In your opinion, why Anne of Cleves never re-married after the annulment of her marriage to Henry VIII? Is it true that as former wife to the king she was not allowed to marry? Or is the truth the fact that by re-marrying she would loose the pension Henry VIII had bestowed on her?
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Anne of Cleves never remarried after the annulment because, like Catherine of Aragon, she believed that she was Henry's true wife, so much so that she believed that they would remarry after Catherine Howard's fall.
Convocation had declared in 1540 that Anne was free to remarry but Elizabeth Norton points out that nobody would have dared to marry the king's ex-wife while Henry was still alive and also Anne believed herself to be Henry's wife. Even after Henry's death, there is no evidence that Anne ever considered remarriage but Edward VI did recommend her as a wife to Thomas Seymour.
It is true that a remarriage would have made Anne dependent on her husband and not the King's council but although it is often said that the terms of the annulment forbade her from remarrying, this is not true.
I have never heard that Anne of Cleves continued to think of herself as Henry’s wife. I’ve always heard and assumed to be true, that she agreed to the annulment because she found Henry disgusting. I haven’t really read that much on Anne of Cleves, are there any good books on her?
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Claire Reply:
April 8th, 2011 at 1:28 am
Hi Samantha,
Yes, it is said that Anne of Cleves was hoping that Henry would remarry her after Catherine Howard’s fall and it was rumoured that she had had illegitimate children by the King so there was obviously some friendship between them. The only biography on Anne is Elizabeth Norton’s “Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Discarded Bride”, which is excellent, but there are also very good sections on her in the six wives books by David Starkey and David Loades.
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