The Spanish Princess Review: Camelot (Season 2 Episode 1)

The first half of The Spanish Princess Season 2 premiere feels something like a fairytale. The lavish costumes, romantic embraces, and epic jousting tournament all combine to create an atmosphere that feels like a dream — yes, like the magical world of King Arthur 

Now a queen crowned, Catherine of Aragon has everything she spent so much of Season 1 fighting for. She is Queen of England, she loves her husband, and they have an infant son in the cradle. She’s treated as an equal partner in all things, and her input is busy shaping the future of Europe. 

That it all does not last — that it cannot last — is something we all knew going in, because history is history, but it somehow doesn’t make it hurt any less. 

In The Spanish Princess Season 2 Episode 1, “Camelot,” the show carefully hints at what, in a different world, the reign of King Henry VIII might have looked like. 

It also reminds us how absolutely necessary Catherine of Aragon — self-dubbed Catherine of England by the end of the hour — was to the success of Henry’s early reign. 

The two dreamed of making a new Camelot during their courtship last season, and here, it appears they have done so. Catherine is crowned at her husband’s side, as his equal, and takes an active role in running the country she’s claimed as her own.

Her foreign policy knowledge is impressive in its depth and breadth, and her dedication to protecting and serving both the country of her birth and her chosen home is both smart and admirable. It’s obvious that she’s not just born for this — but that she’s received more training and has a greater natural aptitude for leadership than Henry does.

In a just world, a woman like this would have never been asked to play second to anyone — let alone ultimately be judged and found wanting because of infertility issues beyond her control. 

It seems worth saying as someone who is, admittedly, a die-hard Anne Boleyn stan, this show — and Charlotte Hope’s performance, specifically — has made me rethink a lot of my previous opinions about Henry VIII’s first wife. 

Too much of popular culture depicts Catherine as the devout frump of her later years, a woman who’s body and spirit have both been exhausted by a lifetime of pregnancies, miscarriages, and stillbirths. And who, unfortunately, is unfairly blamed for her husband’s anxiety over this own legacy and fears that he is unloved by God.

The Spanish Princess shows us a Catherine who is a brilliant politician and strategist, who understands the power of the grand gesture and has a warrior’s heart.

Watching this, there’s every reason to believe that she would have ultimately been a better monarch than Henry was, and the tragedy of her life is that she was not allowed to do so. 

Even as she is forced to learn difficult political and personal lessons — another betrayal at the hands of her trickster father probably shouldn’t come as the surprise it does, and Henry’s off-and-on coldness in the face of their shared loss is an unsettling warning of how he’ll deal with hardship in the future – she remains brave and steadfast. 

The speech she gives following her son’s death, part mourning wail and part battle cry is powerful and brutal, the sort of thing we almost never get to see from women in stories like this. That the show not only gives this moment to Catherine but explicitly shows us Henry stepping back so that she can step forward feels like a revelation. 

And it’s why this story still matters – even knowing that Catherine’s strength will ultimately be no match for the power of the patriarchy. 

At least in this version of her life, Catherine of Aragon is allowed to be her own kind of hero, and The Spanish Princess is happy to give her the space to shine. And that bright, brief moment is almost enough to make up for knowing how tragically this story will inevitably end. 

Stray Thoughts and Observations

• Charlotte Hope is really incredible. Her performance as Catherine runs the gamut from joy to heartbreak, anger to determination and she makes it look as easy as breathing. She makes it look so effortless that it’s easy to overlook how much work this all is.
• That chilling moment when Henry asks why God would punish them and the memory of Arthur hangs between them was something else. 
• I am 100% for the decision to make Meg’s life in Scotland a major subplot of Season 2. I love that she’s inspired by Catherine’s rule and that she wants to be and do more than have and manage children for the king. 
• I could do without the VERY over the top stereotyping of both the Scottish king and clans as sort of loudmouth barbarians who live to stab and hit each other, so here’s hoping that section of the story gets a bit more nuanced.
• It’s always so much fun to play “spot the historical personage” and realize what things will happen to them later in the story. From Sir Thomas More to Charles, Princess Mary’s suitor, who will one day grow up to become Holy Roman Emperor, there are so many tangled threads in this story that would honestly make great series of their own. 
• I LOVE this show’s continued commitment to the idea that the so-called Joana the Mad may have just been a victim of greedy men, rather than mentally unstable. Justice for Joana!

What did you think of this episode of The Spanish Princess? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Spanish Princess airs Sundays at 8pm on Starz.

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Why ‘The Spanish Princess’ Is Exactly the Kind of Period Drama We Need More Of