Page "Tudor dynasty" Paragraph 16

Henry married for the fourth time to the daughter of a Protestant German duke, Anne of Cleves, thus forming an alliance with the Protestant German states.

Henry was reluctant to marry again, especially to a Protestant, but he was persuaded when the court painter Hans Holbein the Younger showed him a flattering portrait of her.

She arrived in England in December 1539, and Henry rode to Rochester to meet her on 1 January 1540.

Although the historian Gilbert Burnet claimed that Henry called her a Flanders Mare, there is no evidence that he said this ; in truth, court ambassadors negotiating the marriage praised her beauty.

Whatever the circumstances were, the marriage failed, and Anne agreed to a peaceful annulment, assumed the title My Lady, the King's Sister, and received a massive divorce settlement, which included Richmond Palace, Hever Castle, and numerous other estates across the country.

Although the marriage made sense in terms of foreign policy, Henry was still enraged and offended by the match.

Henry chose to blame Cromwell for the failed marriage, and ordered him beheaded on 28 July 1540.

Henry kept his word and took care of Anne in his last years alive ; however, after his death Anne suffered from extreme financial hardship because Edward VI's councillors refused to give her any funds and confiscated the homes she had been given.

She pleaded to her brother to let her return home, but he only sent a few agents who tried to assist in helping her situation and refused to let her return home.

Anne died on 16 July 1557 in Chelsea Manor.