'The Spanish Princess' Season 2 Episode 4 Preview: Who is the blonde thorn in Catherine and Henry's marriage?
Over the last four weeks, Starz's 'The Spanish Princess' has tracked the arc of Catherine of Aragon's (Charlotte Hope) marriage to the Tudor king Henry VIII (Ruairi O'Connor), showing the highs and lows that pages of history and literally have forever documented. From the tragic loss of their children, both a stillborn and a two-month-old infant, to betrayal from Catherine's father, the Spanish king Ferdinand, Henry VIII has increasingly lost faith in his wife. Sometimes he comes around, at other times he blames her for not being able to give him a live heir. And as we arrive into the fourth week of the second season, almost a year into Catherine and Henry's marriage, one would think the heir and religion besotted king would finally see reason in his wife's counsel. But looks like there's more worry in Catherine's life ahead.
According to the official synopsis given by the network, Episode 4 of Season 2, titled 'The Other Woman' sees Catherine riddled with paranoia and frustration over infidelity from her husband's end. The synopsis details: "As Meg jeopardizes everything for love, a pregnant Catherine wrestles with the sickening suspicion that Henry is being unfaithful." Just months ago in the show's timeline, Catherine went to battle while heavily pregnant with her and Henry's second child. Almost immediately after, she gave birth prematurely, and the child was stillborn to their crushing sadness.
Devastated, Catherine blamed herself, but she wasn't the only one. Henry, upon Wolsey's (Philip Cumbus) counsel, also blamed Catherine for not bearing a living child. He claimed this was God's way of showing dissatisfaction, and every time Catherine's victory at Flodden was brought up, he would be too quick to remind them of her loss at childbearing. Catherine overlooked all of this and still showered her husband with love and kindness, the two of them also resuming lovemaking after weeks of remaining jilted - explaining the current pregnancy.
But while everything might seem well, history already tells us that Henry's eyes were wandering long before he banished Catherine into exile. A little over a decade after the Battle of Flodden, Henry had grown quite infatuated with Anne Boleyn. This came after the king had grown to resent his marriage to Catherine, as she couldn't provide him with a living male heir. It wasn't until almost another decade later that Henry actually annulled his marriage to Catherine and married Anne, but during this time, the seeds of animosity had been sown already.
Considering that the eight-part second season has a lot to accomplish within the next five episodes, looks like this suspicion of Catherine might actually have some truth to it. Unfair as it might sound, Episode 4 could also introduce us to Anne who would cause Catherine's future as a royal to plummet further. The official trailer shows Catherine confront Lena about any possible rumors of an affair on Henry's end that she might have heard, as a montage of Henry dancing with a blonde woman at the ball appears on the screen. Could this be our Anne Boleyn?
'The Spanish Princess' Season 2 airs on Sundays at 8 pm on Starz.