THE SPANISH PRINCESS (S1E3) “An Audacious Plan”: So Crazy, It Just Might Work

It’s starting to get downright dirty in 16^th Century England! Let’s take a look at this week’s episode of The Spanish Princess! In episode three, we’re recovering from a passing, but, true to form, get set for more death, more ambition, more Tudors.

Baby On Board?

Arthur is finally laid to rest and the only things on the minds of the rest of the clan (Mom, Dad, Granny) is whether Catherine is expecting her late husband’s child. The deal specified that she and her desperately needed dowry would be returned to Spain if she was not pregnant. Plotting her next move, Catherine needs to be quite vague when directly asked if she’s having a baby. Margaret Beaufort, ever the watchdog of the family, launches her own special brand of interrogation, telling Catherine point blank that if she is not pregnant, her days at the Tudor court are numbered. She then ends her point with inappropriate grabbing of Catherine’s  chest.  Moments later, while chatting with Lina, Catherine throws a rag soaked with her menstrual blood into the fire. The secret is out (to the audience anyway). No baby is coming.

Now, Catherine definitely doesn’t want to go back to Spain. The wheels in her mind start spinning and she comes up with the ultimate scheme to get what she’s been promised since she was small.  Make no mistake, she has every intention of getting that crown.  She knows Harry has the hots for her, so why not stoke that fire? She may have lost the heir, but there’s still the spare. Catherine justifies her actions in order for her ladies to marry into nobility and maintain their status, but also to justify what she’s about to do in her own mind. There’s only one major problem. How will Catherine fool everyone into thinking she never slept with her husband?

Like A Virgin

It’s time to concoct the first scheme in her great plan to still get the throne. However, the most important person that she has to convince that she didn’t consummate her marriage is Maggie. Lady Pole heard the cries of passion and says how Arthur confided in her that they did have sex. Catherine’s first lie comes fairly naturally. Maggie is naturally skeptical, admonishing the young princess and warning her that if asked directly, she will answer truthfully, for that’s the only way to survive this “vipers’ nest”.

Harry and Catherine’s flirtation has been there from the start. As the two chat and then engage in swordplay, the interaction barely masks (OK, not really), an obvious sexual chemistry that skates on the very edge of impropriety. Forbidden fruit always tastes sweeter, doesn’t it?

Harry takes the bait and expresses his desire to marry her himself, but Catherine makes it seem that it was his idea. Harry asks his father for permission and knows that they will have to get a papal dispensation to allow him to marry his brother’s widow. (Keep in mind,  in real life, the fact that Catherine was previously wed to his brother is the exact same card Henry VIII played to try to get out of his marriage so that he could wed Anne Boleyn. Henry had to break away from the Catholic Church and create the Church of England, with himself as the head,  to do it, but it worked. Their marriage was nullified in 1533. He married Boleyn a short time later.)

Cousin Against Cousin

Meanwhile, Elizabeth of York and Maggie Pole are still at odds. At Arthur’s funeral, Elizabeth still continues to unleash her venom onto her cousin, but Maggie has had enough, telling Lizzie not to throw her issues onto her doorstep. Once Elizabeth goes into labor, obviously in a great deal of pain, Maggie tries to make amends. Elizabeth throws her out and subsequently gives birth to a stillborn daughter.  However, as was often the case in those days, her health was also fading quickly. Sensing that her life is over, she talks of reuniting with those that have passed, and asks her husband to offer her apologies to Maggie. In the end, Elizabeth has a terrifying premonition of the destruction of their bloodline. Warning Henry not to allow their son to marry Catherine, she whispers something unknown into Henry’s ear, and then is gone.

With the consent of the king allowing her new marriage,  Catherine writes to her mother that the hope of her becoming Queen of England is still alive. Among the bells mournfully ringing the news of Elizabeth of York’s death, Catherine realizes she has won her first battle, but now the real fight begins.

I thought we had another rushed death this week with the exit of Elizabeth of York. While her younger self was the center of the previous miniseries, I would have enjoyed a little more time with her. Yet while she had several flashbacks to her brother dying on the scaffold, there were none of her cousin. I guess he didn’t warrant as much guilt and shame for her as much as Richard.  As the story goes, Henry VII flirted with marrying Catherine himself following his wife’s death. Let’s see if that gets worked into the plot.

Lina and Oviedo’s blossoming love finally gets the stamp of approval in this episode.  However, she is still torn between her duty and promise to be married to a noble or to take a chance with a soldier. It’s going to a be long road before these two officially get together. Speaking of, we see what will become Catherine’s badge (and a point of reference that I make often), the pomegranate, in her very sweet conversation with her younger sister-in-law Mary.

As for the three Margarets, Beaufort is still the drill sergeant of the bunch and will probably outlive them all, Maggie Pole did her best to repair the rift between herself and her cousin, which will now never happen, and Meg Tudor must do her duty to her father and country, like so many before her.

Three pomegranate seeds down, five to go!

Join me next week as I cover the fourth episode, “The Battle for Harry”!

Do you think Margaret Beaufort will get another round of comeuppance?  Is the curse Elizabeth was afraid of for so long coming to fruition?