The Six Wives of
Henry VIII
IV. Anne of
Cleves's Story
Anne of Cleves was Henry's fourth
wife. She came from the German state of Cleves, and married Henry for
political reasons. She was Queen of England for only a few months, during
the year 1540.
After Queen Jane died, Henry
started looking around for a new bride. He was still worried about the
succession, and hoped to have more children. Henry's right-hand man,
Thomas Cromwell, was in favor of a political alliance with a Protestant country.
Cromwell encouraged Henry to consider marrying a German princess.
Anne of Cleves was one of the
candidates that Cromwell brought to Henry's attention. Anne
was a moderately attractive German princess in her mid-twenties, whose brother
was the ruler of the German state of Cleves. She was reportedly kind,
generous and intelligent. She was not, however, highly educated, and
had no special musical or artistic training. She spoke little English, and
dressed in the ornate, cumbersome Dutch fashions popular in Germany at the time.
Henry wanted to see a picture of
this prospective bride. He sent the artist Hans Holbein to Germany to
paint Anne's portrait. Some say that Holbein fell in love with Anne, and
portrayed her as more attractive than she really was.
Henry liked Anne's portrait and
negotiated to marry her. Unfortunately, he decided to surprise her while
she was en route to London to meet her future husband. Henry disguised himself
in ugly old clothes, and rode to the place where Anne was staying. He
burst in on Anne in her guest room, and pretended to be a messenger from the
King.
Anne, who was watching a
bear-baiting out the window, didn't act too interested in this odd visitor. She
barely glanced at him, and answered his questions without much attention or
enthusiasm. When he finally revealed his true identity as her bridegroom, Anne
of Cleves was shocked. Henry may have still thought himself the handsomest
prince in Christendom, but in all reality, he was no longer the golden Adonis of
his youth. In his royal garments, he could present the illusion of his
former self, and hide some of his fat, but his messenger outfit didn't flatter
him in the least. Besides, what kind of rude behavior was this, to
come bursting on a lady unannounced?
The net result of all this good
fun was that both parties were offended, and Henry claimed to find Anne most
unattractive. The feeling was probably mutual.
Henry went ahead with the marriage
to save face, and to keep the German alliance, but soon convinced Anne to agree
to a divorce. Anne thought this was a great idea. She shared Henry's
negative feelings about the marriage, which, by all accounts, had never been
consummated.
Henry was amazed at Anne's
willingness to go along with the plan. As a reward for her cooperation,
she was allowed to stay in England, was given the honorary title of "Henry's
dear sister", and held a high position in the royal circle.
Henry provided well for Anne, and
she lived a happy life at her country estate. She gave fine parties, wore
beautiful English fashions, and gave generous gifts to just about everyone she
knew. She enjoyed a close relationship with Henry's children, and even
became good friends with Henry. All things considered, Anne of Cleves's life
story had the happiest ending of that of any of Henry VIII's six wives!
Additional Reading About
Anne
For additional reading about Anne
of Cleves, Henry VIII, and Henry's other wives, here are some books that
may be ordered from Amazon.com.
To bring up the details about a particular
book, please click on the underlined link beside the picture of the book you are
interested in.
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The Marrying of Anne of Cleves : Royal
Protocol in
Early Modern England by Retha M. Warnicke
Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Wier
The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia
Fraser
Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of
Henry VIII by Karen Lindsey
Henry VIII : The King and His Court by
Alison Wier
The Autobiography of Henry VIII : With Notes by His Fool, Will
Somers: A Novel by Margaret George
Henry VIII : Images of a Tudor King
by Christopher Lloyd, Simon Thurley, Hampton Court
The
Tudors (A Royal History of England) by Neville Williams, Antonia
Fraser (Editor)
The
Lives of the Kings & Queens of England by Antonia Fraser (Editor)
The Kings and Queens of England and Scotland
by Plantagenet Somerset Fry, Peter Fry
To return to the Anne of Cleves
main paper doll page, please click on the link below:
