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 5: Plague
A deadly outbreak of sweating sickness ravages London, testing the resilience of the court and the monarchy. Catherine faces personal loss and public fear, while political ambitions escalate behind palace doors. The Spanish Princess Season 2 Episode 5 blends historical drama with human vulnerability, showing how the Tudors weathered both literal and figurative plagues.
The “Plague” That Wasn’t
The episode refers to the outbreak as “the plague,” but what really struck the Tudor court was sweating sickness, a terrifying and poorly understood disease that only affected the English. It wasn’t the Black Death, and it wasn’t spread by rats. The show conflates three different events for dramatic effect:
- Mary and Charles Brandon’s marriage (1515)
- Henry FitzRoy’s birth (1519)
- The sweating sickness outbreak of 1517
To add more confusion, William Compton is killed off prematurely (he died of the sweat in 1528, not 1517). The court flees to Hampton Court to ride out the storm, accurate in setting, as Wolsey did build the palace around 1514. But historically, Henry was so afraid of the sweat, he often changed residences nightly to avoid it.
Thomas More’s Moral Failings… Are the Writers’, Not His
After William Compton dies, the show invents a bizarre subplot where Lady Margaret Pole and Sir Thomas More fall in love. Never mind that he’s married; apparently, that’s just a minor inconvenience in this script. Margaret even shrugs it off with some nonsense about how maybe God brought them together to “seize happiness with both hands.”
Thomas rejects her, not because adultery is wrong or because he fears God—but because it would “anguish his children.”
His children.
Not his wife.
Not his Church.
Not his conscience.
This is character assassination at its worst.
The real Thomas More was a devout Catholic who believed marriage to be a sacred and unbreakable bond. In his fictional Utopia, adultery is punishable by slavery, and even the intention to commit adultery is seen as sinful. He later gave up his life rather than violate his convictions about marriage and Church law. So no, he wouldn’t have needed an excuse like “my kids would be sad.” He believed adultery was a mortal sin. End of story.
Henry Is a Jerk (But Not This Kind of Jerk)
Once again, for the people in the back: Henry VIII never withheld his sister Margaret’s dowry or her “share of Arthur’s Welsh lands” for revenue purposes. That’s a complete fabrication, inserted by the writers to stir up sibling drama and make Henry look like a self-serving liar. But in reality, his father, Henry VII, paid Margaret’s Scottish dowry in full when she married James IV.
Henry VIII didn’t need to be miserly, at least not at this point in his reign. In fact, he was often too generous. He reversed many of his father’s unpopular attainders and restored nobles to their titles and lands, gutting the treasury in the process. So while the show is clearly trying to lay the groundwork for the tyrant he would become, it jumps the gun. Early Henry was charming, idealistic, and eager to please, not yet the paranoid despot history remembers.
Margaret and Douglas: A Battle of Property, Not Passion
The moment where Margaret Tudor confronts her husband for moving his mistress into her palace is not far off base. In real life, her husband Archibald Douglas did father a child with Jane Stewart, and Margaret was furious, but mostly because he seized her income and her dower properties, not because of the affair itself.
When she returned to Scotland, it was with the Duke of Albany’s permission, and she resumed her regency alongside him. The younger of her two sons had died by then. Once again, the show leans into emotional theatrics, when the truth was far more political and calculated.
Louis Did Not Die in Bed (But It’s a Great Rumor)
The idea that King Louis XII of France died while sleeping with Mary Tudor is hilarious court gossip, but not medically accurate. The show leans into this historical myth, though most historians agree he died from gout complications, not from excessive “enthusiasm.”
However, the way the show handles Mary’s relationship with Brandon is surprisingly on point. It’s likely Mary pushed Brandon to marry her quickly to avoid being used as a pawn again, and their union did enrage Henry, though he eventually forgave them.
Bessie Blount’s Story Gets a Little… Bloody
In one of the episode’s most ridiculous scenes, Catherine cuts open Bessie Blount, delivers her child, wraps the baby up, and dashes off to hand him to Henry. What?
The truth is much simpler and far less sensational:
- Bessie gave birth to Henry FitzRoy at the Augustinian priory in Blackmore, not in front of the court.
- Catherine was not present.
- Henry was not present.
- Wolsey did not announce the pregnancy.
The birth was kept secret for a while, as Henry did not want the court to know he kept a mistress. Even if Bessie had birthed a girl, she would have been provided for. Mistresses were usually rewarded with marriages and estates, and Henry later arranged for Bessie to wed Gilbert Tailboys. Also, Bessie’s fears about being cast out and living in poverty are wildly overblown. Royal mistresses were not thrown into the streets, and her parents (though likely embarrassed) would not have disowned her entirely. If anything, her child was proof of the king’s virility, which he would have welcomed.
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.
