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The Spanish Princess release date: When is show likely to air in 2019?

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4th March 2019 3:02 AM ET
The Spanish Princess
The Spanish Princess returns to Starz in the spring of 2019. Pic credit: Starz

The Spanish Princess is a new limited drama series coming soon to Starz as the sequel to the network’s 2017 miniseries The White Princess.

Starz ordered The Spanish Princess into series back in March 2018. The series, based on the historical novels, The Constant Princess (2005) and The King’s Curse (2014) by Philippa Gregory, is set in the 16th century.

The series follows the Spanish Princess Catherine of Aragon (Charlotte Hope) who arrives in England as a beautiful teenage girl and marries Arthur, Prince of Wales. After Arthur dies, she marries his brother, Prince Harry, who would rule as King Henry VIII.

The Spanish Princess release date

Starz has not yet officially announced a release date for The Spanish Princess. However, the network has confirmed that the drama series will premiere in the spring of 2019, likely in April or May.

We will update this page when Starz announces the release date  of The Spanish Princess.

The Spanish Princess production details

Emma Frost and Matthew Graham (Life on Mars) are serving as showrunners. They are also executive producing alongside Colin Callender, Scott Huff, Charlie Pattinson, and Charlie Hampton.

Frost had previously helmed the production of White Queen (2013) and The White Princess (2017), based on Philippa Gregory’s books.

In line with the Frost’s purpose of highlighting the lives and roles of women in history, the first two episodes of the series were directed by Birgitte Stærmose. The show parades a female-dominated lineup of directors, editors, and production crew.

The showrunners are also using the series to tell the stories of people of color (especially women of color) who lived in 16th century England, but whose stories have been ignored in official history. For instance, Catherine of Aragon arrives in England with a diverse entourage, including her lady-in-waiting Catalina de Cardones (Stephanie Levi-John), an African Moor.

The production companies behind the series are All3 Media’s New Pictures and Playground. The series will be distributed domestically and internationally by Lionsgate.

The Spanish Princess was filmed on location in England and Spain. The creators were able to obtain access to historic properties in England that the Tudors and Catherine had lived in. They were also able to obtain access to the Alhambra and Alcazar palaces in Spain where Catherine had lived before she traveled to England.

The Spanish Princess trailer

On January 25, 2019, Starz released a 90-second trailer for The Spanish Princess.

The trailer shows Catherine marrying Arthur, Prince of Wales. Prince Arthur dies soon after and she marries Arthur’s brother Prince Harry.

The Spanish Princess cast

The series stars Charlotte Hope (Game of Thrones) as Catherine of Aragon, Ruairi O’Connor as Prince Harry (the future King Henry VIII), Georgie Henley as Prince Harry’s sister Margaret Tudor, Elliot Cowan as King Henry Tudor (King Henry VII), Angus Imrie as Prince Arthur, Alexandra Moen as King Henry VII’s wife Elizabeth,  Dame Harriet Walter as Lady Margaret Beaufort, Alicia Borrachero as Queen Isabella, and Richard Pepper as the Earl of Wiltshire Thomas Boleyn.

Others include Laura Carmichael as Margaret Pole and Stephanie Levi-John as Catherine’s lady-in-waiting Lina de Cardonnes.

Ricky (an animal actor) plays Catherine’s parrot.

The Spanish Princess plot: What is it about?

The Spanish Princess is the sequel to the Starz miniseries The White Princess, based on Gregory’s novel of the same name published in 2013. The White Princess focused on King Henry VII and his wife Elizabeth of York, during the War of Roses.

The Spanish Princess, set in the 16th century, is based on Gregory’s novels, The Constant Princess and The King’s Curse. The series follows Catherine of Aragon, a Spanish princess who arrives in England as a beautiful teenager promised to the English throne since she was an infant.

She was made to believe from childhood that God had destined her to become the Queen of England. Spurred by this conviction, she leaves her homeland in Spain and risks her life under dangerous conditions to travel to England to fulfill her destiny.

She arrives in England and marries Arthur, Prince of Wales, as part of a grand plan to unite Spain and England against their common enemy, France.

But when Arthur dies soon after their marriage, it appears that Catherine has lost her chance to be Queen of England. But the resourceful young woman makes the claim that her marriage to Arthur was never consummated and that she is eligible to marry Arthur’s brother, the charming, dashing, headstrong and impulsive Prince Harry, who would become King Henry VIII.

But her marriage to Prince Harry (Ruairi O’Connor) ends in a divorce.

Henry VIII divorces Catherine and marries Anne Boleyn. Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn caused a crisis that triggered the Protestant Reformation.

According to the showrunners Frost and Graham in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Philippa Gregory’s story is unique because it is one of the few written stories that explore Catherine’s life as a young woman. Most stories about her life focus on her late years as an old woman long after her divorce from King Henry VIII.