Unless you're a scholar of Spanish history, Philip II is that shadowy figure in the Tudor era who married Mary Tudor and then lost his armada to her sister Elizabeth's navy. He had never aroused my curiosity, and I had never felt anything for him beyond apathy. For me, he was in the way of the more fascinating Tudor sisters. However, Plaidy knew there was a complex figure to be brought out from the wings, and that's exactly what she did here.

When writing For a Queen's Love, Plaidy dives into the psyche of a serious boy brought up in a serious court to be king. Surely that boy would grow into a serious young man. Like all his predecessors, he is also a religious fanatic, and the Inquisition once more takes the stage, just as it did in Plaidy's Isabella and Ferdinand series. As a result, there are some parts that are harder to read than others. Plaidy doesn't go into gory detail, but she doesn't need to. The few times she references it are enough to illustrate just how brutal this time period could be. While that is happening, Philip is trying to find happiness in love in a role that rarely offers both. Despite his bigotry, he cuts a pitiable figure.

After reading several Plaidy books, I've noticed she tends to focus on a couple of things in her historical novels: relationships, war, and religion. There is no mention of the artistic achievements in any of her books: no mention of literature or painting and what is mentioned of music is usually done to flesh out the protagonists (ie, the troubadours in A Court of Love illustrate Eleanor's romantic nature and Henry II's jealousies). As a result, don't expect much about the world of Spain to be fleshed out. Plaidy's worlds are dark and full of intrigue.

In addition, the women in this book are also rarely fleshed out beyond sexist caricatures. Philip's first wife, Maria Manoela, is childish because she fears her husband and loves candy. His third wife Elisabeth of Valois is also childish and loves candy. Mary Tudor is a pitiable spinster who makes a fool of herself by literally throwing herself at Philip while her sister Elizabeth is a coquette. Mothers are shown as frigid and obsessed with duty. I found it strange that Mary was made to be so cloying. In Plaidy's novel Shadow of the Crown, Mary is much more self-assured. I get this is Philip's perspective, but it was a bit jarring since I just finished Mary's version and then read this one. Honestly, Elisabeth of Valois was the most fleshed out of all of these women, as she does gain some growth, but the book ends with her death where she simultaneously condemns Philip and us. However, this isn't the end of Philip's life, and it's strange that Plaidy leaves out Philip's final marriage to Anna of Austria, one in which he finally gets a male heir.

Speaking of male heirs, there is Don Carlos. The boy is Philip's first child by his first wife. Since his wife is his first cousin, the child is super inbred with both physical and mental disabilities. Compared to Philip's wives, Don Carlos actually gets quite a lot of page time, which surprised me, as I wasn't expecting him to be a major figure at all. While he has his moments of goodness, Don Carlos is generally a very disturbed boy, but this does give Plaidy a chance to delve more into the psyche of Juana la Loca, which was interesting. Juana is a very tragic figure, and even though she is depicted as insane, I never got the sense Plaidy was mocking her. I felt bad for her, and her scenes were poignant.

Overall, this wasn't my favorite book. It was interesting, but it also felt very repetitive. Philip has two sides; Philip is very serious; the people don't like Philip because he's too serious, etc. I don't think you're missing out on much by skipping this book. That said, I still found it worthwhile because I know so little about this time period. ( )

I really enjoyed this book although I think it was more about Philip rather than his wives. One of my favorites! ( )

A patchy novel, this, and at times too bland. Too much “telling” instead of “showing” is the biggest problem.

The consistent use of the passive voice slows the narrative down. For example, we get "The Emperor stood at a window of the palace" instead of the active "The Emperor stood at a palace window".

Wasted words also slow the narrative pace: "It was the month of November" instead of "It was November."

As for the story itself, it reads like an episodic novel because of the three different wives. The material in first and third wives' respective sections were a lot better than the middle part on Mary Tudor, which I found boring much of the time.

