The Rejected Queen Who Fared Better Than King Henry VIII’s Other Wives
Few figures in English history generate as much fascination as Henry VIII. His reign was marked by upheaval, ambition and decisions that permanently reshaped the religious and political landscape of England. However, despite the drama of his break with the Catholic Church and his relentless pursuit of a male heir, not every chapter of his life has received equal attention.
That imbalance is especially clear when it comes to his wives. The stories of Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour are deeply embedded in popular history, while the latter three often fade into the background. Anne of Cleves, in particular, is frequently reduced to a footnote, but her story is far more intriguing - and far more significant - than she's usually given credit for.
What Seemed Like a Rock-Solid Foundation
The early 16th Century saw Henry VII as a stalwart Catholic who'd stepped up so strongly for the Church in a time of crisis that he was considered the "Defender of the Faith." The Latin term for this honorific is Fidei Defensor, the initials of which are still appear on British coins.
But this favor in the eyes of the Church wouldn't last.
Martin Luther Didn't Change Henry's Mind
While Henry understood the need for reform in the Catholic Church, he felt the upheaval of the Reformation sparked by Martin Luther's 95 Theses was too radical and violent, and his word on the matter carried enough weight to be valued by Church officials.
With the help of his secretary, the since-canonized Thomas More, Henry VII wrote a defense of the traditional Catholic sacraments, called Assertio Septem Sacramentorum, in 1521. This was dedicated to Pope Leo X, who rewarded him with this "Defender of the Faith" distinction.
Other Influences Muddied This Once-Staunch Defense
Henry significantly changed his mind by the 1530s. Rather than defend the Catholic Church from Luther's challenges, the king of England started to have some faith-shaking questions of his own. He especially wondered why scripture couldn't be accessed by the people.
This was partially influenced by earlier conversations by Dutch humanist scholar Erasmus, but voices closer to him had their own influences. Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer suggested his own reforms, but Chief Minister Thomas Cromwell exerted a great deal of influence in Henry's court for much of his reign.
Succession Troubles with Catherine of Aragon
While these considerations and the attractive proposition of becoming the Supreme Head of the Church of England were certainly factors in Henry's split from the Vatican, one particular problem loomed large over them all: namely, he wasn't able to conceive a male heir who survived early childhood with his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
By the standards of the time, this served to put his royal line and his kingdom in jeopardy - and Henry thought his crisis could be solved with an annulment.
Henry No Longer Found the Faith Worth Defending
The birth of the future queen Mary I and the ill-fated life of Henry, Duke of Cornwall, proved that Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine had been consummated. In the eyes of the Catholic Church, there was no way they could realistically grant him an annulment.
So he started a coordinated campaign to rewrite his nation's history and establish England as an empire that had never needed external support. And while he was coming up with his own reality, he decided to assert that he and Catherine were never married.
A New Marriage with Heavy Consequences
This gave Henry the justification he needed to pursue a relationship with and eventual marriage to Anne Boleyn, but it created a permanent rift between him and the Catholic Church.
The consequences of that rift were seen among his ranks. While a series of political machinations would eventually lead to Boleyn's execution, hers wouldn't be the only death set in motion by their marriage, for not everyone was willing to lend legitimacy to Henry's new vision for England.
Thomas More's Principled Sacrifice
Thomas More couldn't accept Henry VIII's claims about his first marriage, nor would his conscience allow him to support the monarch's reasons for breaking with the Catholic Church. This led him to resign as Henry's lord chancellor in May 1532.
While he tried to maintain a civil distance from Henry and Anne Boleyn, this wasn't enough for Henry. The king had Thomas Cromwell push the Act of Succession through parliament, which legislated that Boleyn was the rightful queen.
When More refused to swear an oath acknowledging this, he was tried for treason and executed.
An Heir Finally Secured
While Boleyn would give birth to the now legendary future queen Elizabeth I, her marriage to Henry wasn't any more successful at producing a male heir than Catherine's was. It was this fact (and some advice from Cromwell) that led Henry to pursue a new relationship with Jane Seymour.
