Anne of Cleves, England's Queen to King's Sister
From Secretive Negotiations to Rocky Marriage to Convenient Divorce
How does one go from being the Queen of England to the king’s sister? Anne of Cleves could well answer this question for she lived it herself. Married after viewing a portrait and a brief introduction, the marriage between Anne and King Henry VIII was disastrous from the start.
Anne, born in 1515, was the sister to the Duke of Cleves, who owned territories in north Germany. She was one of his two sisters who were eligible for marriage. The appeal of such a union laid in the close marital connection of the Duke of Cleves to Duke John Frederick of Saxony, a great Lutheran leader. Such an alliance would offer strength to the newly Protestant kingdom.
Marriage Negotiations between Henry VIII and the Cleves Court
When marriage negotiations between Henry and the Cleves court began in March 1539, the Cleves girls, Anne and Amelia, were kept from the sight of the English envoys, except for one portrait. The English ambassadors, however, would not continue with negotiations until they had seen Anne for themselves.
While he had already set his mind on a union with the Cleves family, looks were still of the greatest importance to Henry. They were in fact so great that they mattered more to him than a possible dowry, evidenced by the fact that the English envoys were instructed not to argue about such a trifling thing as money.
Hans Holbein’s Painting of Anne of Cleves
Henry’s painter, Han Holbein was sent to the Cleves court and produced portraits of both Anne and Amelia within two weeks of arriving and by September 1, 1539, Holbein was back in Henry’s court with the portraits.
Henry’s reaction to Holbein’s paintings, whatever they may have been, did not seem to matter in the course of things. He had already fallen in love with the idea of Anne whose beauty and virtue was praised by Germans and English alike.
The marriage treaty was signed on October 4th.
When Henry VIII First Met Anne of Cleves
When she arrived in England, Anne was very soon greeted by a group of men in masquerade. She did not realize that the heavy-set leader of the band was in fact the king.
Being an extremely modest woman, she attempted to ignore the man whom she supposed to be a fool. In doing so, she showed Henry that she was ignorant of the ways of courtly love and offended him greatly. To add insult to injury, Henry found her so unattractive that it put him in a sour mood for several days and the wedding was postponed until January 4th.
Dealing with the Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves
Even before they were wed, Henry attempted to free himself from the impending marriage, though unwilling to offend such a desirable ally as the Duke, he found none. They were finally married on January 6, 1540.
While the façade of the marriage was carried on for several months, the union remained unconsummated. Henry, meanwhile, comforted himself in the arms of yet another niece of the Duke of Norfolk: Catherine Howard.
On June 24th, Anne was ordered, like Catherine of Aragon before her, from court to Richmond Palace. By July 6th, Anne was made aware of divorce proceedings and in three days, the marriage was over.
In exchange for her written consent for divorce, Anne was given the title of the king’s sister and would receive an annual income and real estate equal to such a standing. She was allowed to attend court whenever she wanted and would always have the love of her “brother,” Henry.
For fear of what would happen to her if she returned to her homeland and realizing the mistakes of past queens, Anne cut all ties with her birth family and remained the king’s sister even to death.
Starkey, David. Six Wives: the Queens of Henry VIII. New York: Harper Collins, 2003.
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