With all this talk of celebrated photographer Mario Testino being commissioned to take the official engagement snaps of Prince William and Kate Middleton, it’s easy to forget that In the days before mass media and photography, few people knew what their rulers looked like unless they actually saw them in the flesh (rather than in the flash, as is the case today). Diplomatic reports, letters and diaries often contain detailed descriptions of the great and good, because then, as now, readers had an insatiable desire to know everything about their lordly masters.
When it came to seeking out a bride for a royal prince, such descriptions were absolutely critical. The happy couple were not likely to see each other, let alone learn about much about each other’s characters, until days, or even hours before the wedding. Fortunately, the highest in the land could afford to despatch a portrait painter with the diplomatic party that negotiated the marriage deal. Decent artists were highly valued by royal marriage brokers, but they trod a fine line between flattery and honesty.
Henry VIII, Britain’s most-married king and an experienced prospector in the world of Renaissance princesses, employed the best. In 1539, after the death of his third wife, Jane Seymour, he despatched Hans Holbein to paint two German princesses, the daughters of the Duke of Cleves (in northern Germany), and instructed him to err on the side of accuracy. Henry, a connoisseur of the female, form, wanted no nasty surprises when he encountered his bride-to-be in the flesh.
Nicholas Wotton, the head of the English delegation, reported to Henry: "Your Grace's servant Hanze Albein hathe taken th'effigies of my lady Anne and the lady Amelye and hath expressed theyr images very lyvely".
Holbein’s portrait of Anne (left, courtesy WIkimedia Commons) showed an unassuming, thoughtful woman in an intricately decorated, rich red dress – indeed the gown is rather more memorable than the princess. Anne was clearly not a great beauty, but nor did she appear to be utterly unpleasing. When she arrived in England, Henry came to inspect her incognito, and introduced himself as one of the king’s nobles. Anne was polite, but clearly more interested in the bull-baiting that was taking place outside her window, and Henry, who was accustomed to being recognised, retreated with wounded pride. Either Henry’s disguise was impenetrable, or Anne had not seen a portrait of her husband-to-be. The bride’s opinion of her future husband was of little consequence to the marriage deal.
When Henry re-appeared as himself, the couple appeared to get on well, although Henry allegedly dismissed her as a ‘fat Flanders mare’ and muttered to Thomas Cromwell that he was only going through with the marriage for the sake of the country. Henry could not wriggle out of the marriage treaty and the couple married on 6 January 1540.
Holbein, formerly the king’s favourite artist and arguably the architect of Tudor visual propaganda, was temporarily disgraced.
Anne’s reaction on meeting the overweight, irascible Tudor monarch is not recorded. Their marriage was not consummated and was dissolved after only six months. At this point one wonders whether alarm bells rang in Anne’s head, given her husband’s habit of disposing of wives who displeased him. Anne did everything she could to cooperate with Henry’s plans for an annulment. In return she was given a handsome allowance of £4,000 a year and allowed to retire to the south coast, with the honorary title ‘King’s sister’, where she lived contentedly at Henry’s expense for the rest of her life. Just three months after their divorce, the French ambassador reported that the former queen was on excellent form:
‘Madame of Cleves has a more joyous countenance than ever. She wears a great variety of dresses and passes all her time in sports and recreations’.
Anne enjoyed far more freedom in England than she would have done if she returned to her brother’s court in Cleves, where she would have been disgraced. In England she was a woman of independent means who maintained her friendships with the royal family, and was the longest-lived of Henry’s wives, surviving them all.
Holbein’s lively likeness may not have impressed Henry, but it seems to have conveyed the truth about Anne: compliant, sensible and polite, she used these skills to survive.
