‘The Spanish Princess’ Just Secretly Set the Stage for the Rise of Anne Boleyn

The Spanish Princess Season 2 has the painful task of showing us where a happy marriage goes wrong. Catherine of Aragon (Charlotte Hope) and Henry VIII’s (Ruairi O’Connor) union started off as love match, but politics and grief over the deaths of their infant children drove them apart. As we see in The Spanish Princess, the two royals may love each other, but there are vultures in their court. These schemers are happy to drive wedges between the King and Queen if only to push ahead their own agendas. While Catherine is focused on the rising clergyman Wolsey (Philip Cumbus), she might want to keep an eye on the tweens accompanying Princess Mary (Sai Bennett) to France…
Yep, young Anne Boleyn appeared as an Easter egg in tonight’s episode of The Spanish Princess. Which means we might yet see the rise of one of the most scandalous queens in British history…
The Spanish Princess has always been Catherine of Aragon’s story, but in Season 2, we’re starting to see the unflappable royal’s grip on power slip away. After losing her firstborn son in the cradle and miscarrying her second, Catherine’s not only juggling her own mental health issues, but dealing with Henry’s disappointment in her. As Queen of England, her primary duty is producing an heir.

Elsewhere in The Spanish Princess, Henry’s sisters are also struggling with their roles on the world stage. While Meg (Georgie Henley) has to rule Scotland as an outsider, Princess Mary has to swallow a less-than-favorable match to the elderly King of France. As a balm, Henry offers the Earl of Wiltshire’s two daughters as Mary’s ladies-in-waiting abroad. What you might have missed is the Earl of Wiltshire is none other than Thomas Boleyn (Richard Pepper).

Decider pressed The Spanish Princess‘s showrunners, Emma Frost and Matthew Graham, to confirm that the “Mary and Anne” who happily step forward during Mary’s proxy betrothal are the Boleyn girls.
Frost teased she wouldn’t confirm, but Matthew Graham said, “I think it’s better to say: for those who know their history and know the family that those girls come from, that family is named and referenced quite a bit.”
Frost pointed out that the Boleyns had already been referenced in Season 1 — and they had been. “You’re not wrong to look out for those things,” Graham said.

In tonight’s episode, tween Mary Boleyn is played by Bessie Coates, while raven-haired Anne is played by Alice Noakes. The two girls are obviously still in their early teens, but as the show continues to trudge forward in time, we can probably expect older versions of both Boleyn girls to factor into the drama of The Spanish Princess. Historically, Mary Boleyn was one of Henry’s many famous mistresses. Anne, on the other hand, infamously forced Henry’s ultimate divorce from Catherine and the nation’s break from the Catholic Church.
It looks like The Spanish Princess Season 2 is only going to get more dramatic in the weeks to come…

Where to stream The Spanish Princess