There are many myths and outright lies about Juana la Loca (Queen Juana I of Spain).
She wasn't a nymphomaniac, she didn't murder her husband, she didn't disinter her husband's corpse, or trail all over Spain with his coffin. People should know her real story - which is more outrageous than any of the myths.
Juana was the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile, and older sister of Catherine of Aragon. At the age of 15 she was contracted to marry Philip the Fair, a serial womaniser, schemer, and noted for his hatred of Spain. She fell hopelessly in love with him at first sight; a love that was extremely passionate, bordering on obsessive. Her devotion was rewarded with his blatant adultery, physical violence, the theft of her money and the denial of her status. When Philip died suddenly she was 26 and pregnant with her sixth child.
Hopes of relying on her father, who she adored and held in awe, for support were quickly dashed. He isolated her, publicly humiliated her, finally denying her of her rightful status as Queen of Castile.
Her son Charles, even greedier for power, held her prisoner completely shut off from the outside world for four decades until she died in her seventy-sixth year.
Throughout her life Juana was humiliated and abused and denied the right to reign by the three men she loved so much. Her spirited resistance to their relentless physical and mental cruelty earned her, unjustly, the nickname by which she is remembered, Juana la Loca, Joan the Mad.
For the real story of Juana based on accepted reputable history read That Other Juana by Linda Carlino, available from amazon.com or amazon.co.uk