Nonetheless, this wasn't sufficient justification for divorcing Boleyn, which led Henry's court to engineer adultery and treason charges that led to her execution on May 19, 1536. While Seymour's reign wouldn't last long, due to a fatal illness, she nonetheless bore to Edward VI.
Marriage After Marriage After Marriage
Henry's fulfillment of his long and costly ambition to produce a male heir wasn't the final step in securing his legacy. Resting all of one's hopes on one heir has historically been seen as a risky proposition in sustaining monarchies.
While Elizabeth's prosperous reign would end up fulfilling a great deal of the Tudor line's potential, this wasn't something Henry would (or could) have predicted at the time, so as he saw it, it would be more prudent to have a spare son in case something happened to Edward.
Political Considerations Were Factored In
In addition to his need for another son, Henry VIII saw marriage as a potential way to bolster England's relations with the Duchy of Cleves into an alliance. After all, the Protestant enclave would look a lot different to Henry now than it would when he was the "Defender of the Faith."
As he saw it, a marriage to a member of the House of Cleves would not only earn his kingdom their favor but also the support of other potential Protestant allies throughout Europe.
Hans Holbein Sweetens the Pot
As he'd done with Henry's past wives, Renaissance artist Hans Holbein the Younger painted a portrait of Anne, the second daughter of the Duke of Cleves. The king was deeply enchanted by the piece, and since her presented appearance seemed to clinch the myriad of reasons to marry Anne, Henry agreed to the union before he'd ever met her.
Unfortunately for almost everyone involved, this would be a decision he'd regret.
Cromwell Makes His Arrangements
By the time Henry became aware of Anne of Cleves, Thomas Cromwell had already demonstrated a long history of both arranging the king's marriages and engineering his exits from those marriages once Henry grew tired of them.
Cromwell first ingratiated himself to the king by navigating his divorce with Catherine. While he had helped Boleyn marry Henry, Cromwell was also instrumental in engineering her downfall as a means of bringing Henry closer to Jane Seymour.
A disastrous First Meeting
Cromwell wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary when he introduced Anne of Cleves to the king's attention and arranged for her to meet him in England. But while his previous machinations had cemented his status as Henry VIII's trusted advisor, this arrangement jeopardized everything for him.
That was apparent from the moment they met. Henry's reaction to her presence was reportedly, "I like her not! I like her not!"
What Was So Wrong with Anne?
As far as the most widely accepted understanding of their relationship says, Henry VIII found Anne repulsive upon meeting her - and he was very vocal about his disappointment in her appearance in conversations with Cromwell, describing her as "nothing fair."
Other accounts have him comparing Anne to a "Flanders mare," due to her strength and supposedly horse-like appearance.
Anne Wasn't Sure What to Make of Henry
A chivalric tradition in England encouraged people to meet their betrothed in disguise. The idea was that such a tactic demonstrated true love because the disguise's person's love would recognize them anyway. However, this wasn't how things worked out in Anne's case.
From her perspective, she was accosted by a group of masked men on her way to London, and they were led by a tall, burly, middle-aged man. When this man tried to kiss her, she pushed him away over her lack of familiarity with the custom making the situation bewildering and uncomfortable for her.
Henry Tried to Back Out of the Marriage
Putting how attractive (or not) Henry and Anne found each other aside, the incident highlighted how much the two differed in terms of culture and personality. With all of this in mind, Henry wasn't enthusiastic about pursuing the marriage and was already looking toward the woman who would become his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.
As such, Cromwell started some desperate political maneuvering to give the king a way out of marrying Anne.
There Was Nothing They Could Do
Cromwell tried every diplomatic tactic he could think of to have Anne sent back to her German duchy, but nothing seemed to change what had already been set in motion.
While the political landscape that had once made this marriage seem opportune had shifted, denying Anne would have been such a catastrophic insult to the House of Cleves that Henry had to marry her, whether he wanted to or not.
Needless to say, that did little to improve the king's mood.
