Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised, this is
Speaker 1: Dana Schwartz. While I'm on maternity leave. Noble Blood is
Speaker 1: revisiting the original series I did years ago on the
Speaker 1: Six Wives of Henry the Eighth. Today's episode is about
Speaker 1: Anne of Cleaves, the German princess who is best known
Speaker 1: for a painting that Henry the Eighth approved and then
Speaker 1: in appearance in real life that he did not. But
Speaker 1: the story might be a little more nuanced than.
Speaker 2: You might have heard. I hope you enjoy. Anne of
Speaker 2: Cleaves had traveled over three hundred miles by land and
Speaker 2: by sea to come to England to meet her future
Speaker 2: husband to be, King Henry the Eighth. Neither had laid
Speaker 2: eyes on the other before the marriage arrangement was finalized,
Speaker 2: but Henry had commissioned a portrait of Anne, and he
Speaker 2: liked what he saw well enough to agree to the
Speaker 2: diplomatic match, and so arrangements were made for the twenty
Speaker 2: four year old sister of a prominent duke to become
Speaker 2: wife number four. After weeks of travel, Anne enterr entourage
Speaker 2: made it to Rochester in England. On New Year's Eve,
Speaker 2: the final day of fifteen thirty nine, she was staying
Speaker 2: there at the Bishop's Palace. In three days time she
Speaker 2: would make her way to London, where she was supposed
Speaker 2: to meet her future husband for the first time. On
Speaker 2: New Year's Day, Anne found herself gazing out the window
Speaker 2: of her bedchamber into the courtroom below, where a celebratory
Speaker 2: bull baiting was occurring. Anne didn't speak English, only German,
Speaker 2: and while her escorts had been nothing but polite and
Speaker 2: deferential to her, she was still in an alien country
Speaker 2: where the clothings, customs, even the smiles could be sinister.
Speaker 2: They had warned her that the English court was a
Speaker 2: dangerous place. Watching the men dance around the animals in
Speaker 2: the courtyard below, the dog dodging in between the legs
Speaker 2: of the bull, Anne wondered if she had come to
Speaker 2: England to be predator or prey. She had the uneasy
Speaker 2: sense that the position of queen wasn't a spectator role,
Speaker 2: and the bull baiting never ends well for either the
Speaker 2: dog or the bull. The English seemed to enjoy their
Speaker 2: sports when they end in blood. It was at that
Speaker 2: moment that her chamber door flung open, and nine men
Speaker 2: wearing hooded cloaks swept into the room. Anne screamed, but
Speaker 2: before the sound had even left her mouth, the tallest
Speaker 2: of the men had ensnared her in his arms and
Speaker 2: attempted to sweep her into a kiss. Anne wriggled away,
Speaker 2: disgusted and called for help In German. She begged her
Speaker 2: attendants for an explanation. The men didn't seem to mean
Speaker 2: any harm. In fact, they had begun to laugh. The
Speaker 2: man who had tried to kiss her, she saw, who
Speaker 2: was not only the tallest but also the widest, had
Speaker 2: an uneasy gait and a glint of red hair that
Speaker 2: flashed from beneath his hood. After a few words in
Speaker 2: English that Anne couldn't comprehend, all of the men walked away.
Speaker 2: It was a game, When of her attendants explained to
Speaker 2: her a courtly game of chivalry. The men were pretending
Speaker 2: to be robin Hood or romantic heroes. I don't understand,
Speaker 2: Anne replied, I'm going to marry the king. No, why
Speaker 2: would anyone insult him by trying to compromise is my honor?
Speaker 2: Anne got her answer a moment later, when the same
Speaker 2: retinue of men re entered her chamber, this time without
Speaker 2: their cloaks. Now the tall broad man wore purple and gold.
Speaker 2: His hair and beard were red, and as he stepped forward,
Speaker 2: everyone around Anne lowered into a bow. Anne bowed too.
Speaker 2: Of course, the man was King Henry the Eighth himself,
Speaker 2: Not content to wait three days to see his bride.
Speaker 2: Henry had come to surprise her early in disguise, imagining
Speaker 2: that she would fall instantly in love, as soulmates do.
Speaker 2: It would be like something out of the stories of
Speaker 2: King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, the
Speaker 2: beautiful princess recognizing her love even as he's disguised as
Speaker 2: a common knave. Henry had played masquerade games in court decades.
