According to showrunners Erwin Stoff and Justin Haythe, they did film in many historical places in France and Italy, which was one benefit of shooting during the pandemic, saying in Cinemablend :. So we actually got to shoot in the rooms, in the hallways, in the gardens, where Catherine lived. So that was actually for us and for the show, an incredibly lucky break. So we head back to Tuscany in , where young Catherine is orphaned and living in a convent with abusive nuns.
Catherine is taken by force from the convent and then rescued by her uncle, Pope Clement Charles Dance. He has arranged a politically advantageous marriage for Catherine to Henry, the second son of King of France.
While I am always a fan of wacky hair, I have no idea what this is supposed to be. Maybe a hair version of a balzo, a typical Italian headdress of the period? Next, Catherine chooses the retinue to accompany her to France. Mathilde Kiruna Stamell is a dwarf that Catherine knew from the convent, and she keeps her along as her fool.
Her marriage to the King of France was purely political, and the couple had no children together. She wears her hair down, and that seems to be The Thing for mistress characters. After the King, the Pope, and Catherine settle on the dowry, they head to the joust where the bridegroom has been showing off for a certain lady in white and black. Catherine and Henry have a cute moment with a frog, and she falls in love with him, as teenagers do, I guess. Of note, Sultan Suleiman Memet Ali Alabora is in attendance at the feast, which is a nod to the fact that King Francis was the first European ruler to establish relations with the Ottoman Empire.
After the crowd leaves, Henry yells at Catherine to get out. She does, but then turns around and goes back, only to find Henry fucking Diane. Some of the other servants are jealous and play a shitty trick on her. Catherine takes her new maid out for a walk and gets back to the story of her life, 30 years earlier, noting that sometimes she has visions. Catherine is riding astride and wearing chaps over linen bloomers. Since Catherine gets her period, she sends Mathilde to burn the evidence.
