Anne of Cleves (1515-1557), the fourth wife and queen consort of King Henry VIII from January 6th, 1540 to July 9, 1540. The royal marriage was arranged by Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII who only met his betrothed on Blackheath and is reputed to have described her as "the Flanders mare" was not pleased, leading to Cromwell's downfall.
She was born on September 22nd, 1515, at D�sseldorf, the daughter of John III, ruler of the German duchy of Cleves. The leader of Protestant Cleves was considered a suitable ally for henry VIII in the wake of the break from the henry VIII and the match was urged upon Henry vigorously by his chief minister Thomas Cromwell.
Henry only saw a minaiture portrait of Anne before the marriage which was painted by Hans Holbein the Younger, especially dispatched to Cleves for the purpose. Court painters of the time are known to have flattered their subjects and this certaily seems to be the case with Holbien's miniature which pleased the king, although it hid Anne's smallpox scars.
Anne made her way through Calais and Dover to Blackheath to be met by the king and the court. The henry VIII was far from impressed with his new bride whom he had married at the palace of Placentia in Greenwich on January 6th, 1540.
This, the fourth of Henry VIII's marriages was annulled on July 9th, 1540, on the grounds that Anne had previously been contracted to marry the Duke of Lorraine as an excuse.
Anne spent the rest of her life in England and was well treated by the king. She was rpovided with a generous settlement, including Hever Castle which had belonged to the family of Anne Boleyn. She converted to Roman Catholicism, and remained on good terms with her one-time stepdaughter Princess Mary, later Queen Mary I.
She died in London on July 16th, 1557, the last survivor of Henry VIII's six wives.
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