Speaker 2: His courtiers were well practiced in both treating him with
Speaker 2: nothing but flattery when he was in his flimsy disguises,
Speaker 2: and at feigning delighted surprise when the king unmasked himself.
Speaker 2: But Anne had never seen Henry before, let alone heard
Speaker 2: of his proclivity for self indulgent theatrics. To her, here
Speaker 2: was just a strange middle aged man attempting to assault
Speaker 2: her days before her wedding. As soon as she saw
Speaker 2: the King in his royal finery. She lowered her face
Speaker 2: to the floor to avoid the discomfort of their mutual humiliation,
Speaker 2: but King Henry just laughed and raised her up and
Speaker 2: kissed her on the cheek. The two made polite conversation
Speaker 2: with an interpreter and bid each other goodbye until they
Speaker 2: would see each other in London in a few days time.
Speaker 2: The disaster, it seemed, had been averted by their mutual
Speaker 2: good humor, But the moment Henry left the Bishop's palace,
Speaker 2: the good humor dissolved from his face, replaced with a scowl.
Speaker 2: He turned to his minister, Thomas Cromwell, riding next to
Speaker 2: him on a horse. I like her not, Henry said.
Speaker 2: It was an inauspicious start to an inauspicious marriage. Though
Speaker 2: Anne of Cleaves is now mainly remembered for being less
Speaker 2: attractive than her portrait made her out to be, her
Speaker 2: story goes much deeper than that. She spent her life
Speaker 2: in England outliving all five of Henry's other wives, something
Speaker 2: between a hostage and a casualty of Henry the Eighth's
Speaker 2: narcissism and ego. She was a woman who did what
Speaker 2: it took to survive. I'm Danish Schwartz, and this is
Speaker 2: noble blood. It had been two years since Henry's third wife,
Speaker 2: Jane Seymour, died after giving birth to their son, Edward.
Speaker 2: Henry of course felt the immense relief at having a
Speaker 2: male heir, a toddler whom everyone assured him was perfectly healthy.
Speaker 2: But two years without a wife was enough time in mourning. Besides,
Speaker 2: everyone knows you need a second son, just in case
Speaker 2: a backup. Henry already had a tiny Prince of Wales,
Speaker 2: and now he wanted a baby Duke of York. Henry's
Speaker 2: first choice of bride was the beautiful French widow Madame
Speaker 2: de Longueville born Mary of Geese. Henry sent envoys to
Speaker 2: France to try to negotiate to try to entice her
Speaker 2: to become the fourth Queen of England, but Mary of
Speaker 2: Geese was already spoken for, engaged to the young and
Speaker 2: very handsome King James of Scotland. Though Henry demanded some
Speaker 2: diplomatic wheedling to try to break up their engagement, it
Speaker 2: was a lost cause. Both Mary of Geese and King
Speaker 2: James of Scotland were attractive and in their twenties. Henry
Speaker 2: was in his late forties, already expanding with a swollen
Speaker 2: leg that needed to be periodically punctured to let the
Speaker 2: ooze out. Mary politely declined his offer and married James.
Speaker 2: A little stung, Henry asked the French ambassador to assemble
Speaker 2: all of the eligible French women at the same manor
Speaker 2: house in Calais so he Henry could come by and
Speaker 2: choose one. The King of France, Francis the First, was
Speaker 2: outraged when he heard Henry's proposition. It is not our custom,
Speaker 2: he wrote back, to display women of noble rank like
Speaker 2: horses for sale. Henry would need to look further afield
Speaker 2: to find his next bride. In Brussels, Henry's ambassador, Thomas Rothsley,
Speaker 2: had finally convinced the beautiful Christina of Denmark to sit
Speaker 2: for a portrait so that they could send it back
Speaker 2: to Henry and he could see what she looked like.
Speaker 2: Christina was tall and willowy. She had dimples when she smiled,
Speaker 2: one in each cheek and one that appeared in her
Speaker 2: chin when she was laughing. She was widely praised among
Speaker 2: the courts of Europe for her gentle nature. People whispered
Speaker 2: that she was also brilliant she spoke three languages. She
Speaker 2: also had very little interest in King Henry the Eighth.
