Image by George Eastman House via Flickr
Poor Anne of Cleves, she gets the rep of “Henry VIII’s Ugly Wife.” Her marriage with Henry was arranged after the death of new mom Jane Seymour, and on this date in 1540 she became his bride. Much to his chagrin, as he nearly lost his lunch the first time he saw her, according to the history books. He’d already seen the portrait which Hans Holbein the Younger had painted of her and thought it quite nice, but wasn’t nearly so smitten in person.
Maybe Anne of Cleves wasn’t supermodel material but the nearly-50-year-old king was no prize himself by that time. He’d gone from a fit, handsome, charming young guy who could joust and compose musical pieces with the best of them to a fat old guy with an oozing leg sore and a bad case of adult Opposition Defiant Disorder.
My personal theory: Perhaps Anne 2.0 didn’t gush all over the king as he’d been used to? Perhaps she wounded his pride a bit? They say flattery gets you everywhere, but I’d say failure to fawn gets you zero physical contact and a quick annulment in the case of Anne of Cleves. Six months after their wedding at Greenwich Palace, Henry was free of the German noblewoman and on to Wife #5, Catherine Howard. And that’s a drama for a different day!
I agree with you about the whole wounded pride thing. Henry saw himself as both a romantic and as a real “catch” so when he did the romantic thing of surprising her in disguise he expected her to recognise his kingly good lucks and fall into his arms. I think his embarrassment and wounded pride led him to say that he didn’t like her, rather than admit that she hadn’t fallen in love with him at first sight. A rather deluded man!