Maria made her big-screen debut in 1991 in Alan Parker's The Commitments. Among her feature film credits are The General and Tara Road. She has an established career as an actress in television where her credits include "Oliver Twist," the British version of "Queer As Folk," and "Hide and Seek" (2006). Doyle Kennedy also has a parallel career as a recording artist and live performer, recording two albums with "The Black Velvet Band" before releasing her highly acclaimed solo album, "Charm," in 2001.

Katherine was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. She was betrothed to Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII when she was three years old. The couple married 13 years later, but he died after only six months. She married his younger, but more vigourous brother, Henry, in 1509, when he acceded to the throne. Henry was keen for a male heir, but Katherine's babies were either stillborn, miscarried or short lived until 1516 when she gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Mary (later to become Mary I Tudor). By the time Katherine was 42, her husband's frustration at a lack of a male heir and his interest in one of her ladies in waiting, Anne Boleyn, was common knowledge. Henry began to petition the Pope for an annulment of his marriage, but the Pope stalled and eventually Henry married Anne anyway and had Parliament pass the Act of Supremacy which put him at he head of the English church and therefore outside the control of Rome. Katherine never acknowledged the divorce and was forced to leave the court. She died at Kimbolton Castle in 1536.