Speaker 2: Christina knew all about what had happened to Catherine of
Speaker 2: Aragon so cruelly disposed of, and to Anne Boleyn, and
Speaker 2: the third one had died too, hadn't she No, it
Speaker 2: was much safer not to be a wife at the
Speaker 2: mercy of Henry's fickle whims and mercurial mood swings. While
Speaker 2: Christina posed for her portrait, Rosley tried to convince her
Speaker 2: of he Henry's charms. He told her that Henry was
Speaker 2: gentle and kind and good. Christina couldn't help but laugh
Speaker 2: at that, hard enough that the dimple in her chin appeared.
Speaker 2: I would marry King Henry, she said, if I only
Speaker 2: had an extra head to spare. Another dead end and
Speaker 2: another blow to the ego of the king who had
Speaker 2: once been celebrated for his looks and charm. And now
Speaker 2: the need for Henry to make a diplomatic marriage was increasing.
Speaker 2: Thanks to the kerfuffle of divorcing Catherine of Aragon and
Speaker 2: marrying Anne Boleyn, Henry was excommunicated, which meant any neighboring
Speaker 2: country could invade England and claim it was in the
Speaker 2: name of the Church, and the Catholic nations around England
Speaker 2: seemed to be getting pretty cozy. King Francis the First
Speaker 2: and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles the Fifth looked to
Speaker 2: be forging a little friendship. The two of them were
Speaker 2: gallivanting around the Louver Palace together while the English ambassador
Speaker 2: present was assigned the smallest, least hospitable rooms possible. If
Speaker 2: the two of them united and attacked England, Henry had
Speaker 2: very few international allies who would help him. Henry had
Speaker 2: married for love before, and now he needed a foreign bride.
Speaker 2: Though Henry was excommunicated, he still wasn't a Lutheran, which
Speaker 2: limited his options for a bride a bit. What about
Speaker 2: Cleves Julich, Henry's adviser, Thomas Cromwell offered one day. Their
Speaker 2: new duke was a reformed Catholic, but no friend of
Speaker 2: the pope, and he had an unmarried sister. When Rothsley
Speaker 2: went to visit Cleaves, Germanic custom meant that the unmarried
Speaker 2: girl appeared wearing heavy veils. Well, Henry bellowed when Rosley returned,
Speaker 2: so much prettier than Christina of Denmark. Rothesley assured the King,
Speaker 2: but Henry didn't need to take his word for it.
Speaker 2: He had commissioned a portrait of the girl, Anne of
Speaker 2: Cleaves by Hans Holbein, and when the portrait came back,
Speaker 2: Henry was entranced. She had a gentle, kind face and
Speaker 2: heavy lidded eyes that made her look both mysterious and wise.
Speaker 2: Henry spent hours staring at the portrait, imagining his hands
Speaker 2: around her tiny waist and his lips upon her perfect
Speaker 2: smooth cheeks. The match was set. Twenty four year old
Speaker 2: Anne of Cleaves, who had never before left the cloistered
Speaker 2: confines of her family, was going to become the next
Speaker 2: Queen of England. Though Anne of Cleaves had a sterling
Speaker 2: noble lineage on both sides of her family, she was
Speaker 2: almost entirely unprepared for life in the English court. No
Speaker 2: one had ever really believed she would marry higher than
Speaker 2: being a duchess. She spoke only German, no English or French,
Speaker 2: and she was untrained in music and poetry. The only
Speaker 2: dances she knew were the German ones she had grown
Speaker 2: up with. But prepared or not, the chance to become
Speaker 2: the Queen of England was not something her family was
Speaker 2: going to refuse, especially because being unmarried at twenty four,
Speaker 2: Anne was beginning to become a bit of an embarrassment.
Speaker 2: Henry wanted her to travel north via Antwerp on her
Speaker 2: way to England so she wouldn't have to pass through
Speaker 2: the lands of the Holy Roman Emperor, but that would
Speaker 2: necessitate a longer sea voyage, and Anne's mother didn't want
Speaker 2: to risk Anne's complexion being damaged by the salty sea air.
