History remembers Catherine of Aragon as Henry VIII’s boring first wife who he pushed aside for the more exciting (and doomed) Anne Boleyn.
The new miniseries “The Spanish Princess” dramatizes Catherine’s intrigue-filled younger years — and could change the perception of her as just a historical footnote.
“In England [Catherine is] remembered as this barren old dowdy wife who gets divorced,” says Charlotte Hope, 27, who stars in “The Spanish Princess” as a young version of the monarch. “In Spain she’s really remembered as this determined, fierce, courageous woman. You only know the end of the story — you don’t know the beginning. We’ve seen a hundred iterations of the Tudor story, but I’d never seen this one.”
Premiering Sunday (8 p.m. on Starz), “The Spanish Princess” is an eight-episode miniseries set in the 1500s based on steamy historical fiction by Philippa Gregory (best known for “The Other Boleyn Girl”). Starz has done several miniseries adaptations of Gregory novels that have proven to be career launchers; in 2017 “The White Princess” catapulted “Killing Eve” star Jodie Cormer (Villanelle) into prominence.
As “The Spanish Princess” depicts, Catherine, who grew up in Spain, comes to England to marry Prince Arthur (Angus Imrie), older brother of Henry VIII (Ruairi O’Connor). Of course Henry VIII is remembered for marrying (and executing) a slew of women — and for causing upheaval to England’s religious infrastructure by divorcing Catherine — but this story takes place before any of that unfolds. Arthur’s death shortly after their marriage puts Catherine in a precarious political position — until she marries Henry.
“Everyone knows Henry VIII through, ‘He had six wives and was a tyrannical despot,’ ” says Hope. “And Catherine is just the introduction wife [and] that’s not very interesting. And she gets sent away and he moves on to Anne Boleyn and that’s where it gets juicy. Actually, Catherine and Henry were married for 24 years and they were genuinely in love. Then he pinged through five wives afterwards — but there’s so much to their story.”
For Hope, who grew up in the self-proclaimed “middle of nowhere” English countryside (“somewhere called Lower Daggons, the nearest town is a 20-minute car ride”), landing the role of Catherine was a dream come true. She’s previously had side roles on high-profile shows — she was Myranda, Ramsay Bolton’s sadistic girlfriend on “Game of Thrones” — but this is her first starring role.
“I’d been waiting for this job for eight years,” she says. “I’ve played a lot of supporting parts and I love doing that, but I was just so excited to get to build a whole character over eight episodes —and someone as amazing as Catherine. I was like, ‘This was what I wanted to be an actress for.’ ”
Hope adopts a Spanish accent for the show, and says she maintained it even when the cameras weren’t rolling, in order to have it feel natural. She previously studied French and Spanish while attending Oxford, but she never thought that would be useful.
“I remember graduating from Oxford being like, ‘That was a nice four years, I will never use this again!’ ” she says. “I could maybe pass as French — I’ve auditioned for some French parts — but I didn’t think I’d use the Spanish. Then when [‘The Spanish Princess’] came through, they needed someone who speaks fluent Spanish, pale skin, red hair, could age 18-30 — and I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ That never happens! ”