Guest Post by Heather R. Darsie: When Anne Met Henry

I’m delighted to be one of the stops on Heather R. Darsie’s blog tour for her new biography of Anne of Cleves, one of the least-studied of Henry VIII’s six wives. Over to Heather:

Anna of Cleves Meets Henry VIII: An Excerpt

By Heather R.
Darsie

I have always been
intrigued by the claims that Anna was horribly disappointing to Henry at their
first meeting. I knew that most information about their relationship came out
during the annulment proceedings in late June to early July 1540. Given the
timing, I thought it was suspicious. Imagine my delight when a German account,
written a few days after Anna and Henry’s first meeting and not six months
later and for nefarious purpose, had significantly different facts in it. The
letter was sent to Anna’s brother Wilhelm. He and their mother the widowed
Duchess Maria were likely eager to hear how the new Queen Consort of England
was doing.

“Anna was resting at Rochester on 1
January 1540 when she was informed of a visitor. Anna had met many of her new
subjects and was surely exhausted by the time she arrived in Rochester, and
less attentive than usual due to her fatigue. Anna encountered hundreds of
English people who were appointed to meet her, including numerous peers of the
realm and their personal entourages. Perhaps she was spending some of her time
at Rochester daydreaming about meeting Henry or going over how she would greet
Henry in the English language. She would not have the opportunity to follow
through with any of those plans.

Anna received that unexpected visitor on
1 January 1540, and the German and English accounts of the first meeting
between Anna and Henry differ from each other. Olisleger, an eyewitness,
dispatched a letter to Duke Wilhelm within a few days following the meeting.
According to Olisleger, while Anna was at Rochester watching a bull-baiting
with her German lords, Henry came to call on her after lunch with ten or twelve
of his gentlemen. This presumably included Sir Anthony Browne, Henry’s Master
of Horse, who was deposed at the annulment trial later on that year. It was New
Year’s Day 1540, and the excited groom could not wait to meet his bride. Henry
and his men were dressed as private persons. Henry entered the room and greeted
Anna, which may have unsettled her. After all, Anna was used to the culture of
the Frauenzimmer, so having strange men come into her
presence without proper preparation could have caught her off guard.

Anna invited this private person, a representative
of the King, to dine with her. Afterward, he presented Anna with a gorgeous
gift ‘from the King’ for New Year: a crystal goblet, the lid and foot of which
were completely gilded and inlaid with diamonds and rubies. Another golden band
encircled the goblet, also with inlaid rubies and diamonds. Afterward, Henry
and Anna enjoyed banqueting together. Henry stayed over to the next day, 2
January 1540, though at a separate location so as not to offend Anna’s virtue.
He and his men broke their fast with Anna and her gentlemen. Henry then
returned to Greenwich. Anna herself departed for Dartford with her train later
that day. It is unclear at what point Henry made his identity known to Anna.
Hall’s Chronicle described the meeting:

‘the king which sore desired to see her
Grace accompanied with no more then [sic] 8 persons of his privy chamber, and
both he and they all appareled in marble coats privily came to Rochester, and
suddenly came to her presence, which therewith was somewhat astonied: but after
he had spoken and welcomed her, she was most gracious and loving countenance
and behavior him received and welcomed on her knees, whom he gently took up and
kissed: and all that afternoon, communed and devised with her, and that night
supped with her, and the next day he departed to Greenwich, and she came to
Dartford.’”

Excerpt from Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King’s ‘Beloved
Sister’, by Heather R. Darsie, copyright Amberley Publishing 2019; pgs.
110-112. All rights reserved.