Speaker 2: After all, Henry only wanted her because he liked what
Speaker 2: he saw in the portrait, so permission was asked and
Speaker 2: granted by Charles the Fifth, and Anne and her retinue
Speaker 2: of nearly three hundred people traveled across Europe towards her
Speaker 2: new future in Calais, where Anne was set to board
Speaker 2: a boat across the English Channel. Anne was delayed two
Speaker 2: weeks by foul weather. Rothsley was apologetic. He brought Anne
Speaker 2: to see the ship all ready for her departure, dripping
Speaker 2: in festive streamers and ribbons and banners. No matter, Anne said,
Speaker 2: I'll take this time to learn of my new people
Speaker 2: and my new husband. While staying in Calais at the
Speaker 2: home of Lord and Lady Lisel, Anne asked Rothsley for
Speaker 2: his help via translator. Rothsley taught Anne how to play
Speaker 2: Henry's favorite card game called Scent. Anne also requested that
Speaker 2: Rothsley bring English noblemen and ladies to dine with her,
Speaker 2: so that she could learn English table manners and become
Speaker 2: more accustomed to the patter of their jokes and the
Speaker 2: pattern of their speech. She didn't understand the language, but
Speaker 2: she smiled and laughed alongside them. All the same letters
Speaker 2: arrived for Henry describing how charming and good natured his
Speaker 2: bride on the way was. Henry was jittery with anticipation.
Speaker 2: He was supposed to spend Christmas with Anne, but the
Speaker 2: weather delay meant he spent it alone. He paced his palaces,
Speaker 2: waiting for her to arrive, like a package to be delivered. Finally,
Speaker 2: by New Year's Eve, Anne had made it to Richmond,
Speaker 2: and Henry, not willing to wait any longer, rode out
Speaker 2: to surprise her. That was when he first appeared to
Speaker 2: her in his robin hood costume, imagining that she would
Speaker 2: be so taken by his handsomeness that she would succumb immediately.
Speaker 2: Imminent marriage be damned. These were the sort of courtly
Speaker 2: games that Henry was used to everyone around him indulging
Speaker 2: him in. Catherine of Erica had grown up in the
Speaker 2: great courts of Europe. She would have known exactly how
Speaker 2: to react and clever. Anne Boleyn would have also perfectly
Speaker 2: matched Henry in this game. But Anne of Cleves was
Speaker 2: a complete stranger and totally unaware of both what Henry
Speaker 2: looked like and of what the game she was supposed
Speaker 2: to be playing was. She left Henry humiliated, smarting from
Speaker 2: the pushed down knowledge that maybe he was no longer
Speaker 2: as handsome as he once was. Well, what of it,
Speaker 2: Henry thought, She is not so pretty herself, not nearly
Speaker 2: as pretty as that portrait made her out to be.
Speaker 2: His first three marriages had been love matches with women
Speaker 2: who matched him in wits and flattered him with affection.
Speaker 2: Now Henry was being roped into a diplomatic marriage with
Speaker 2: a stranger, and he did not care for it one bit.
Speaker 2: Anne of Cleaves arrived in London in a drawn chariot
Speaker 2: flanked by one hundred horsemen wearing livery embroidered with golden lions.
Speaker 2: Anne was escorted to a massive pavilion with lit fires
Speaker 2: inside where she was dressed in a gold gown with
Speaker 2: a round skirt in the Dutch fashion, and given a
Speaker 2: round pearl bonnet to set atop her head. As for Henry,
Speaker 2: when she arrived, he played the part of the loving groom,
Speaker 2: perfectly smiling and extending his arms and kissing her in
Speaker 2: welcome But as soon as the pageant was over he
Speaker 2: turned to Cromwell, Get me out of this marriage, he said,
Speaker 2: But it was too late. The wheels of diplomacy had
Speaker 2: already been set into motion. If Henry were to reject
Speaker 2: Anne at this point, he would anger not only Anne
Speaker 2: in her powerful family, but all of their allies across Germany,
Speaker 2: especially if he was rejecting her for no good reason. Cromwell,
Speaker 2: for his part, tried his best back. When Anne had
Speaker 2: been ten, she had been temporarily engaged to the Duke
Speaker 2: of Lorraine. If she was pre contracted, that would avoid
Speaker 2: the marriage arrangement with Henry. The ambassador from Cleaves was
Speaker 2: confused when Cromwell brought it up to him. She was
Speaker 2: a child, then, he said, it was before the age
Speaker 2: of consent. No one actually believes it was a legitimate engagement.
