The Spanish Princess (TV Series)

Heart Versus Duty (2019)

Elliot Cowan: King Henry Tudor

Photos 

Quotes 

• Catherine of Aragon : Why do you smile, Your Grace?

  King Henry Tudor : I smile, because we're both clearly having such a splendid time of it. When one is king one dines for many reasons with many guests... for politics, to gain intelligence, to push a truce... to pursue a bride. I'm not unfamiliar with the sensation of this table growing longer nor the food growing more tasteless upon the plate.

  Catherine of Aragon : I'm sorry. I do not wish to take your appetite. Did you and the Queen take all your meals in here?

  King Henry Tudor : Goodness, no. Look at it!

  Catherine of Aragon : Arthur liked to eat under the trees. He would have taken all his meals outside, come wind or rain.

  King Henry Tudor : As did his mother... given the chance. When we were first wed, I arranged picnics for her throughout the grounds. I tried everything to warm her heart.

  Catherine of Aragon : She was cold to you?

  King Henry Tudor : Mm.

  Catherine of Aragon : But you were so in love. A blind man could see it.

  King Henry Tudor : The battle for her heart was hard-won. Winning the throne of England was less arduous.

  Catherine of Aragon : When did you know that she loved you?

  King Henry Tudor : I cannot tell you the hour. Only that one day I was aware of a peace in my heart... a sense that when I was with her I was home.

  [They smile] 

  King Henry Tudor : You know, you have the look of her in your eyes. You both had mothers who not so much raised you, but smelted you.

  Catherine of Aragon : I am a lump of steel.

  King Henry Tudor : [Henry laughs]  There. Who said I cannot woo a woman?

• King Henry Tudor : How dare you challenge me? It was your mother's dying wish. Does that mean nothing to you?

  Prince Harry Tudor : She was dying! She was in agony!

  King Henry Tudor : And you would put yourself ahead of the Queen's command?

  Prince Harry Tudor : No. I think that you asked this from her. Why would her final wish be to take away my happiness?

  King Henry Tudor : You always think everything is happening to you.

  Prince Harry Tudor : No, I think, Father, that you are jealous...

  King Henry Tudor : Oh!

  Prince Harry Tudor : -jealous of my confidence and my courage. And I think you seek to take away the one thing that I desire.

  [he leaves] 

  King Henry Tudor : What did we do to make him as he is? As if this wasn't already hard enough.

  Margaret Beaufort : For once in my life, I find myself agreeing with your late wife, God rest her soul.

  King Henry Tudor : [Henry cross himself]  Mm.

  Margaret Beaufort : I now see the wisdom of this union with the girl. I'll soothe our hothead. Yo go and see your new wife-to-be.

  King Henry Tudor : Uh, is this for me?

  Margaret Beaufort : Sir Richard Pole left it for me because I refused to see him. He pleads for his wife's return, no doubt. She disobeyed our rule, Henry. I will not have that.

• Margaret Beaufort : Maximilian has yet again refused to hand over the traitor Edmund de la Pole. We're offered trade deals, money. God knows his country needs it, but still he has refused.

  King Henry Tudor : He is coming for me. Dudley, where's my army?

  Sir Edmund Dudley : Ah, yes, Your Grace.

  [Harry enters] 

  Sir Edmund Dudley : The military expansion is a costly venture...

  Prince Harry Tudor : Uh, sorry. Why do we need men? Why are we expanding?

  Margaret Beaufort : Because the threat of an invasion led by Edmund de la Pole...

  Prince Harry Tudor : Oh, right. Um, de la Pole, the York.

  Margaret Beaufort : Yes.

  Prince Harry Tudor : Yes.

  Sir Edmund Dudley : We had agreed on a defense tax, but it'll take time to raise the funds to pay the men...

  Prince Harry Tudor : Well, then don't raise them. You are hell-bent on robbing the people. Pull men from the armies of all the nobles sitting here. Staffors, how large is your retinue, 300 men, 400? If we centralize the military, my father wouldn't have to beg and simper to you all like a serving maid.

  King Henry Tudor : My son is agry, because a girl who has his young heart in her keeping prefers a king to a boy. But if he spent less time on girls and ale, he would know that we are already drawing men from all these noble houses! And so your contribution to this privy council is of no use whatsoever!

  Margaret Beaufort : Gentlemen, please leave us. The council is dismissed.

  Prince Harry Tudor : Ale can be a marvelous thing. It lures me into taverns on a quest for insobriety, but while you men grow old with talk... I discover. De la Pole is here, in London.

• Margaret Beaufort : Harry? Harry! Harry. So it's true, Edmund de la Pole is here?

  Prince Harry Tudor : It's not difficult to rule, to find out what you want to know, if the people love you.

  King Henry Tudor : Where is he?

  Prince Harry Tudor : He's very near the palace.

  King Henry Tudor : Where is he?

  Margaret Beaufort : I will deal with this.

  [Henry leaves] 

  Prince Harry Tudor : I don't know what you're so up in arms about. You always want me at the council meetings.

  Margaret Beaufort : If you cut yourself off from your father, you cut yourself off from the source of your power.

  Prince Harry Tudor : There's an apothecary on Charm Street, and de la Pole is hiding there.

  Margaret Beaufort : You know, sometimes I wonder about you, Harry. Are you ever for England or only for yourself?

• Catherine of Aragon : Your Grace.

  King Henry Tudor : We received a letter from your mother.

  Catherine of Aragon : I am aware of it, Your Grace.

  King Henry Tudor : And do you give consent?

  Catherine of Aragon : Would I make you happy? Would I make you as happy as your wife did?

  King Henry Tudor : As you know, Catherine, I, um- I loved my wife. I still do, but, I would try to be a husband to you. I would be respectful and considerate, and I would not bother you too much. It was her dying wish.

  Catherine of Aragon : If she knew you could not love me, then she did it for the safety of your country, for the alliance between Spain and England.

  King Henry Tudor : Yes.

  Catherine of Aragon : But marrying me does not secure that. In fact, it does the opposite. If we wed, our children won't succeed us.

  King Henry Tudor : Of course not. Harry's will, as Lizzie's son. The throne belongs to Harry, then his son, and then his grandson.

  Catherine of Aragon : So how long would your treaty hold with Spain? Only until, God forbid, you pass away and Harry takes the throne. And then, just when he needs it the most, there will be no protection. I would be the widow to his father. I could not command my country to his side. He would be alone in all of Europe and whoever then rules Spain would make treaties with your enemies.

  King Henry Tudor : Or else they would renew their pact with England. There are many benefits. You wish to marry Harry. My wife had many gifts, and she said if you married him, then there would be no sons. She saw this.

  Catherine of Aragon : You don't think your wife saw in your eyes how lonely you would be? And in pain for you, perhaps she was confused. Because the first time I met her, she told me she'd do anything to save her sons. She'd kill for them. Don't take the risk. Give Harry the alliance. Keep him safe, for her.

  [Henry kisses her forehead and leaves] 

• King Henry Tudor : Lady Catherine of Aragon and Castile, I withdraw my proposal of marriage to you. You will instead be betrothed to my son Henry, Prince of Wales. Your heir will ensure the continued peace between our two kingdoms.

  Prince Harry Tudor : Thank you, Father.

  Margaret Beaufort : Henry...

  King Henry Tudor : I will send my letter to the Pope, requesting his dispensation.

  Catherine of Aragon : Thank you, Your Grace.

  King Henry Tudor : If he grants it, you may be married... only when your mother sends the dowry. Your future hangs upon Castile.