The Spanish Princess has captivated audiences with its lush costumes and dramatic portrayal of Catherine of Aragon’s early years, but how accurate is this Tudor-era television series when held up against the historical record? Based on Philippa Gregory’s novel, the show blends fact with fiction, often taking significant liberties with real events, characters, and timelines. In this essay, we’ll explore the historical inaccuracies in The Spanish Princess, separating the dramatized narrative from the documented truth about Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII, and the Tudor court.
With over 25 years of studying the Tudor period and a seven-book Tudor historical fiction series to my name, I bring a well-researched and passionate perspective to the lives of Henry VII, Catherine of Aragon, and the court that shaped them. If you enjoy peeling back the layers of fact and fiction in Tudor dramas, you’ll feel right at home here, and maybe even find yourself intrigued enough to explore my novels that bring this world to life in rich, imaginative detail.
Episode Nine: Flodden
The Battle of Flodden looms large in this dramatic episode, as Catherine takes command while Henry campaigns in France. The Spanish Princess Season 2 Episode 2 showcases Catherine’s strength and resolve as she leads England to a historic military victory against the Scots, cementing her image as a warrior queen.
Great Gowns, Bad History: Catherine of Aragon’s Flodden Fantasy
I do want to say that the costumes are gorgeous this season, and fairly accurate minus all the women having their hair down and/or not wearing veils.
From an author’s point of view, I totally get why they need to show Catherine of Aragon at Flodden, even if it’s historically absurd. As we’ll see in my historical analysis of the episode, she didn’t go all that way, or fight on the actual battlefield, but for a cinematic experience, you need action, drama, and for your heroine to stay in the middle of things. But my main beef is that the storyline indirectly implies Catherine miscarries her child because of these events. This poor queen miscarried at least six children, and one died within a fortnight of its birth. Miscarriage is a traumatic experience for any woman, so to write a blame-narrative where Catherine’s “reckless ambition” is why she miscarries seems like more sexist bullshit, to go along with the rest of the weird pseudo-feminism in this series. (No women can be friends, only rivals; the women are strong and controlling while the men are weak and passive and emotional; and yet, they have meltdowns all over the place. It’s all so inconsistent it makes my brain hurt.) So without further ado, let’s dig into it!
Why Did Maximilian, Ferdinand, and Henry VIII Invade France in 1513?
If you’ve ever wondered why Catherine of Aragon’s England allied with the Holy Roman Emperor and Spain to invade France in 1513, you’re not alone. The show offers little context, but the real story is fascinating.
Emperor Maximilian I ruled a vast and fragmented collection of European territories. His holdings included Austria (his homeland), parts of the Alps, southwest Germany, northern Italy, Czechia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and eastern France (namely Franche-Comté and Artois, territories France seized from Burgundy after the death of Charles the Bold). Maximilian, who married Charles’s daughter Mary of Burgundy, viewed these lands as stolen Habsburg inheritance. He also ruled over the Low Countries, what we now call Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
In 1513, Maximilian, Ferdinand of Aragon, and Henry VIII formed a military alliance to invade France. Each monarch had his own reasons for going to war with King Louis XII.
Maximilian I: The Habsburg Emperor’s Rivalry with France
France had long thwarted Maximilian’s ambitions to expand Habsburg power in Italy, Burgundy, and the Low Countries. As Holy Roman Emperor, he claimed rights over northern Italy, but France sought control over Milan and Naples, two strategic duchies that had already been battlegrounds in the long-running Italian Wars (1494–1559), a series of bloody conflicts between France, the Holy Roman Empire, and Spain.
Maximilian’s marriage to Mary of Burgundy gave him a legitimate claim to her inheritance, but the French had already seized parts of it. For Maximilian, the 1513 campaign was not just about territorial gain. It was personal. France had blocked his inheritance, undermined his prestige, and hampered his authority in key regions.
Ferdinand of Aragon and the Strategic Seizure of Navarre
Ferdinand’s primary interest was not France, but Navarre, a small but strategically located kingdom nestled between northern Spain and southern France. Though Ferdinand and France had long clashed over the Kingdom of Naples, which he secured by 1504, Ferdinand saw Navarre as the final piece in his plan to consolidate Spain.
Nominally neutral, Navarre was ruled by a French-leaning royal house sympathetic to Louis XII. Controlling it would allow Ferdinand to block any future French incursions through the Pyrenees, providing both a political and military buffer. So, while Ferdinand agreed to the joint invasion of France, he used the opportunity to launch a surprise assault on Navarre instead, betraying his allies while expanding his own power.
