Juana of Castile

Juana of Castile is Catalina’s sister, a daughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, and the widow of Philip of Habsburg. In the family’s early life she appears among the older princesses; later she becomes heir to her mother’s revenues and Queen of Castile. After Philip’s death, her grief and political value are both interpreted by others, while proposals to marry her to Henry VII turn her into a possible instrument of diplomacy and a threat to Catalina’s place in England.

Identity and Early Appearances

Juana first appears in the account of the royal family gathered at Santa Fe during the campaign against Granada. She is one of the three older daughters—alongside Isabel of Aragon and María of Aragon—while Catalina is still a baby. The family is living in a small, simply built house within the new stone settlement, not in a finished palace. This brief introduction places Juana within the close-knit royal household before the sisters’ marriages separate them across kingdoms.

During a dangerous moment at the camp, Isabella of Castile calls her daughters to kneel and pray for the safety of their family, cause, and army. Juana follows her mother and sisters in the prayer. Catalina, watching through clasped hands, notices the fear visible in the older girls: María is shaking, and Isabel, wearing widow’s clothes, appears terrified. Juana’s own feelings are not described, but her place in the scene is clear: she is one of the daughters gathered under their mother’s protection, in a family whose political life repeatedly brings danger into the household.

Marriage and Family Attachment

Juana’s marriage to Philip of Habsburg is defined in Catalina’s recollections by intense attachment. Before leaving home, Catalina imagines that her own future might be gentler than the lives of the women in her family. She contrasts her hoped-for marriage to Arthur with the fates of her sisters and mother: Isabel has returned from Portugal a widow, María has followed her sister into marriage abroad, and Juana is described as consumed by love for Philip. Catalina hopes not to inherit the separations and sorrows that have shaped the family before her.

In a later reflection, Catalina returns to the force of that attachment. She recalls Juana as unable to bear Philip’s attention turning toward another woman and as threatening her rival. This account comes through Catalina’s view of her sister, not through a scene narrated by Juana herself. It contributes to the book’s portrait of a family in which love is represented as powerful enough to overwhelm composure, while also foreshadowing the vulnerability that follows when a royal marriage is broken by death.

Widowhood and Inheritance

Philip’s death makes Juana a widow, joining her in Catalina’s mind to Isabel, who had also lost her husband. At the same time, the sisters’ political circumstances diverge. After Isabella of Castile dies, Catalina learns that Juana is her mother’s heir and that the rich revenues of Castile, Isabella’s realm, are now paid to Juana. The change leaves Catalina’s own position exposed: her father has not paid the remaining portion of her dowry, and, as she understands it, the family’s resources and authority have shifted away from her.

Catalina’s account of this change is not a neutral inventory of the inheritance. It is part of her dawning recognition that her fortunes in England have worsened alongside the loss of her mother. She fears that she is no longer regarded as one of the great brides of Christendom but as a widowed princess without money or reliable support. Juana’s inheritance therefore carries a double significance in the narrative: it gives Juana substantial dynastic standing, while making Catalina feel increasingly abandoned and economically precarious.

The English ambassador’s later assessment further complicates Juana’s position. He describes her as Queen of Castile but regards her as too distressed by Philip’s death to be a suitable marriage prospect, referring to her public journey with her husband’s coffin. That is the ambassador’s political judgment, not an account of Juana speaking for herself. The difference matters: Juana’s grief is treated as evidence in other people’s calculations, and her suitability for marriage is weighed against the interests of rulers and kingdoms.

A Proposed Match in English Diplomacy

Henry VII’s interest in marrying Juana places her at the center of a proposed realignment. Catalina recalls that the king wanted to marry her sister and put Juana above her on the English throne. Catalina interprets the proposal as a deliberate humiliation: in her view, it would expose Juana’s grief to public scrutiny while pushing Catalina from her position. The account presents this as Catalina’s understanding of Henry’s intentions, rather than giving Juana’s response or confirming what Juana herself knew of the plan.

The proposal is also part of a wider marriage arrangement discussed by the English court. Catalina’s ambassador warns that the English may be planning alliances that exclude her family and could even turn against it. One version of the scheme pairs Juana with Henry VII, while other proposed marriages connect Mary Tudor and Harry Tudor to members of another ruling family. Juana’s prospective marriage is thus not an isolated personal question: it is one component in a network of matches intended to arrange political relationships and succession.

Catalina is caught between competing commands. She says that Ferdinand II of Aragon ordered her to praise Juana’s beauty to Henry VII, while Henry in turn instructed her to urge her father to accept his suit. Catalina experiences this role as a betrayal of her own interests and affections. Juana does not direct the negotiations in the evidence presented; instead, she is the absent sister around whom the negotiations turn, with Catalina made to speak for a marriage neither sister is shown choosing in this episode.

Narrative Role and Significance

Juana is drawn chiefly through Catalina’s memories, anxieties, and political interpretations. The reader sees her first as a daughter in the family at Santa Fe, then as a wife remembered for passionate attachment, an heir to Isabella’s revenues, and a widowed queen considered for a new marriage. These appearances are brief, but each marks a change in how royal kinship operates: family closeness gives way to separate marriages, inheritance redistributes security, and diplomacy makes a sister’s future a matter of negotiation.

The contrast between Juana and Catalina is particularly important. Catalina fears becoming a discarded widow, while Juana already occupies that position after Philip’s death; Catalina also sees Juana’s inheritance rise as her own financial and political footing declines. Yet the proposed English match reverses their relative positions again, making Juana a possible queen in the realm where Catalina has struggled to secure her place. Juana’s importance therefore lies not only in what the narrative says about her, but in the way her fate measures Catalina’s fears: that grief can be converted into a political judgment, that inheritance can alter a woman’s standing, and that royal marriage may be arranged around dynastic advantage rather than the wishes of the women involved.