Things Didn't Get Any Better in Private
Judging by Henry VIII's statements to Cromwell on the morning after their wedding night, any attempts at intimacy between the new couple had proved disastrous. He described being unable to bring himself to do more than run his hands over Anne's body.
Apparently, part of this difficulty had to do with the "evil smells" he supposedly experienced when they tried to get close. However, there was another factor that has since inspired an alternative theory for why the couple didn't get along.
Henry Suggested He Wasn't Anne's First
In addition to his apparent turn-offs, Henry was vocal about his suspicions that he wouldn't be the first man to know Anne intimately. As for what led him to believe she'd been seeing other people, he reportedly said he "plainly mistrusted her to be no maid by reason of the looseness of her [body]."
A Controversial Theory
In her book Anna of Kleve: The Princess in the Portrait, British historical writer Alison Weir presented an admittedly "inconclusive and speculative" theory that Henry's lack of enthusiasm about his marriage to Anne wasn't based on purely aesthetic reasons.
Instead, Weir posited that Henry discovered Anne had already carried another man's child. However, this theory has been roundly rejected.
Henry VIII Isn't a Reliable Narrator
Based on Anne's account of a conversation with her ladies-in-waiting and how certain events likely impacted Henry's ego, it's not necessarily wise to take Henry's accusations at face value. Indeed, even his statements about her beauty may not have been entirely truthful.
After all, the king's actions following his divorce from Catherine of Aragon show he wasn't exactly above altering historical records to suit his own interests, and Thomas More was an illuminating example of what happened when someone in the court challenged his revisions.
Anne Didn't Seem to Understand Carnal Activity
Anne of Cleves once asked her ladies-in-waiting how it was possible for her to "be a maid and sleep every night with the king" - She seemed to express uncertainty at how she was supposed to produce another heir for the king.
In response, one of the women joked that it took a lot more than sleep to produce a prince, but based on Anne's response, this would be a joke that Henry's court would have to take more seriously than they thought.
An Awkward Explanation
Henry's court was so stunned by her innocent view of reproduction that the Countess of Rutland explained, "Madam, there must be more than this, or it will be long ere we have a Duke of York."
It's unknown whether her explanation was more detailed than that.
There's Reason to Doubt That Henry Found Anne Ugly
As strange as it may seem to question the validity of Henry's personal aesthetic preferences, there's a surprisingly distinct possibility that both he and the popular consensus after his reign exaggerated his repulsion. Remember, he'd discovered the marriage would grant him less political capital than he'd initially thought, and he was attracted to Catherine Howard by the time he met Anne.
With that in mind, he was already looking for reasons not to marry her, and something so subjective would be hard to refute.
The Marriage Didn't Work Out
The couple's further attempts to consummate the marriage didn't fare any better than their wedding night. Henry tried for four nights after the fact, but they were never intimate.
It's worth noting that this was a period when Henry started to experience "intermittent impotence," which he was quick to blame on Anne's appearance. Nonetheless, the marriage only lasted six months - and since it was never consummated, they were eligible for annulment.
Thomas Cromwell's Undoing
It was clear that Henry VIII's bitterness about this chapter in his life persisted after he and Anne separated, and since it was Thomas Cromwell's idea to wed her in the first place, he would become the focus of the king's wrath.
Henry's fury at the debacle with Anne of Cleves was so palpable that he had Cromwell executed on July 28, 1540. However, it only took weeks for the king to regret this decision and praise Cromwell as the most faithful servant he ever had.
A Far Better Fate for Anne
Ironically, Henry wound up treating Anne far better than he did the man who introduced her to him. Of course, her status in the House of Cleves was such that he likely would have sparked a war with the duchy if she'd shared a similar fate.
However, while Anne of Cleves wasn't Anne Boleyn and, thus, had no reason to be put to the sword, that's far from the only reason that she fared the best out of anyone involved in their arrangement.