Henry VIII: The Young Warrior King Seeks Glory
Henry VIII’s campaign against France in 1513 was driven by personal ambition, national pride, and dynastic rivalry. Though England had lost nearly all its French possessions after the Hundred Years’ War, its monarchs still claimed the title “King of France.” Henry, only in his early twenties, longed to emulate Henry V’s battlefield triumphs (especially Agincourt) and reclaim lost glory for the English crown.
Where his father, Henry VII, preferred diplomacy and thrift, Henry VIII sought valor and prestige. He also had political motives: France had aligned with Scotland, England’s traditional enemy, and weakening France could disrupt the Franco-Scottish alliance. By joining forces with Maximilian and Ferdinand, Henry gained not just military advantage, but prestige as a continental power.
The Holy League and the 1513 Campaign Against France
This alliance was formalized through the Holy League, created by Pope Julius II, who wanted to drive French forces out of Italy and restore the full extent of the Papal States, many of which had been seized during earlier conflicts. Maximilian, clever but perpetually underfunded, joined the League in 1511. The Pope’s invitation to Henry VIII gave the young king a sacred pretext to wage war against France in the name of Christendom.
In 1513, all three powers launched campaigns against France. Henry personally led an expedition to northern France, and alongside Maximilian besieged towns such as Thérouanne and Tournai. Ferdinand, however, never intended to fulfill his part of the bargain. Instead of launching an invasion from the south, he turned his army toward Navarre, seizing it while his allies were occupied elsewhere. It was a stunning betrayal. Clever, calculated, and entirely in character.
Did Edmund de la Pole Really Threaten the Tudor Throne?
It’s been a while since Season 1 aired, so it’s easy to forget how deeply tied Edmund de la Pole was to the Plantagenet line. His aunt was Elizabeth of York, which made him a cousin to both the Princes in the Tower and the Tudors. As the nephew of both Edward IV and Richard III, Edmund had a stronger blood claim to the throne than Henry Tudor himself.
After his brother’s death at the Battle of Stoke in 1487 (fighting for the pretender Lambert Simnel), Edmund feared for his life and fled to the Netherlands in 1499, where he declared himself the rightful king and sought support from Emperor Maximilian and other foreign leaders. This wasn’t just idle posturing but active treason. Edmund gathered Yorkist supporters in exile and attempted to return to England by force.
To prevent any such uprising, Henry VIII had Edmund executed in 1513, just before leaving for the French campaign. No monarch wanted to risk leaving a rival claimant alive, especially one with legitimate blood ties to the throne.
Margaret Pole’s Protest: Emotional Drama or Historical Fact?
In the show, Margaret Pole pleads for her cousin Edmund’s life, insisting he’s innocent, and confronts Catherine of Aragon directly about the execution. While this makes for great television and likely reflects how she felt, it’s historically implausible.
Margaret, as a surviving Plantagenet and mother of Reginald Pole, already had a precarious position at court. Publicly defending a convicted traitor could be interpreted as treasonous sympathy. While she may have grieved privately or petitioned for mercy, it’s unlikely she would declare Edmund “innocent” when Henry VII had extensive proof of his subversive activity abroad. (All gathered by his enforcer, Sir Thomas Lovell.)
The show also has Margaret lash out at Catherine, accusing her of enabling “another great Tudor conquest.” In real life, such remarks would be highly dangerous, possibly even fatal. She may have begged for a stay of execution, but no one, not even a Countess, would risk uttering open disloyalty in front of the queen. As for Catherine attending Edmund’s execution, royalty rarely attended executions of any kind, especially not for highborn prisoners.
Was Thomas Howard Really That Foul-Mouthed?
The series portrays Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, as constantly swearing, particularly with modern vulgarities like the f-word. While it makes for colorful drama, it’s inaccurate.
Tudor profanity was largely religious in nature, with phrases like “God’s blood,” “by the mass,” or “God’s wounds!” The f-word did exist, but it was rare, carried its literal sexual meaning, and was not used in noble circles. More common were personal insults like “knave,” “bastard,” “wretch,” or “son of a whore.” Howard was known as a ruthless, no-nonsense commander, but there’s no evidence he had a sailor’s mouth or that he hurled modern expletives around the Tudor court.
The Emasculation Never Ends: Margaret and James at Odds
In this episode, Margaret Tudor once again humiliates her husband, King James IV of Scotland, in front of his nobles by insisting is invasion of England is proof of weakness. Historically, Margaret did oppose the invasion (understandable, since she was English!), but the show heightens the tension by having her claim James was bribed by France. While that accusation is true (King Louis XII paid James 50,000 florins to draw Henry VIII’s attention away from France), Margaret also claims Henry never paid her dowry. That’s fiction. Henry VII paid her dowry in full upon her marriage to secure the Anglo-Scottish alliance. He was not a man who left debts unresolved, especially not royal ones.
