The Royal Monarchy

An important date for England this day almost 500 years ago when King Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Anne has been born in Dusseldorf / Germany and was Queen of England from 6 January to 9 July 1540.The marriage ith the famous King annulled by an agreement with the Royal King. Anne was later titled as the King's Beloved Sister and outlived all the other wives of Henry.

In general one could say both did not really have this fit - there was no sex involved. The King did not like a lot at her, body, smell, not existing education and more. She also more or less ignored him so he already was searching for a way to avoid the marriage which Cromwell was organizing. But there was no way out but soon the marriage got annulled and 3 weeks later Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard. Thomas Cromwell who organized the unsuccessful marriage was excuted the same day - official for other reasons - but between all of us the real reason was his responsibility for the doomed German marriage. Later historians valued Anne as the most successful queen as she was standing for her opinions, was resolute and strong - too much for the macho King.