num_pages: 398
description: Wives &amp; Other Women(Philip II of Spain)This novel is about the wives and mistresses of Philip II of Spain and his desperate need to provide a suitable male heir.His first brief marriage to a Portuguese princess does provide a son Prince Don Carlos but he is severely damaged mentally and physically; clearly not the heir that he and Spain require.His wifes early death frees him to spend some time with his one true love and long standing mistress Isabel de Osorio.After an emotional farewell he leaves for England to marry his dearly beloved aunt Mary Tudor who is even older looking than her thirty eight years. She is entranced by this young and handsome prince and experiences love for a man for the first time. After suffering many years of hatred and brutality and fear for her life she is ill prepared to cope with the challenges of this marriage. Her newly found happiness quickly disappears along with her phantom pregnancies. Within four years Mary is dead. The inadequate Prince Carlos remains Philips sole heir.When he leaves England it is for Brussels where he enjoys a diverting spell with his sparkling and beautiful cousin Princess Christina.Philips next bride is the thirteen-year-old French princess Isabel de Valois. When she reaches womanhood her first pregnancy ends in a miscarriage brought on by the devastating discovery that one of Philips mistresses is also pregnant. Prince Carlos screams his fury and his intention to kill his father.Isabels next two pregnancies provide Philip with two healthy girls. He finds it galling that while he sires sons with his mistresses his wife offers him and Spain only daughters. There is also the alarming news that his half-brother the notorious Don Juan a handsome and very popular young man already a threat to his throne is about to become a father.Throughout this marriage Philip is comforted and consoled by another mistress the beautiful Ana  her black eye patch alluring and mysterious.That the unacceptable Prince Carlos is still the sole heir is embarrassing and dangerous. Philip alleges treason and has him arrested and imprisoned in solitary confinement. His death a few months later is very convenient  and suspicious.Isabel is with child again. Four pregnancies in four years have undermined her health and her extremely weakened condition combined with the shock of Carloss death cause a miscarriage and within hours her own untimely death.Widowed for the third time Philip chooses his young niece Anne of Austria as his next wife. She is one of eleven children in a family where sons outnumber daughters so hopes are high that she will provide the son he so desperately needs.All the frustrations and anxieties of the past can be set aside; at last he feels he is in control of his and Spains destiny.(98000 words)
language: English
title: Wives And Other Women
publisher: None