A Brief History
On July 9, 1540, the marriage between Henry VIII and his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, was annulled.
Digging Deeper
Annulled on the basis of non-consummation of the marriage, the real reason Henry wanted the divorce was because he found Anne unattractive, if not revolting. Yes, it sounds very harsh, but it was probably a bit of an exaggeration as Henry had to get his point across to morally win his case. How could he possibly be expected to make love to a woman who did not turn him on? Well, he should have asked his forefathers who mostly had arranged marriages and somehow managed to fulfill their conjugal duties. It was not until his grandfather, Edward IV, that a king dared marry for love, or rather, to get the woman into bed, an example which Henry followed with his second wife, Anne Boleyn.
It took Henry nearly two years after the death of his third wife, Jane Seymour, in childbirth, to beginning looking for a new wife in earnest. His favorite court painter, Hans Holbein, was sent to the various courts of Europe to paint portraits of all eligible princesses. This was how Anne of Cleves got into the running. Though her family’s German dukedom was not particularly significant like say the Kingdom of France or the House of Hapsburg, Hans Holbein’s portrait captured qualities of her appearance that caught Henry’s eye and attention. Though he had not yet met her, like a silly school boy, Henry VIII, the hopeless romantic, believed himself in love with her.
There are a couple theories as to when and why Henry became disillusioned with her. Some believe it was because she did not recognize him when he went to surprise her in disguise upon her arrival in England and that this rebuttal offended him and hurt his pride. Others believe that her lack of elegance, grace and skill was in stark contrast to the polished and refined women who could sing and dance he so admired. The latter theory is somewhat flawed, though, because Jane Seymour, his favorite wife, was also not known to exhibit these qualities. Instead, she excelled in needlework which Anne of Cleves undoubtedly did as well as such a skill would have been fostered in a German woman from a court where frivolous behaviors such as flirting and courtly love were frowned upon. Jane Seymour, however, may not have been the innocent and good-hearted player she is often portrayed to be. Like Anne Boleyn, she played the chaste card and won the ultimate prize, that being marriage to Henry. So, she likely knew how to compose herself in a way that Henry liked, told him what he wanted to hear and behaved in a way that he needed her to. Anne of Cleves, on the other hand, did not need to ingratiate herself with Henry through the use of her feminine charms and guiles. Unlike Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour who were ladies in waiting who ousted their predecessors, Anne of Cleves, like Henry’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was a real princess. As such, she did not need to go out of her way to impress and to feign attentiveness and sweetness. Her position was secure by birthright. And Henry, used to women fawning over him, was shocked and offended. For his ego, he felt compelled to replace her with a woman who exhibited a character more to his liking, namely that of a hero worshipper. Likely, for just this reason, Anne of Cleves was not exactly what Henry wanted and rather than to get to know her good qualities, like a spoiled child who is used to getting what he wants, he immediately came up with a reason why she, in his eyes, was flawed. Nowadays, Henry would probably have tried to get a divorce on the basis of fraud. Fraud because her appearance was not what the portrait had promised.
In the 16th century, however, there were basically two ways that a king could get out of an undesirable marriage – a pre-contract with another potential partner or non-consummation of the marriage. So, in order to not have to sleep with Anne and thus “legalize” their marriage, Henry had to come up with a reason why he could not do so. The excuse he came up with was that he was repulsed by her because she was ugly, had loose breasts which made him doubt she was a virgin and that she smelled bad. To make sure that everyone knew that he could not bring himself to sleep with her, he announced her physical “shortcomings” to members of the court. The poor woman. Henry had been forced by contract to marry Anne, but immediately following the ceremony he already began working on the marriage’s demise. Most likely he knew going into the wedding night that he did not intend to sleep with her. Why else be so vocal afterward about not being able to do so?
As it was, Henry kept up the appearance of a “happy” marriage for six months before he began with the annulment proceedings on the basis of non-consummation. For good measure, he threw into the mix her pre-contract with a member of a high-ranking ducal family that he said had not been properly broken. Lucky for Henry, Anne agreed to the divorce. Grateful for her amicableness, when he was likely expecting resistance like Catherine of Aragon had shown him, he awarded her money and property and the title of the “King’s Sister.”
So, what happened around the 6-month mark for Henry to finally go ahead with the annulment? Well, he had met his most recent hero-worshipper, of course! And where did he find her? Among his wife’s maids of honor, of course! And what did he do with this lower-born noblewoman when he wanted to bed her? Marry her, of course! More on her, Catherine Howard, in the next article in the series on the wives of Henry VIII.