Speaker 2: Cromwell knew that well enough but still Cromwell had the
Speaker 2: confused and scrambling ambassador from Cleaves agreed to send for
Speaker 2: the proper paperwork back in Germany that would prove that
Speaker 2: Anne was completely free and clear to marry Henry as
Speaker 2: everyone knew. The two were married. On January sixth, fifteen forty.
Speaker 3: The forty eight year old King Henry the eighth got
Speaker 3: married for the fourth time to Anne of Cleaves. She
Speaker 3: wore her long blonde hair loose beneath a golden cornet
Speaker 3: set with jewels and fresh sprigs of rosemary. That evening,
Speaker 3: they were ceremonially put to bed so that the pair
Speaker 3: might conceive another son for Henry, a little Duke of York.
Speaker 3: They didn't Henry, how do I put this, couldn't sail
Speaker 3: his boat without a stiff breeze. Young virginal Anne, who
Speaker 3: had only been instructed with the vaguest possible descriptions of
Speaker 3: what was expected of her, to spend the night asleep
Speaker 3: next to her new husband. The next morning, Henry confronted Cromwell.
Speaker 3: I like her not before, but now I like her
Speaker 3: much less. He consulted his doctors about his sexual problems,
Speaker 3: while making it very clear to anyone who would listen
Speaker 3: that it was not his fault. I mean I saw
Speaker 3: the way her breasts and her belly sagged. Henry said,
Speaker 3: she probably wasn't even a virgin.
Speaker 2: Henry made sure that the doctors wrote down that it
Speaker 2: wasn't his fault. He wasn't impotent. He had two missions
Speaker 2: in the night in his sleep. Doctors advised that he
Speaker 2: take a night off from trying, and so on the
Speaker 2: third night, he once again went to Anne's bed, where
Speaker 2: he once again failed to consummate the union. No virgin
Speaker 2: has breasts like that, Henry said, that has to be
Speaker 2: a good enough reason to get this marriage in alled right.
Speaker 2: What more proof could I possibly need? Also, she smells.
Speaker 2: To make matters worse, the Franco imperial threat that Cromwell
Speaker 2: had warned about never actually materialized, which meant that this
Speaker 2: diplomatic marriage, which had seemed so important, was now basically worthless.
Speaker 2: Though Anne was still in the slow process of learning English,
Speaker 2: it was abundantly clear that Henry wasn't pleased with her.
Speaker 2: He kissed her good morning and good night, and came
Speaker 2: to her bedroom, but his increasing chill was obvious in
Speaker 2: any language. Anne began wearing a French hood, like the
Speaker 2: kind that Anne Boleyn used to wear, one that showed
Speaker 2: off her beautiful blonde hair, but Henry paid her no attention.
Speaker 2: He much preferred flirting with the very young Katherine Howard,
Speaker 2: a very pretty teenager who, like the late Anne Boleyn,
Speaker 2: was a niece of the powerful Duke of Norfolk. When
Speaker 2: it was time for Anne of Cleaves to establish her
Speaker 2: own household at Greenwich, all of her ladies in waiting
Speaker 2: were Henry's choice. Anne requested that one of the ladies
Speaker 2: be Catherine Beset, the daughter of Lord Liesl, who had
Speaker 2: been so warm and hospitable to her during her two
Speaker 2: weeks stay in Calais, but Henry rejected the proposition, not
Speaker 2: attractive enough. If he was going to have to be
Speaker 2: married to an ugly wife, he at least wanted to
Speaker 2: be surrounded by attractive ladies in waiting. Of course, Catherine
Speaker 2: Howard was given a position outside the bedroom. Anne of
Speaker 2: Cleaves was finding that she was good at being queen,
Speaker 2: and she was, for the most part enjoying it. Though
Speaker 2: she had been Catholic, of course, she converted to Anglicanism
Speaker 2: when she married Henry. The Reformers loved her, and the
Speaker 2: people loved her, mostly because she wasn't that social climbing
Speaker 2: little nobody Catherine Howard, who seemed to be monopolizing all
Speaker 2: of the King's attention. Everyone seemed to find Anne of
Speaker 2: Cleaves charming, everyone except her husband. Even after three wives.
Speaker 2: One thing remained consistent about Henry the Eighth. When he
Speaker 2: was done with a woman, he wanted her out of
Speaker 2: sight so he didn't have to deal with her himself.
Speaker 2: Late in the spring, just months after their wedding, Anne
Speaker 2: got word that Henry wanted her household moved to Richmond,
Speaker 2: far from the plague in London. She was told it
Speaker 2: was a thin excuse. I'm going the way of Catherine
Speaker 2: of Arragon, She told one of her ladies. He's disposing
Speaker 2: of me. What power did she have to stop him.
Speaker 2: She was in a foreign country where she didn't speak
Speaker 2: the language and had no power. Her brother seemed very
Speaker 2: far away, and anyway, she believed it was her fault.
Speaker 2: If she had been able to consummate the marriage with Henry,
Speaker 2: none of this would be happening. In the middle of
Speaker 2: the night on June twenty fourth, a messenger arrived and
Speaker 2: an interpreter delivered the news to Anne. That the King
Speaker 2: was beginning an investigation to determine whether or not their
Speaker 2: marriage was valid. With extraordinary composure, Anne signed the request. Anna,
Speaker 2: daughter of Cleaves, thanked the man and went about her business.
Speaker 2: Her confusion, her shame, her hurt, her fear. All of
Speaker 2: that was dealt with. Cromwell knew he was hanging on
Speaker 2: by a thin rope. After all, the marriage to Anne
Speaker 2: of Cleaves had been his idea all along, and now
Speaker 2: it was a disaster. He needs to figure out a
Speaker 2: way to give the King the divorce he wanted and fast.
Speaker 2: During the investigation, two of Anne's ladies testified they had
Speaker 2: talked with the brand new queen a few weeks after
Speaker 2: her wedding and inquired as to whether a little prince
Speaker 2: might be on the way. According to them, Anne said
Speaker 2: that the King kissed her good night and fell asleep,
Speaker 2: and then in the morning bid her farewell. Anne had
Speaker 2: looked at the ladies with wide doe eyes. That's enough, right,
Speaker 2: she asked. That story became the gossip of court, repeated
Speaker 2: endlessly until ultimately it became an anecdote of history to
Speaker 2: prove that Anne of Cleaves was not only a virgin,
Speaker 2: but so innocent that she didn't even know what the
Speaker 2: act of sex was. The truth of it was those
Speaker 2: two ladies were trying to tell Henry's commission what they
Speaker 2: wanted to hear, proof that the marriage was never consummated. Anyway,
Speaker 2: Anne wasn't nearly fluent in English at that point. If
Speaker 2: that private conversation had taken place, it would have been
Speaker 2: a comedy of confusion on both sides. Henry's assembly of
Speaker 2: clergymen examined the charges, first that Anne of Cleaves had
Speaker 2: already been betrothed, second that the wedding was never consummated,
Speaker 2: but of course not because Henry was impotent, And third
Speaker 2: that Henry had never consented to the marriage. I mean, yes,
Speaker 2: they said, he consented in his manner and fashion of behavior,
Speaker 2: but inside, inside he was troubled. On July seventh, the
Speaker 2: marriage was deemed invalid. Anne received the news with genuine
Speaker 2: grace after the trouble Catherine of Aragon had given him.
Speaker 2: Henry was so relieved that Anne wasn't going to put
Speaker 2: up a fight that he granted her an extremely generous settlement,
Speaker 2: two palaces, a large annual income, furniture land, a household.
Speaker 2: Anne had only one request that her former stepdaughter Elizabeth
Speaker 2: might be allowed to visit her every once in a while,
Speaker 2: and Henry gladly accepted. Of course, he wrote, I know
Speaker 2: how this annulment pains her, considering the great love and
Speaker 2: affection which she seems to have for my person. Henry
Speaker 2: did require one thing of Anne that caused her to
Speaker 2: struggle to write a letter to her brother telling him
Speaker 2: of the new arrangement, so that he wouldn't be angry
Speaker 2: at Henry. Anne swallowed the humiliation and wrote that her
Speaker 2: body remained in the same integrity with which she brought
Speaker 2: it to England, and that the King had quote kindly
Speaker 2: adopted her as his beloved sister. She asked her brother
Speaker 2: to treat Henry with kindness and told him that she
Speaker 2: would be staying in England as required by the terms
Speaker 2: of their settlement. Anne's family privately was of course outraged.