The most engaging scenes feature crazy Carlos. Because he does wild and unexpected things, like making a shoemaker eat leather, you can't help but become involved in the story. Carlos isn't a likable character, but he's the most memorable one in this book. ( )

To restore the might of Spain and to bring wayward England back into the arms of the Catholic Church, young Phillip II agrees to marry Mary Tudor. Set in the 16th century amidst the brutal Inquisition of Spain and the tortured England of Bloody Mary, this story traces the life of Phillip II and the intertwined lives of the women who came to know this brutal tyrant as a loving husband and father. I truly enjoyed this story. It's an excellent storyline and I give it an A+! ( )

From the Back Cover:

Power-hungry monarch, cold-blooded murderer, obsessive monster – who could love such a man?

Set against the glittering courts of sixteenth-century Europe, the Spain of the dreaded Inquisition, and the tortured England of Bloody Mary, For a Queen’s Love is the story of Philip II of Spain – and of the women who loved him as a husband and father.

My Review:

This was my very first Plaidy novel and I chose to start with this one because I knew very little about Philip aside from his time as Mary Tudor’s husband. I was hoping to get a feel for this prolific author’s style while learning something new in the process and I was not disappointed.

The novel begins with Philip as a child, raised as the heir to Charles I and the greatest kingdom in the world with all of the pressures and formalities that go along with such a heavy burden. He is a solemn child, anxious to perform as expected, almost obsessive in his desire to please and to be loved in return. The novel follows him as he grows and demonstrates how each of his first three wives had an effect on shaping his personality, from the awkwardness and tragedy of first love during his teenage marriage to Maria Manoela, to the smothering, unstable, loveless marriage of state to a much older Mary Tudor, and then on to a more satisfying, if not perfect marriage to the young and pretty Elisabeth Valois of France. And all the while Philip’s first son and heir, the undesireable Don Carlos, haunts his footsteps and creates a great sense of urgency and obligation to produce another male heir.

Throughout Philip’s life two frightening themes pop up over and over: the abundance of inbreeding within the royal family, which seemed to be the cause of some serious mental and physical deficiencies, and the horrors of the Inquisition. Philip is devoutly Catholic and was taught from an early age that the greatest threat to his empire was the heretic and thus as he grows older his desire to serve God by ridding the world of heretics begins to consume him. He fails to achieve the English crown, he fails to secure great military victories, but he believes that he may achieve greatness yet in his efforts to please God and feels justified in his actions during the Inquisition, actions that have led to his depiction as a “monster”:

"Philip was thinking of God’s pleasure in the drama which was about to be enacted; he was thinking of the delight of God in maimed and tortured bodies, in the cries of agony.

The Inquisition in its mercy gives these people a foretaste of Hell that they may repent in time and save themselves from an eternity of suffering."

Plaidy's take on Philip appears to be historically accurate for the most part, although the fate of Philip's first son, Don Carlos, is debated. Plaidy has taken the dramatic route in this novel, but while scholars agree he was physically deformed and mentally unstable and there is evidence that he may have plotted to kill Philip, most modern historians believe Don Carlos died from complications of his own ill treatment of his body and not at the hands of his father.

I do wonder why the author chose not to go on to Philip's fourth marriage to his niece, Anna of Austria, daughter of Philip's cousin, Maximillian, and Phillip's sister, Maria, who bore him five children over ten years, including Philip III. Historians seem to agree that this was a happy marriage and that Anna had a positive effect on Philip and the Spanish court. It may very well have been that in this last marriage Philip finally received the love of a queen he had so desperately been searching for. After reading up a bit on this last marriage, I feel like no portrayal of Philip’s life could be complete without its inclusion and that’s my main reason for not rating this higher.

This novel combines vividly evocative, engrossing, informative, and eye-opening historical content with a poignant tale of a boy turned man turned king who struggled to please too many at the expense of himself. A fascinating, entertaining portrait of a man who has been often overshadowed in history by his father and his second wife. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.25 Stars out of 5 ( )