As for Anne, was she really that ugly? Most likely not. Above are portraits of her sisters for comparison. None of Henry’s wives were known to be exceptional beauties either, however. In other words, it would not have made a difference had Anne been beautiful in Henry’s eyes. Having had women fawn over him his entire life and being used to getting what he wanted, what he needed most was a wife who stroked his ego and worshipped and adored him (or at least pretended to). Appearance had less to do with it than the sweet nothings that were whispered in his ear, telling him how wonderful and strong he was despite the fact that he was beginning to fall into a state of decrepitude. Anne was young, strong, levelheaded and practical. Even with Henry having fertility issues as a result of his declining health, she might still have given him at least one more child. Unfortunately for Henry, this became less of a priority after the birth of his son, the future Edward VI, who was to die while still a teenager not long after Henry.
Some Tudor historians and scholars say that Anne got the best deal of all of Henry’s wives. She certainly fared better than the 5 others – she survived him the longest. Not a woman who aimed to please, as Henry likely would have preferred, her pragmatism and confidence in herself is best exemplified by the fact that she was willing to remarry Henry after he had just executed his fifth wife for adultery. Not even 2 beheaded previous wives could frighten her off. He, however, declined.
Question for students (and subscribers): What if Anne of Cleves had been beautiful? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Barnes, Margaret Campbell. My Lady of Cleves. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2008.
Norton, Elizabeth. Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Discarded Bride. Amberley Publishing, 2010.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="7017 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=7017">46 Comments
Henry is a fool for not going to pick his own wife out. He was judging by a painting of her that she was beautiful, then despised her immediately. He should have been forced to keep her, it would have served him right.
A very insightful article. A correction,however. Anne of Cleves was Henry’s fourth wife not sixth as stated in the last paragraph of the article. That was Catherine Parr who did marry Henry after he had just beheaded his fifth wife Katherine Howard.
As always, though, an enjoyable article. Thank you.
Dear Retired Army Officer, Thank you for taking the time to read my article and to respond. It is, however, neither stated nor implied in the last paragraph that she was Henry VIII’s sixth wife. It is merely stated that she was willing (even offered) to marry Henry again after he had his 5th wife, Katherine Howard, executed, which had a second marriage (like Liz Taylor and Richard Burton) indeed taken place, would have made Anne of Cleves his sixth as well as also his fourth wife. Again, thank you for reading my article. You might also like the other three in the series. The articles concerning the last two wives will be written in the next couple of months. – Beth Michaels
P.S. My father is also a retired army officer 🙂
Thank you very much for the clarification. When I was in college I did a paper on the Tudor Dynasty and I do recall that Anne did offer to re-marry Henry. Mea Culpa.
I have actually read all your articles. I thoroughly enjoy your writing style and your perspectives. Keep it up.
Dear R.A.O.,
It is very nice to hear you like my articles. Feedback is scarce, so when received, it is appreciated all the more. I wish I had the time to write and publish more articles than I do, but I am primarily responsible for the editing of all the articles, formatting them, adding pictures/videos/books and creating cover images. Therefore, I am left with little opportunity to write more than one a week myself. In my main capacity as an editor, though, should you ever have any ideas or suggestions how to improve the site and to make it more attractive and interesting, please feel welcome to share them with me. As for the Tudors, I loved them growing up and read most of the books that were available on them at the time. Once I finish the initial phase of my 6-part series on the Wives of Henry VIII, I intend to elaborate some more on a couple of them and on some other aspects of Tudor England and to provide my (oftentimes somewhat less than conventional) interpretation of various situations.
Just like if Jane would have lived, if Anne of Cleves would have been beautiful, the future merry-go-round that was Henry’s wives. He could have been satisfied with Anne, thus changing the subsequent history of England (no Bloody Mary, etc.).
There are way too many what ifs that could be asked when it comes to King Henry. Personally, even if Anne of Cleves was beautiful I’m sure he still would have moved on to another woman.
interesting article! very well-written looking forward to more!
Its just crazy to me that Henry has had all these wives and they didnt even think anything of it. and the fact he judged her by a painting is interesting and makes me wonder how many other people in history have done the same
King Henry had so may wives. I really don’t think it mattered how beautiful they were or were not.
With Henry’s rap sheet of divorces and different wives, I feel as though it would not have made a difference. He would find something else to focus on that he hated about her, and in the end her story would be similar to what it actually was.
after awhile i dont think it mattered to Henry how pretty the woman were
Henry seemed to be looking for a way out of this marriage from the start. He likely should not have gone through with it at all.
Anne of Cleves probably did get off the easiest of all six wives as even Henry’s final wife had to take care of him in his decrepit state, which was likely a disgusting job. Considering what happened to the next wife, I’m sure Anne thought she got off lucky with just a divorce as I have no doubt that Henry would have considered beheading her if she became obstinate about the marriage like Catherine was.
