistress Bessie in the act of sexual intercourse as the King would have been completely cautious about where and when he was intimate with his sexual partners, and he would have come up with an excuse for why Catherine could not gain access to her husband. Another example would be that Catherine wore armour whilst being heavily pregnant, uh, no? She would have worn her usual maternity dresses with some protective coverings over her, but she wouldn’t have had pregnancy-proof armour made for her, that’s for sure. But I guess that Charlotte Hope’s portrayal does help empower and pay homage to the fighter and intelligent woman that Catherine was so I did like the show, but it wasn’t as realistic as it could have been, that’s for sure. But I guess that’s why it’s based off Philippa Gregory’s books and not real life like it could have been?
© The Spanish Princess
Literature:
There are innumerable depictions of Catherine of Aragon in fictional literature, many portray Catherine as a spiteful, rude Queen who shows a lack of respect towards any woman who catches her husband’s gaze whereas others portray her as the strong-minded, determined and rightly stubborn Queen who will not allow her husband to make a fool of her so easily. Sadly, there are others who include her in their stories but only as a minor character to support the story of Henry’s other wife, Anne Boleyn, and she is even sometimes made out to be the villain! Like, are you serious?
One important thing to note is that various authors take different views on a significant moment in Catherine’s life; whether or not her marriage to Arthur was consummated. Over time, male and female authors alike have either written Catherine’s claims of her marriage to Arthur being consummated as either the truth that she rightly defended until her death or a dangerous lie that cost her the title of Queen of England as well as resulted in her daughter being declared illegitimate as a result.
Regardless of this, we have complied a list of some of our favourite historical fiction books featuring our beautiful Catherine of Aragon:
Lady Mary by Lucy Worsley
My Tudor Queen by Allison Prince
Katharine, The Virgin Widow, The Shadow of the Pomegranate, and The King's Secret Matter (later published in an omnibus Katharine of Aragon) by Jean Plaidy
My Catalina by Maureen Peters
The King's Pleasure by Norah Lofts
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory – a book that makes Catherine out to be a manipulative liar and the villain of the story.
Patience, Princess Catherine by Carolyn Meyer
Isabella's Daughter by Charity Bishop
Catherine of Aragon/My Tudor Queen by Alison Prince
Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen by Alison Weir
Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Duty of Daughters (The Katherine of Aragon Story Book 1) by Wendy J. Dunn
Falling Pomegranate Seeds: All Manner of Things (The Katherine of Aragon Story Book 2) by Wendy J. Dunn
Catherine of Aragon: An Intimate History of Henry VIII's True Wife by Amy Licence
So, I hope that you found this list interesting and that you decide to take a look at these depictions and if you do, comment below on what your view is on the portrayal of Catherine of Aragon!
- Have a ‘Tudor-fic’ week!
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