Claire | August 4, 2018
On this day in history, 4th August 1557, there was a requiem mass for Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of the late King Henry VIII, at Westminster Abbey. After the mass and a “godly sermon”, Anne was buried in a tomb at the abbey. Her tomb is decorated with carvings of a crown and her […]
Claire | August 3, 2018
On this day in history, 3rd August 1557, the remains of forty-one-year-old Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of the late King Henry VIII, were processed from Chelsea Old Manor to Westminster Abbey for burial. Anne had died at her home, Chelsea Old Manor, on 16th July 1557 following a few months of illness. She had […]
Claire | July 9, 2018
On this day in history, 9th July 1540, the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves was declared null and void. They had been married just six months. The marriage of forty-nine-year-old Henry VIII and twenty-four-year-old Anne of Cleves was found null “by reason of a precontract between lady Anne and the marquis of […]
Claire | January 1, 2018
Anne of Cleves, or Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg, had arrived in England on 27th December 1539, landing at Deal in Kent, in preparation for her forthcoming marriage to King Henry VIII. On New Year’s Eve, she travelled on to Rochester, where she was to rest before travelling to Greenwich Palace, where she’d be formally received. She […]
Claire | October 4, 2017
On this day in history, 4th October 1539, in London, the commissioners of King Henry VIII signed the treaty which arranged the marriage of the king and Anne of Cleves (Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg). Anne’s brother, William, Duke of Cleves, had signed the treaty on 4th September 1539 and then sent it to England with his […]
Claire | September 22, 2017
On this day in history, 22nd September 1515, Henry VIII’s fourth wife and queen consort, Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg (or Anne of Cleves as we know her) was born near Düsseldorf. Anne was the second daughter of John III, Duke of Jülich, Cleves and Berg, an important German ruler, and his wife, Maria of Jülich-Berg. Anne […]
Claire | August 4, 2017
On this day in history, 4th August 1557, Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of King Henry VIII, was laid to rest at Westminster Abbey. She had died on 16th July 1557 at her home, Chelsea Manor. The requiem mass was led by the Lord Abbot of Westminster and the chief mourner at the funeral was […]
Claire | July 9, 2017
On this day in history, 9th July 1540, convocation declared that Anne of Cleves’ marriage to King Henry VIII was null and void and that both parties were free to marry again. While the twenty-four-year-old Anne never did remarry, her forty-nine-year-old former husband wasted no time taking another wife, wife number five. On 28th July […]
