Marriage, Annulment, and Freedom
Prior to their first meeting, Henry is supposedly excited to meet his new bride. That excitement quickly turned to dread as he first laid eyes on Anne of Cleves. He apparently found her physical appearance appalling and unattractive, and is even rumored to have said she looked like a “flander’s mare.” Never mind that she had been traveling for weeks on horses and ships and doomed to marry a man she didn’t want. The fact that she did not look spectacular immediately stepping off the boat was a huge problem for Henry, who actually initially refused to marry her. He did eventually go through with the union to avoid further scandal, but best believe there was going to be serious hell to pay.
It obviously had come to light that Cromwell gone to some extensive lengths to ensure that Henry chose either Anne or her sister. It is widely suspected that he went so far as to instruct Hans Holbein to manipulate the portrait he made of Anne in order to make her appear more attractive. Think of it as the world’s first picture Instagram or Snapchat filter. Apparently he managed to conceal the fact that Anne was tall and big boned, had a rather large nose, and that her face was scarred from small pox.
As you can imagine Henry was most upset with Cromwell as he felt he had been seriously duped. It was from this point forward that the relationship between these two began to decline until it came to an eventual end. Unfortunately Henry still had to marry her, which he begrudgingly did. As was custom, the couple was expected to immediately consummate the marriage, which reportedly went terribly. Henry found Anne’s body so displeasing that he could not perform his husbandly duties, leaving the marriage essentially unofficial. He went so far as to question Anne’s virginal status due to the fact that she “failed” to arouse him.
Though Henry treated her poorly, Anne never really had a bad word to say about her husband. Despite being a perfect wife in the sense that she was loyal and obedient to Henry, he couldn’t have sex with her so therefore she was useless. Henry then met and fell in love with Catherine Howard and began plotting ways to get rid of Anne. Within six months of their union Henry had fabricated some grounds in order to annul his marriage to Anne, in favor of marrying young Catherine.
Unlike Catherine of Aragon before her, Anne submitted willingly to Henry’s demands and for an annulment of their union. She did this for various reasons I’m sure, but the main motivator was probably that she did not want to die. Keeping in mind Henry’s reputation and the laws at the time, you might have wanted to surrender too. She declared herself his ‘ humble servant’ and absolved him of any wrong doing in their marriage. The fact that she handled both her annulment and marriage in such a fashion probably not only saved her life, but ended up resulting in a life she wanted.
Because of her compliance, Anne was offered many different things that made her life after her marriage extremely comfortable. She was awarded multiple residences for life, and Henry bestowed upon her a substantial annual income as well. He even allowed her to keep some of the royal jewels. In addition to the monetary things, Anne was also awarded title of ‘ the king’s sister’, which essentially made her the most important person in the country after the king and his immediate family. Henry even went so far as to invite her to celebrations at the palace as she had a great relationship with his new wife and his children.
Even after Henry beheads his fifth wife and remarries for the final time, Anne still remained close to the family. In fact, she ended up outliving all of Henry’s wives and even the king himself. Upon her death at the age of 41, she was still loved by Henry’s children and left behind a legacy as both a humble and gentle mistress. So though she goes down in history often as the “ugliest” of Henry’s wives, she in fact lived the most lavish and longest life of them all, and definitely had the last laugh.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
Anne of Cleves- The Mail Order Bride. Hampton Court Palace. hrp.org.uk
Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Most Successful Queen? Tracy Borman. History Extra. September 2015.
I Like Her Not-Henry VIII’s Unhappiest Wedding Day. Nancy Bilyeau. The Vintage News. June 10, 2018.
Anne of Cleves. Biography. history.co.uk.
