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'The Flander's Mare' - Anne of Cleves

© Elizabeth Batt

Like Katherine of Aragon, Henry's next marriage occurred in the hopes of forming an alliance. There were several reasons why Henry chose Anne of Cleves to be his next wife. Firstly, despite the birth of his son a man could never have too many boys. Therefore Henry sought a new wife to give him those sons.

Secondly, France had formed an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire and were threatening to attack England. Henry wanted the support of another Protestant state and so he turned towards the German state of Cleves. Cleves had two princesses; Amelia and Anne. At his minister Cromwell's urging. Henry chose Anne.

Cromwell was anxious to promote the Protestant marriage. The king's artist was sent to Cleves to paint the princess. The paintings of Anne were rather generous and portrayed Anne as being far prettier than she really was. This was a marriage that Henry couldn't get excited about and probably only went ahead with it out of duty.

Anne born around 1515, was the daughter of the Duke of Cleves and the Duchess of Julich. Anne was certainly different to Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour whom Henry had married out of love. The first problem was that Anne only spoke German and she didn't share Henry's love of music.

The second problem was that Henry didn't find her at all attractive. In fact he described her as the "Flanders Mare with flabby breasts." She probably wasn't that bad, in fact she may have been just not his type. If you look at that fact along with the fact that she held no interest for Henry's personal pleasures then it isn't hard to see why he held no taste for her.

The threat of attack from France and the Roman Empire did in fact disappear, but Henry couldn't back out of the marriage now, so Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves were married on January 6, 1540. Although Henry was not that impressed with her, the people of England liked her, as did Mary and Elizabeth. In fact, Mary would become a close friend and convert Anne eventually to Catholicism.

Anne didn't flaunt her charms like Boleyn or Seymour. However, many people found her to be a nice and kind person. Henry though had already made up his mind to dislike her. He never consummated the marriage and his attentions had already drifted to another. Once he became interested in Catherine Howard, Anne's relationship with the king was doomed. You might be interested to know that eighteen-year-old Catherine, was Anne Boleyn's cousin.

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