Why is Katherine of Aragon always portrayed in movies with dark or black hair and the paintings of her and?

Question

History says she had reddish blond hair?

Why is that?

For those of you who don't know who she was - she was the first wife of Henry VIII before he married Anne Bolyn.

Katherine was the daughter of King Ferdinane and Queen Isabella of Spain.

Answer 1

I don't know. This is one of those things that pissed me off about the Tudors TV show. As a history buff, I know that the Spanish royal house was connected to the German and Austrian royal house of Hapsburg, so her well preserved genes would have been from that area of the world. People just assume that since she was Spanish, she looked Spanish (black hair) since they don't know of the genetics of European royalty.

Kind of sad that I know it so well....

Answer 2

I agree with Maxben that it is partly to do with making her look more Spanish.

I think it could also be to make her look more desirable - she was supposed to be considerably good looking, except for being extremely short (Henry's father supposedly had a thing for her), and her extremely long reddish hair and healthy complexion were considered her best assets by those in her time. But maybe not such an asset to todays audiences?

It could also be used to give contrast between her and Henry, who was also well known for having hair of a similar shade.

Or it could just be that the people who made the movie just didn't bother getting their facts straight =)

Answer 3

I suppose people have a tendency to think that she ought to be dark because she was Spanish.  But of course you are right about her colouring, in pictures she is clearly shown as looking fair, not dark, and contemporary descriptions of her say that she had hair that was fair and thick with a reddish-gold tint.