The show then has Margaret experience a prophetic nightmare and ride out to stop James before Flodden. She would never have been permitted near a battlefield, and while stories of her foreseeing James’s death exist, they are unsubstantiated folklore, albeit dramatic and emotionally satisfying for writers (I admit, I like this kind of foreshadowing in fiction too).
No, the Scots Weren’t Wearing Kilts Yet
All the Scottish lords in the show sport kilts, a visual shortcut for “Scottishness,” but an inaccurate one. Kilts didn’t appear until the mid-to-late 1500s, decades after Flodden. In 1513, Highland nobles would’ve worn belted plaid or leine tunics, but not the tartan kilts we associate with later Jacobite culture.
“Lena Should Be in Confinement”
Lena giving birth on a cold stone floor in some unnamed fortress is baffling. Why is she still traveling with Catherine when she should be in confinement, a traditional period of rest and seclusion before childbirth, meant to protect mother and child from stress, noise, and male company? She would have been placed in a chamber with warm bedding, midwives, and likely a birthing chair.
The Fake Meeting Between Monarchs
The show fabricates a scene where Catherine of Aragon, Thomas Howard, Margaret Tudor, and James IV all meet and argue about troop movements. This is pure fiction, added for dramatic tension and to show Catherine outmaneuvering her enemies with cunning. In truth, James invaded northern England, seized several castles, and triggered a swift military response. Word of his attack reached Catherine in London, and as regent, she dispatched three armies in defense. (The Howards in the north, Sir Thomas Lovell in the midlands, and Catherine in the south.)
The Howards, northern landowners and fierce defenders of the border, met James at the Battle of Flodden, where he was killed and his army devastated. There was no retreat, no fake-out maneuver, and no strategic meeting in the middle of the woods. The show bends history to make Catherine a master general in person; in reality, she led as commander in chief, but from a distance.
Tudor Military Reality: Raising an Army
Thomas Howard struggles to “raise an army” in this episode, which shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Tudor feudalism. In reality, each nobleman was expected to supply troops drawn from his lands. Tenants were conscripted, not asked, and were provided weapons and armor by the landholder. It wasn’t about recruiting, but about summoning them.
The show makes Howard fail at this to set up a moment for Catherine to shine. While Catherine likely did give speeches to her commanders, she wouldn’t have rallied farmers in the town square. Her rousing words would have been reserved for lords and knights, urging them to shed blood for the realm her husband left in her care.
Catherine of Aragon: Warrior Queen or Historical Stretch?
The show wants to echo Queen Isabella of Castile by portraying Catherine riding into battle, but this is pure invention. Even Isabella (who financed armies and led campaigns) never fought on the front lines. Catherine’s power came from diplomacy, planning, and regency, not personal combat.
But the show takes it further: Catherine rides in full plate armor, over chainmail, wielding a sword. This would have weighed 60 to 90 pounds combined. Catherine was tiny, perhaps five feet tall, and around 100 pounds. Oh, honey… no. (Also, somewhere in this episode, Catherine talks about being born on a battlefield… in reality, she was born in an archbishop’s palace near Madrid.)
“This Is All Your Fault”
The death of a king in battle was seen as a sign of divine disfavor. When James IV fell at Flodden, it broke Scottish morale. In the show, Margaret cries over his body and blames Catherine for his death. It’s a powerful moment, but historically inconsistent. Margaret spent much of the episode scorning him. Not to mention James invaded England. Catherine defended it. Whose fault is it really?
Catherine’s comment about sending James’s coat to Henry is accurate, however. Far from a gruesome taunt, it was a chivalric gesture, akin to sending a captured banner or sword.
Catherine’s Miscarriage
The show portrays Catherine miscarrying alone in the garden at night, a dramatic but unrealistic moment. Catherine was rarely alone. Royal women were constantly attended by ladies-in-waiting, especially when pregnant.
Also puzzling is the idea that Wolsey needed to “warn” Henry not to sleep with Catherine while she was pregnant. In Tudor England, that was common knowledge and one of many reasons kings had mistresses. Sex during pregnancy was believed to cause miscarriage or deformity. Henry and Catherine, who had already lost children, would have known the risks.
Step Back in Time with The Tudor Throne Series
While The Spanish Princess revamps Catherine’s story with dramatic flair, The Tudor Throne Series offers you a more historically accurate interpretation to the tapestry of events in her young life. Set earlier during Catherine of Aragon’s formative years, each novel blends rich historical details (family loyalties, dynastic alliances, and peril) with the emotional depth and suspense you crave.