Why did he marry her in the first place then? The guy who set him up with her was not smart about the whole situation.
why did he marry her? He has so many wives I can’t keep up
I find it hard to keep up with how many wives he had!
I think as bad as it sounds, she got off easy compare to his other wives.
I think King Henry just said that Anne of Cleves wasn’t beautiful in order to divorce her.
I don’t undertand why he decided to marry her? He had plenty of wives as it is & he only called her that as an excuse for a divorce
This is hilarious to me. Henry VIII knew what she looked lie before the marriage. Maybe if he stuck it out he could have had a son by Anne of Cleves.
We knew King Henry was not an upstanding person who took good care of his multiple wives and this article further proves that.
Why did he decided to marry her if he knew what she looked like? Henry was an odd bird.
Personally, I think that Anne Cleves could have looked like a frog who just got dripped into a vat of toxic waste and he still would have tried to have a male heir with her. If not? Move onto the next one. Typically disgusting mindset of human disposability.
I have alway felt bad for anne of Cleves. After reading this article, it seems that he did get the best deal out of all of king Henry’s wives.
Beautiful or not… I do not think it mattered to Henry VIII. — DAVID WARDLE
Were bags a commodity that the king did not have at his disposal? It sounds like he had very high expectations that no woman was going to ever meet.
It’s really sad that Ann was criticized for her looks as badly as she was. I don’t think she looks that bad in the picture but I guess that could have been messed with to make her look more attractive.
Anne is lucky that King Henry divorced her. If she had stayed in the marriage any longer she might have even been beheaded or died a random death, since it seems that the wives of Henry face unlucky deaths.
Im curious to how ugly she truly was because the pictures do not portray her as ugly as the article makes her sound! Also, she was lucky not to face the fate of the wives before her!
im wondering how ugly she really was since she could of been very attrative and not ugly as this article says she was since the pictures here dont give me reason she was ugly at all but maybe that good that henry felt she was ugly since she didnt have to deal and go through what the other wives had to
Many of Henry VIII’s other wives were beautiful, and that didn’t change their outcomes.
I find Henry VII to be disgusting. Anne is very lucky she was only divorced.
i hope you meant Henry VIII, Henry VII had only one wife and seems to have been quite devoted to her.
I do not like the kings back in these days they were given too much power which went straight to their heads. they were arrogant for sure. Henry VIII is very selfish and rude and I personally do not think she was ugly at least from what I see in the picture above.
If he was that worried about her appearance then he shouldn’t have married her in the first place.
I don’t think Henry was ready to move on after the death of his wife when he was set to marry Anne. She would have likely been divorced or killed no matter what.
The fact that he wanted to divorse his wife because she was not attractive just shows how much of a pig he is.
I’m surprised that was a legitimate reason to have in order to divorce her. There must have been another reason he wanted to divorce her.
Her looks were not a legitimate reason, nor does any respected historian purport that her looks are what caused the divorce, only what he laid the blame for non-consummation on. She hurt his pride publicly (through no fault of her own) when he tried to approach her in disguise and kiss her, she rightly spurned this fat old commoner who dared to take such liberties, it was Henry and he expected her to recognize his majesty, without the benefit of having met him or having seen any accurate depiction of him. He later had his councilors revisit the contract, though they had already investigated and confirmed the annulment of a previous betrothal Henry knew that she would not be able to provide proof in time to stop a divorce (not that she is recorded to have wanted to, and may have insulted him with her quick acceptance of terms to dissolve their union). There are several contemporary sources that say she was not bad looking, and she came to be well loved by those that knew her according to many sources. The author seems to forget that Henry’s least attractive wife by the contemporary standard was Jane Seymour, and Henry got a son on her easily enough. But then the writer also doesn’t seem to have any understanding of the politics and culture of the time, not understanding the importance of Cleves as an ally Cleves being a protestant Duchy. Henry didn’t want to marry into France or Spain, sick of being a cat’s paw played with by those two countries whose monarchs wouldn’t marry their daughters to anyone under excommunication, but would play marriage treaty acting as if they might.
Oh poor Henry he had to be married to a hideous woman for 6 months. I can’t believe he treated her that way, because he thought she was ugly.
Judging a book by her cover.
I don’t understand if she was so ugly than why marry her. If he did not want to be married to her than he should have came with a better to divorce her.
henry was so ego driven! anne of cleves is lucky he didnt behead her
I think the theory that Jane was able to “play” Henry to a point where he finally married her seems like the most likely cause.
What a shallow prick.