This dual biography of two of the daughters of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, Katherine of Aragon and Juana of Castile. Much has been written about Katherine and her marriage to King Henry VIII. Less is written about Juana, wife of Philip of Burgundy and mother of Charles, the Holy Roman Emperor except to call her "Juana the Mad." When they were young their powerful parents arranged politically advantageous marriages for them. Katherine to Arthur of Wales, the heir to the throne of Henry VII, and Juana to Philip of Burgundy. After the death of Arthur, much political wangling, Katherine's marriage to Henry was arranged. Much has been written about how that turned out. Juana became a queen in her own right only to have her power usurped by her father, her husband, and her son. The stories of her madness, including the story that she lived with her husband in his casket, were propagated by her son and his officials as an excuse to keep her sequestered from the people she should have been ruling. (She did keep him in his casket but only because her son would not let her go to Granada to have him buried.) These sisters were strong enough to endure the hardships they encountered but could not overcome the betrayal and mistreatment by the men in their lives.
I listened to the unabridged audiobook version and it is very well done. However, I could have used a scorecard to keep track of all the Henrys, Philips, Charles's, and how they were all related to each other.
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