Mama gave it to me as a parting present so that I could write about this journey from Spain to England. “Don’t waste it,” she said. “Just write the important things. The big ones.” That was three months ago. It was August when we sailed from Corunna – but how could I write in that terrible storm? We had hardly been at sea for two days when it struck us. People were weeping and praying and being thrown about like dried peas in a baby’s rattle. One of our ships sank. I came up to get some air because the smell below decks was so awful, and I saw her roll over helpless as a dead thing, and then the towering waves swallowed her. We were driven back to the Basque coast, with broken masts and rigging washed overboard, and it was a month before the repairs were done and we could start out again. Even then, we were tempest-tossed, but at last we landed in Plymouth. People came aboard to meet us, and Catherine received them with truly royal dignity.
What do You think about Catherine Of Aragon (2013)?
