**Spoilers** Summary of The Constant Princess (Philippa Gregory)

The novel starts out when Catalina (Katherine of Aragorn) is about five years old. She is with her sisters and mother during a time period of great tension between the Catholics and African Muslims. The novel refers to the African Muslims as Moors. These Moors are being persecuted because they refuse to accept the Catholic religion. There is a scene where the girls are expressing their concerns for the Moors that are coming into their encampment. Queen Isabella I of Castile (Catalina's mother) tells her that she will return for her daughters when she is finished taking care of state matters. At the end, the Queen returns and asks her daughter if she was afraid-- in which Catalina says that she was not afraid at all during her absense, thus resulting in the readers to take notice that Catalina, even at a young age was proud to own the title of Infanta of Spain as well as the Princess of Wales, since her betrothal to marry Prince Arthur of England.

The story then skips over to when Catalina is older. She finally meets her fiance, Arthur Tudor, and his father King Henry VII. King Henry VII is strongly attracted to Catalina and Arthur does not seem to show much appeal towards her. Once the two are married, Arthur is nervous to consummate their marriage. The first few months of their marriage is seen to have much tension and awkwardness. The two newlyweds do not understand one another very well. Arthur then orders Catalina to accompany him on a journey to Ludlow Castle; which results in her to become ill because he did not look after her. She was left in a litter just about the enter way in freezing weather. She becomes very frustrated and confronts her husband about how he mistreats her as his wife and as a woman. He acknowledges her needs to having a better husband. The two, at this point, begins a happy and honest marriage. Catalina and Arthur have a deep conversation with one another about what they would like to see changed for England, the customs that her people follow (differences and similarities between her people and the Moors), what sort of family they would have together, etc. Their happiness ends with Arthur falls ill and dies from the sweating sickness. On his deathbed, he asks his wife to promise that she will marry his brother, Henry VIII so that their dreams for England may come true with Catalina as Queen of England. After Arthur dies, King Henry VII proposes to Catalina. He is rejected, gets angry and doesn't allow her to marry his son, Henry VIII.

It isn't until King Henry VII dies, that Henry VIII and Catalina get married. She changes her name to the English “Katherine” when she finally becomes queen. Catalina pretends to be a virgin during her wedding night with King Henry VIII. She is very careful in how she does this. In the novel, she describes herself cutting the bottom of her foot to smear the blood on the sheets, walking limply around for people to see. She makes it apparent to others that she is tired and that she needs rest. Her first pregnancy results in a miscarriage. Because she is desperate to have a child with her new husband, she consults a Moorish doctor since they tend to be more knowledgeable. While Katherine is away having her child, it is discovered that Henry is having an affair with a woman named Anne when he is told that Katherine was not a virgin. With that, the novel ends with the start of King Henry VIII's scandalous relationship with one of Katherine's lady-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn.