– Another Disastrous Marriage for Henry –
by Lady Trader | Fan Fun With Damian Lewis | April 25, 2025
Welcome back to Court and to episode five of “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light.”
This episode is called “Mirror”, and I can only think that is because what Henry saw in the mirror of Anne of Cleves’ eyes was something that shook him to the core.
This week I want to focus on Anne of Cleves and her marriage to Henry. I have always had a soft-spot for Anne of Cleves; I can only imagine what it felt like coming to a country where you did not know anyone, did not speak the language, and did not know any of the customs but were expected to be its Queen.
We see Henry and the Council admiring the portrait of Anne that Hans Holbein painted. Holbein was sent to Germany to paint portraits of Anne and her younger sister, Amalia, although we only see Anne’s on display.
Henry seems surprised to find out that Anne only speaks German, does not dance or play music, and only rides but does not hunt. Anne grew up in a frauenzimmer which was a separate household from the overall noble house. It was a place where young women of noble birth would learn how to cook, embroider, run a household and other practical task for women of that time. It was a ladies only household, with no male over the age of 12 allowed. It sounds harsh, but that was how German noblewomen were raised. Anne’s upbringing would not have exposed her to the education and culture Henry’s earlier wives had. It almost seems like this match was doomed from the start.
It is said that Henry fell in love with the portrait of Anne and could not wait for her to make her way to London; he must see her as soon as she in on English soil. Henry always imagined himself as a romantic; whether it was carrying Queen Katherine’s colors during a joust, or writing poetry in his own hand to Anne Boleyn, the idea that he was a knight who exceled at the game of courtly love was a big part of his self-image.
This is probably the reason he makes the hasty (and disastrous) decision to ride to Anne at Rochester Abbey in disguise to surprise her. In his mind, she would love the rouse like Katherine and her ladies did way back when Henry was much younger and fitter. It never crossed his mind that she would have no idea who he was, or that she would be disappointed at what she would see.
There are several accounts about Henry and Anne’s first encounter. Some of the details may be different, but the overall descriptions are the same. Henry enters the room where Anne and her ladies watch a bull-baiting from a window and he is in disguise. He offered her a gift from the King, and he embraced and kissed her. Anne not knowing who this man was, and coming from a strict upbringing was taken aback and thanked him for the gift and turned back to the window. Henry was so surprised Anne did not know it was her future husband, he went into another room, removed his disguise and returned and announced himself. There is no record of Anne being warned of Henry’s surprise visit.
This is the beginning of the end of their marriage. Anne was almost certainly dissatisfied with what she would have seen her future husband to be: a 48 year old obese man with a limp, thinning hair and a bad odor about him due to the festering ulcerated wound on his leg.
And Henry would not have been happy to be embarrassed in a public setting and was probably not happy with how Anne appeared. Her clothing was of the German style, which was very different than what ladies were wearing in England. Even if Anne was a raving beauty, the bubble had burst for Henry. He saw in her eyes what he was afraid to see: that he was no longer the dashing Henry that was once called “the most handsome prince in Christendom”.
Henry rode back to Greenwich and told the court how he felt he was misled about Anne, and that if it weren’t for the worry of the alliance between France and Spain, he would not marry her.
I really wish we could have seen this scene in the episode. I think it really would have had an impact and would have given more insight into why Henry was so angry at having to get married and at Cromwell.
There were never any reports from any of the courtiers that met Anne at Calais that she was anything but pleasant and friendly. She carried herself with “grace and dignity” is how she was described. She was nervous, but even asked to learn card games that Henry liked to play so she would have something in common with him until she learned how to speak English. Henry’s dislike of her had everything to do with him, and little to do with her.
Anne and Henry married at the Palace of Placentia at Greenwich on January 6, 1540. From all accounts, Henry seemed happy at the reception after the ceremony. The next morning Henry told Cromwell he did not consummate the marriage because Anne had “very evil smells about her” and “took her to be no maid by reason of the closeness of her breasts”. He “left her as good a maid and I found her” and wanted out of the marriage.
The story about how Henry could not do the deed started to spread around Court. When Anne told her ladies that when her husband visited her “”he comes to bed he kisseth me, and he taketh me by the hand, and biddeth me ‘Good night, sweetheart’; and in the morning kisseth me and biddeth ‘Farewell, darling” everyone knew that there would be no Duke of York coming from this marriage.
A humiliated Henry must have someone to blame. This is when he starts to turn on Cromwell. Even though the whole Privy Council approved of the marriage, it was Cromwell who encouraged the alliance with the Schmalkaldic League so it will fall on Cromwell to get Henry out of this marriage.
Henry wants to use the excuse of the precontract of Anne’s betrothal to the Duke of Lorraine as the justification for annulling the marriage, even though he shrugged it off in the last episode.
Once the treaty between Spain and France falls apart…
Read the rest of the original article at Fan Fun With Damian Lewis