Speaker 2: Her sister always continued to refer to her as the
Speaker 2: Queen of England, and they never blamed her. Everyone knew
Speaker 2: what a nightmare Henry was when it came to women,
Speaker 2: and from the people of England. There came a massive
Speaker 2: outpouring of public sympathy towards the woman jilted for a
Speaker 2: teenage would be mistress. With marriage behind them and the
Speaker 2: pressures of the wedding bed gone, Henry and Anne's relationship
Speaker 2: vastly improved, especially once Anne became fluent enough in English
Speaker 2: for the pair to talk and realize they actually had
Speaker 2: a lot in common. Anne lived happily enough, making a
Speaker 2: mini Germany of her household, and, according to one observer,
Speaker 2: wearing new dresses every day. About a year after Little
Speaker 2: Katherine Howard, former Lady in waiting, became Queen, Anne of Cleaves,
Speaker 2: came to Hampton Court for New Year's Catherine was terrified
Speaker 2: and insecure, unsure what the protocol was for a former
Speaker 2: queen to come and greet her, but Anne of Cleaves
Speaker 2: was grace itself. She brought a New Year's gift of
Speaker 2: horses for the couple and greeted Catherine with a deep bow.
Speaker 2: Henry came in, kissed Anne, and the three of them
Speaker 2: had what was, by all accounts, the least awkward dinner
Speaker 2: among exes in history. Still gracious as she was, Anne
Speaker 2: was still a little secretly pleased to hear about Catherine's fall.
Speaker 2: Anne even thought that maybe she would get a second
Speaker 2: chance of being queen now that he had gotten his
Speaker 2: fling out of the way, maybe Henry would want to
Speaker 2: remarry her, but unfortunately that hope was dashed. Anne's former stepdaughter,
Speaker 2: Mary Mary Tudor, came to visit Anne at Richmond, but
Speaker 2: had to leave suddenly. Anne found out why two weeks later,
Speaker 2: when Henry came by to tell her that he had
Speaker 2: gotten married to a woman named Catherine Parr. Anne never
Speaker 2: married again. In her mind, she was always still married
Speaker 2: to Henry the Eighth. After his death, she even briefly
Speaker 2: tried to overturn the annulment ruling to make her settlement
Speaker 2: more generous, but the council of the brand new young
Speaker 2: King Edward didn't bite. With Henry's death, Anne's status was
Speaker 2: reduced from that of the king's sister to the king's aunt,
Speaker 2: so although she lived comfortably, her position was still limited,
Speaker 2: especially when her brother lost his lands to the Holy
Speaker 2: Roman Emperor, which meant that even if she wanted to
Speaker 2: give up her English property, she wouldn't be able to
Speaker 2: return home.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: For the last decades of her life, Anne's real family
Speaker 2: was the household she maintained. They became her friends and confidants,
Speaker 2: and Anne finally died aged forty one, She left generous
Speaker 2: gifts to the poor surrounding her properties and to her
Speaker 2: entire household staff. In her will, she referred to them
Speaker 2: all by name, an extraordinary gesture of the charm and
Speaker 2: kindness that hadn't won over a king but managed to
Speaker 2: win over everyone else. That's the story of Anne of
Speaker 2: Cleves's brief marriage to Henry the Eighth, But stick around
Speaker 2: after a sponsor break for a little bit more about
Speaker 2: the marriage's consequences. Anne managed to get out of her
Speaker 2: marriage to King Henry the Eighth with her head, but
Speaker 2: the same wasn't true for Thomas Cromwell, Henry's former chief minister.
Speaker 2: Bromwell had been the one who pushed Henry into the
Speaker 2: marriage with Anne, who told him that France and the
Speaker 2: Holy Roman Emperor were going to forge an alliance, and
Speaker 2: Cromwell had maybe overplayed Anne's beauty to make sure that
Speaker 2: Henry accepted the match. While the Council was examining the
Speaker 2: validity of Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleaves in the
Speaker 2: summer of fifteen forty, Cromwell was thrown into the Tower
Speaker 2: of London. Cromwell was beheaded without a trial on charges
Speaker 2: of treason to the delight of his political enemies. There's
Speaker 2: always a cost for a bad marriage with Henry the Eighth.
Speaker 2: Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and
Speaker 2: Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me
Speaker 2: Danash Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Annaswick,
Speaker 2: Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and Julia Milani. The show is
Speaker 2: edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima
Speaker 2: il Kaali and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and
Speaker 2: Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.