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The Wives of Henry VIII: Anne of Cleves, Part II

© Ellen McDaniel-Weissler

Anne was received in London with great pomp, and proceeded to settle into her life as queen of England, working hard to learn English and apparently endearing herself to the court with her friendliness and her eagerness to please. But Henry was not reconciled. He declared to the men of his privy chamber that her body displeased him so much that he was physically unable to make love to her - but Anne seems to have been so naïve in sexual matters that she did not realize she was being slighted. Apparently he would kiss her goodnight, saying, "Goodnight, sweetheart" and roll over and go to sleep, and Anne, knowing no better, expected nothing more and assumed that she would shortly be with child. Her ladies rapidly disabused her of this idea. It was now common knowledge all over the court that the king and queen were married in name only.

Henry found also that his need for the alliance with Cleves was waning. France and the Empire were beginning to cool toward one another once again and each was beginning to court England once more, making Henry's position stronger than it had been when Cromwell persuaded him of the need for this German marriage. Henry began not only plotting to rid himself of his unwanted wife - he intended that Cromwell should do the dirty deed for him, and that he would then rid himself of Cromwell into the bargain.

Added to this was Henry's growing interest in a new lady-in-waiting at the court. Oddly enough this mere child (she was about 15) was the niece of the Duke of Norfolk (who as a member of the Boleyn faction was not enjoying much royal favor lately) and was, in fact, Anne Boleyn's cousin. Henry was smitten with her youth and vivacity, her vivid good looks and her insouciance - certainly not with her wit, for there is no evidence that Katherine had much intelligence above the ordinary. No authenticated portrait of Katherine Howard exists today, and the few previously thought to have been her have now been identified variously as a sister of Jane Seymour and an unknown Tudor lady - but she was considered pretty, gay, charming and insouciant. She had been raised in the household of her grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, where unbeknownst to that crotchety old lady she had seen a good deal more of worldly experience than a sheltered 15-year-old should have been able to claim. Henry, however, believing her to be innocent and untouched, began to pay a great deal of attention to her, and by April his attentions had become notable at court. Katherine was a part of the Catholic Norfolk faction, and her increasing popularity with the king raised the hopes of the Catholic members at court. Anne of Cleves, no fool, also noticed what was happening. She was not jealous of Katherine in the traditional sense, for it is doubtful that she was in love with Henry, but she must have feared that his interest in the young girl signaled the beginning of the end of her own marriage - and considering Henry's track record with wives, this could not have been a prospect any woman viewed with complacency.

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