The Merry Monarch's Wife

This is the story of Portugal’s Princess Catherine, her marriage to King Charles of England, and all the courtly intrigue, treachery, plotting, womanizing that that entailed.

We learn about Catherine while she is but a mere child in her father’s country palace, as he tries to regain his throne in Portugal from the Spanish, while her mother hopes to marry Catherine to Charles, should he become the English king. But at the time, he was an exiled prince, his father beheaded, and Oliver Cromwell had taken over England.

Still, Catherine’s mother believed with all her heart, Catherine would some day become the Queen of England. For years, it seemed it would not be so.

Becoming the Queen of England would save her country, Portugal, from the Spanish. But at what price to the innocent young woman who had been raised for years in a nunnery and was now thrust into the immoral English royal court?

I was riveted to the tale, and wondered why this story was not made into a movie. Nothing Hollywood can make up rivals real life. I loved seeing the story through Catherine’s eyes, a woman who romanticized a relationship with her husband years before she ever became his wife. I felt her pain through all the misfortunes she’d had to endure, and wanted to see her life end happily.

The whole time I read the story, I was immersed in Catherine’s world, and loved it. I couldn’t wait to get to the end and learn how Catherine finally fared. I’ve read a lot about bonny Prince Charles and his escapades, but from his wife’s point of view, it was all the more rewarding.