The Spanish Bridegroom

This is a re-issue of The Spanish Bridegroom by Jean Plaidy. Not sure why the publisher decided to change the names of so many of her books for re-issue, but if you read this book under the original title, don't bother buying this one. One the other hand, if you haven't read this book yet, I highly recommend it! Vintage Plaidy!

Jean Plaidy is a staple to historical fiction fans the world over and there's a good reason for that: she wrote consistently well-researched novels. While some may find her a bit simplistic in her presentation, but for this novel, For a Queen's Love: The Story of the Royal Wives of Philip II, a simpler approach serves the reader well. The novel begins in Philip's childhood and progresses through his reign, chiefly focusing his relationships with each of his four wives and his children. Philip's simple and repetitive thoughts and actions underscore his stunted intellectual/emotional maturity. Don't mistake this technique for bad writing as I initially did...as it turns out, it is a remarkably plausible for Philip's behavior throughout his reign. A little history: Philip reigned as the powerful King of Spain during the mid-1500's. Plaidy plausibly writes him as a man who from infancy was raised to be a king and never, not for one moment, allowed to be a normal human being. Emotionally stunted by his childhood, Philip's social skills were understandably lacking. Couple this with his notoriously inbred Hapsburg blood and Plaidy presents a sad portrait of a man unable to see beyond his "duty to state." As usual, Plaidy wrote a novel well-researched enough to give the reader a good, basic understanding of the time period and for those readers who find themselves very interested in the subject matter, this book is a great foundation of knowledge to go on and read more (fiction or non) about Philip's reign. It's been my experience that you really can't go wrong with a Jean Plaidy novel!

This book helped along the fascination I have for that period. Jean Plaidy in her characteristic style brings out all the influences on Philip's life. His strict spanish upbringing warring with his deeper sensual nature. The book is divided into 3 parts, dedicated to 3 different phases of his life as well as 3 different women that he was married to. The impression I got is this: That JP started with an extreme close up view of Philip when he was young and gradually distanced the view by including more characters into the story. One of those books that brings out the shades of grey - in historical characters - only to well. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the tie ins between English and Spanish histories.

This book rocked! It was my fourth book that I read by Jean Plaidy, and it was the one that made me fall in love with her books and make her my favourite author. Philip was a small fair boy and was raised to be a serious Catholic. When he was a teenager, he married Maria Manuel from Portugal. She was very pretty with her dark hair and dark eyes. Philip was in love, but he didn't want to tell her because he had his whole life to anyways. After an encounter with his grandmother, Juana the Mad, Maria is with chid and to Spain's happiness it is a son, Don Carlos. To Philip's greif, Maria dies too. Philip got upset because he never got to tell her how much he loved her. After years of widowhood, Philip marries for state reasons. He married Mary Tudor (read In The Shadow of The Crown by Jean Plaidy). Don Carlos was a little screwed up in the head and Philip knew that he would not be a good ruler. So, he figures if he marries Mary and gets a new heir for his empire and add gets England for his son. He meets Mary and is not too charmed by her. She was old, but she had been a beauty in her youth. He treated her kindly and Mary was thrilled. She had been neglected and hardly loved since her mother's death and was thrilled that this handsome young man was treating her kindly. This was a man who would help her country come back to Rome (it was a Protestant country ever since the reign of her father, King Henry VIII). But Philip does treat her well and she is very happy. (If you type in Philip II into google and go to images, you will see that Philip is even handsome by today's standards.) But after living with Mary, he is not crowned king of England. The people hate him. But Philip does like Mary's half sister, Elizabeth. He considers marrying her if Mary were to die. Philip didn't even love her as a husband should love a wife. He sort of thought of her as a painful old aunt. He leaves and promises to be back in a few months. But he doesn't come back until he needs help from England in a war against France. Mary dies later. She was very unhappy and wanted Philip there. She really did love him. Poor Mary. AFter that, Philip asks for Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth I (Queen of this Realm by Jean Plaidy and Gay Lord Robert by Jean Plaidy)to marry him. She dallies with the proposal. She did have many to choose from. Since he didn't get any real answer, Philip marries a French Princess, Elizabeth. Elizabeth was originally intended for Don Carlos, but Philip married her himself. But Don Carlos was already half in love with her himself. He saw her minature and was in love with the idea of marrying her. He would even stop killing animals for her. Don Carlos was furious when Philip married her. He already hated Philip enough. Elizabeth, now Isabella, just wanted to stay in France. But it was her duty to go to Spain and be Queen. In Spain, her husband was cold to her and hardly smiled. Sometimes in private he would treat her tenderly though. Her step-son was

This book was much more fascinating than I thought it would be. The authors thoroughly researched their history and presented a view into the mind and emotions of Phillip II and the other characters which is fascinating. His family history is very interesting. It includes mental illness, psychopathy, and tragic romance. The characters' personalities and emotional functioning come to life in this analysis of the reasons behind their behaviors. It builds to a climactic end. I enjoyed this book very much.