YMMV / The Spanish Princess

• Aluminum Christmas Trees: Critics were quick to jump at the characters of Lina and Oviedo as examples of forced representation, yet they are actually based on real people.
• Anvilicious: This series has feminist themes. In case you couldn't tell.
• Americans Hate Tingle: This series did poorly in Spanish and Portugese speaking countries. Likely due to the negative sterotypes of the Spanish people.
• Broken Base: Basically, the quality of the series itself is cause for division among fans, especially compared to The White Princess and The White Queen.
• Crack Ship: Many fans complained about poor chemistry between Henry and Catherine, leading to the development of two ships of questionable seriousness
  • Henry x Wolsey. In the show, Wolsey wields incredible influence over the king - so far so good, but then you get stuff like Catherine being jealous because of this, her bitterly asking whether he is going to "replace her in king's chambers too", meaningful looks between Henry and Wolsey...
  • Catherine x Stafford, stemming mostly from the fact that Stafford treats Catherine far more kindly than her husband, who is terrible even before their marriage supposedly starts falling apart. The fact that red-haired Henry and Catherine, who should have had only red-haired children (and in real life did), somehow sired a dark-haired child doesn't help, since Stafford has dark hair...
• Cry for the Devil: In the last episode of the first series, Margaret, Lady Mother of the King, discovers her son is dead, is humiliated at every turn, and finally disowned by Henry when he discovers her subterfuge.
• Designated Hero: Catherine of Aragon comes across as this in season 2. A brief list of her worst moments includes:
  • Charging into battle while heavily pregnant, risking not only her own life (which she really has no reason to do - presumably, she has generals whose goddamned job is to lead her armies) but also that of her unborn child. Even worse, the rest of the season is then dedicated to underlining how important it is for her to have children, especially boys.
  • Pressuring Henry into sex while he is still grieving for their son.
  • Being unnecessarily antagonistic towards Wolsey for seemingly no reason, other than him being close to her husband and daring to have influence over him while being of low birth. Again, the real Catherine opposed him for political reasons.
  • Asking Lina to snoop around whether Henry has a mistress, only to then get mad at her when Lina tells her that he does.
  • Shunning her own child for being born a girl (this is especially jarring compared to real Henry and Catherine, who took Mary's birth in a stride, since after a healthy girl a healthy boy could follow, and both very much loved Mary).
  • Performing an episiotomy on Bessie without warning or consent, while Bessie was begging her not to and the other ladies were convinced she was about to stab her.
  • Taking a newborn child from her husband's mistress, not even letting her hold it in her arms before presenting it to king, while saying that she's "giving him a son". She was petty towards said mistress before, which is at least somewhat understandable, but taking a baby from his mother's breast seems too much even considering she has no reason to like her.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Stephanie Levi-John, before a relatively unknown actress, that here plays Catherine's lady-in-waiting Lina De Cardones. While Lina herself is a fairly popular character, that's nothing compared to the praise Stephanie's performance earned.
  • Lina herself, as well as her husband Oviedo, earned this status in season 2, mostly to contrast their good relationship with Henry and Catherine's romance, which many people find unconvincing even before their relationship starts falling apart.
  • In season 2, both of Henry's sisters get their own storylines, which became popular even among those who otherwise didn't care much for the main plot. For some people it reached Just Here for Godzilla levels.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Catherine and Meg get along well. Ironic considering that Meg's husband will go to war with Catherine and die on the field of battle.
  • In season 2, Catherine chooses the company of Anne Boleyn over Bessie Blount, because the latter has become Henry's mistress.
  • Henry VII predicts in Season 1 that his son will eclipse him in history. It's true. But what Harry will be remembered for...
• Rooting for the Empire: Again Margaret Beaufort. A lot of people weren't happy about her excessive Historical Villain Upgrade and rooted for her in spite of it. The fact that her actress is one of the best in series overall and that she has both a sympathetic backstory and a lot of charisma certainly helped.
• She Really Can Act: Some fans who knew Charlotte Hope only as the Ms. Fanservice Myranda of Game of Thrones were pleasantly surprised by the actress's dramatic talent as Catherine of Aragon.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Bessie Blount. Infidelity aside, she is never disloyal or rude to Catherine, even though Catherine is dismissive of her even before the affair starts. She doesn't seek any political power to rival Catherine and only wants enough money for financial security. Given that Henry is the king of England and she's only a lady in waiting, the power imbalance makes her very consent to the affair dubious.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Catherine herself. Perhaps because her historical counterpart's life is still so revered, this fictional Catherine comes across as self-righteous, selfish and stubborn in flouting the rules of the era and explicitly defying the religion she adheres to all because she wants to be Queen of England by marrying her brother in-law. Whilst we're supposed to see Catherine as the heroine, it's hard not to take the side of Queen Elizabeth and Margaret Beaufort in condemning the union as wrong since Catherine is lying about having sex with Arthur, especially with our knowledge of history. The fact that Catherine will end up cast aside by Henry can seem as fitting punishment for Catherine's pig-headedness and lies.
• What the Hell, Costuming Department?: A lot of the costumes are less than historically accurate, with the dreaded 'head necklace' being a regular offender, but the Internet was particularly stunned by the 'maternity armour' that Catherine wears when she's heavily pregnant in season 2.
  • The men's hair, in particular Thomas More's wig and Henry VIII's beard, have been thoroughly mocked on the Internet for just how terrible they look.

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