As one of history’s most infamous kings, Henry VIII of England is most well known for one thing: his seemingly endless parade of wives. The fourth unfortunate soul in this line of women was a 25 year old woman named Anne of Cleves. She is often the most forgotten of Henry’s wives because their “marriage” was so short, and therefore she has almost been erased from history. Yet if you take a look at this young woman’s story, you may find that she could arguably be the only of Henry’s spouses that was better off after their union.
Young Anne ended up as Henry’s wife due to pure happenstance and much manipulation at the hands of men appointed by the king. Imagine being chosen based off of a now infamous portrait, transported to a foreign land, and forced to marry a man twice your age who you know has already had 3 wives. Does not sounds like the ideal love story, and though Anne ended up getting dumped, she walked away with not only her head intact, but with many other things as well.
Anne’s Competition
Before Anne becomes queen of England by marrying Henry, she has a three year long journey to get to that point. Her journey begins following the death of Henry’s third wife, Lady Jane Seymour. Soon after her untimely death, Henry was being pressured to marry again. Though his last wife had given him the son that he so craved, England’s political alliances still remained unstable. In theory, by taking another wife, Henry would be able gain a foothold in Europe, and therefore be able to bring some sort of stability to his kingdom.
The reason that England has become so politically unstable goes back to Henry’s very first marriage to Catherine of Aragon. When she failed to give Henry an heir and he was seduced by Anne Boleyn, their marriage imploded. By deciding to dissolve his marriage to Catherine, Henry essentially turned his back on the Catholic Church which was truly the ruling force in Europe. Following that decision to divorce Catherine and then marry Anne, international relations began to disintegrate. They deteriorated even further when Henry then beheaded his new wife Anne, and proceeds to marry Lady Jane.
As Henry appeared to run through wives rather easily and was perceived as a bit of a hot head, his growing reputation among the ladies of Europe was not a good one. At this time Henry’s advisers were in search of a new wife for him, so they aimed to give him as many options as possible. By default this means that Anne was not the only person who Henry and his advisers were looking at. Like many men, Henry was attracted to beautiful women and that seemed to drive his initial choices.
One of the women that Henry tried to court before he chose his bride was Christina of Milan. She was considered as a candidate for Henry because she was a favorite of her uncle Charles V, who was the Holy Roman Emperor at the time. As the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles had a lot of political pull in Europe . There were also many reasons why Christina was not ideal, starting with the fact she was very recently widowed, they had already tried to engage her to Henry’s illegitimate son, she fell in love with someone else, and she was only 16 years old. She declined Henry’s proposal, due largely to his reputation.
The last woman who was on Henry’s list of potential wives was Marie de Guise. She would have been an ideal candidate for Henry politically speaking due to her French roots and her proven ability to bear sons with her previous husband. She was tall and attractive as well and Henry also aimed to prevent the recently widowed Marie from marrying James V of Scotland. Marie also declined Henry’s marriage offer, famously saying, ” I may be a big woman, but I have very little neck” reportedly in reference to Anne Boleyn, his queen that he previously beheaded.