Some Enviable Settlement Terms
On the day of their annulment, Henry promised and honored an allowance that saw bring in around $4,000 pounds a year. As if that weren't enough, he set aside a property in Kent for her. Considering how revolting he supposedly found her and his willingness to kill someone over their very introduction, this seems oddly generous.
Why Did Anne Get Such a Good Deal?
While this likely wasn't a question that anyone dared to ask Henry publicly, some historians do have possible explanations for how handsomely Anne of Cleves profited from his disastrous marriage to her.
The most commonly cited factor in this decision likely felt refreshing for Henry. By the time he'd married her, Henry's past relationships (with the exception of Jane Seymour) had come to an end, despite being contested by Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, respectively. By contrast, Anne of Cleves was much more cooperative and didn't contest the annulment at all.
Henry Seemed to Like Her More Than He Expected
Henry wrote to Anne on the day of their annulment, saying, "You shall find us a perfect friend, content to repute you as our dearest sister. We shall, within five or six days... determine your state minding to endow you with £4,000 of yearly revenue... your loving brother and friend."
Although this passage could be interpreted as an attempt to keep their separation amicable, it seems Henry meant it. The two continued to refer to each other as "brother" and "sister" for the rest of his life.
Anne Didn't Have Many Regrets
From what historical accounts exist of Anne's relationship with Henry after their marriage, it's hard not to get the impression that they got along much better as platonic friends than they did as spouses. At the end of it all, Anne couldn't have asked for a better deal.
An Unexpected Invitation
Despite not even been apart for six months by then, Henry VIII invited Anne to a Christmas celebration in the Hampton Court Palace. In an unprecedented situation for his reign, it was there that she would meet the next queen of England for the first time.
Indeed, Henry didn't wait for a month to pass before marrying Catherine Howard.
A Good Relationship with Henry's Children
Anne of Cleves was described as having an "affectionate" relationship with Queen Elizabeth I. Unfortunately, she wouldn't live to see Elizabeth's coronation, having passed away a year prior, during Mary I's reign.
While her relationship with Mary didn't sound quite as close as the one Anne shared with her younger sister, the monarch nonetheless respected Anne's funeral wishes after her death.
Anne of Cleves Survived a Tumultuous Time
By the time of her passing, Anne had outlived her former husband by nearly a decade - and even more staggering for the time, she'd also survived the wives who'd come after her and even lived to see Edward VI pass away.
Catherine Howard wound facing her own execution less than two years after her coronation, and while Katherine Parr famously survived Henry, it was only a year before she succumbed to childbirth complications. Edward VI's reign would only last six years, due to a fatal illness.
Anne's Finals Days
Anne fell ill four years after Edward's death and spent her last days at London's Chelsea Manor before passing away on July 17, 1557. Mary I ordered her burial at the Abbey and arranged for a Catholic funeral.
While she'd entered Henry's life as a valuable Protestant ally, Anne converted to Catholicism during Mary's reign. It's suspected that this change of heart was more about aligning herself with Mary's values than about undergoing a personal transformation.
An Elaborate Celebration of Life
Whatever her motivations, Anne requested her funeral be conducted according to Catholic rites - and Mary was more than willing to oblige.
The funeral was described as "magnificent," and Anne's body was interred at the Abbey as promised. However, that didn't mean her tomb was ready yet, and while some elaborate features marked her eventual resting place, it was never finished as intended.
Indeed, some important features wouldn't be added until the 20th century.
Where Is Anne Now?
Anne's tomb lies on the south side of Westminster Abbey's High Altar, and while it was never completely finished, its elaborate nature hints as to what it could have looked like if the work had persisted.
For a reasonable approximation of what that final version would have resembled, the Abbey recommended seeing the wooden panels at St Leonard's Church in Bedfordshire and Hever Castle in Kent.
A Woman with a Complicated Reputation
While Anne of Cleves' "Flanders Mare" nickname didn't leave her with the most flattering historical reputation of Henry VIII's six wives, it's abundantly clear that she fared the best out of them. While getting close to Henry spelled doom for so many people, it only took six months for that arrangement to keep her comfortable for the rest of her life.
Mason Zimmer
