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Reading more like a novel than a biography, Mary Luke’s Catherine the Queen is an intriguing look at the first wife of Henry VIII. Written in the late 1960’s, it draws heavily on Garrett Mattingly’s 1941 biography of Catherine as well as various primary and secondary sources.


One of things I really enjoyed about this book is the way different people are described. Catherine’s father Ferdinand of Aragon is  “intelligent and ambitious, he could be trusted to support her (Isabella’s) policies and his talent for recognizing a potential threat to the throne was uncanny…He accepted Isabella’s domination and did what he was told.” Henry VII is cunning, manipulative and blunt and a considerable amount of time is spent covering Catherine’s years in poverty as both her father and father-in-law used her against the other. Every time I read about what Catherine endured and her virtual neglect by her father, it reminds me of the precarious position women were placed in. It’s a wonder that Catherine survived it with the dignity that she did.

Young Henry is everything a Renaissance prince should be. But underneath the surface is an untried young man who really doesn’t have a clue as to what he is doing politically. Having learned a great deal from her parents, Catherine is a natural at guiding Henry through the minefields of European politics and, recognizing the need for an efficient government, didn’t even seem to mind too much initially as Henry begins delegating the more mundane tasks to Thomas Wolsey. Wolsey’s value to Henry was his seemingly “enormous capacity for work, an incredible memory, and a ruthless nature that did not wince at performing the unpleasant, nor suffer any time-consuming pangs of conscience as an aftermath”.

Luke describes a young Anne as “sweet” and who finds herself transformed into a more hardened and bitter version of herself by the loss of Henry Percy. Knowing that she was not in control of her own future, her indifference to the king only served to further entice him. And convinced of the power of his own masculinity, he was convinced he would get her to change her mind. For Anne’s part, she was not in love with Henry and therefore had nothing to lose by playing his game. He was a challenge to her, but not a temptation. Little did either know that it would take six long years for the game to end and that those six years would take a toll on Anne especially turning her into a “cruel and bitter …shrew”.

Blinded by her love for Henry and her conviction that she was right, Catherine fails to blame her husband for the tragic turn her life has taken. Perhaps it was easier for her to blame others for leading Henry down the wrong path than it was for her to face the truth and accept things for what they were really were. Through it all, she remains steadfast in her beliefs and true to herself.

One item some may find puzzling is Luke’s continued reference to Anne Boleyn having a stepmother (due to Elizabeth Howard’s death) even though no name is given to her. This is not the first reference of this I have seen as both Jean Plaidy and Norah Lofts include it in their novels (Lofts The Concubine refers to a line in Agnes Strickland’s Lives of the Queens of England from the late 1800’s) so it seems to be a widely accepted “fact” at the time. I have continued to find reference to Anne’s stepmother very interesting as it goes to show how much “facts” can change over time.

The book contains 8 black and white pages of portraits - including two I had not seen before (one of Queen Isabella and the other of Mary Tudor). I thought Catherine the Queen was an engaging and enjoyable book – much like other books by Luke that I have read.  I have one more on my TBR pile –A Crown for Elizabeth – I’m looking forward to reading it!

Rating: Very Good (4 stars)