Anne, Duchess of Cleves, was a woman of great intelligence and admirable good sense. She became the fourth wife of Henry VIII, King of England and Lord of Ireland, because he was charmed by Hans Holbein’s flattering portrait of her – the miniature, like the full canvas, did not reveal the smallpox scars on her face. And when, upon meeting her in person, the sovereign voiced his disappointment at her plainness, even declaring that “he could not love her”, she did not oppose the annulment: she graciously accepted her spouse’s decision, thus gaining respect and wealth. But, above all, she avoided the wrath of her irascible husband, and the scaffold.

It is the year 1539: Jane Seymour, the beloved third wife, who had given her husband his only son, has been dead for two years. When Parliament solicits the king to re-marry and bear further heirs, he refuses, remaining inconsolable. But his son, the sole heir to the throne, is of frail health – he will die at sixteen. Moreover, both Francis I of France and Emperor Charles V Hapsburg plan to invade England. The powerful Lord Chancellor, Thomas Cromwell, proposes an alliance with a strong country, the Flanders, ruled by Duke Wilhelm of Cleves, sworn enemy of the Emperor.

In fact the Duke has a sister, the young and unmarried Anne; and he will give her in marriage to Henry, after half of Europe – Anne of Lorraine, Marie of Vendȏme, the three daughters of the Duke of Guise – have declined the proposals made by Cromwell unbeknownst to his Sovereign. The beautiful Christina of Denmark is reputed to have said: “If I had two heads, I would happily put one at the disposal of the King of England”.

In the end Henry agrees. The English ambassador in the Flanders, Sir Philip Hoby, handles the negotiations with the Duke, the lawyers draw up the contracts, the marriage will take place shortly. Anne has lived all her life in an isolated, strictly Lutheran country, she does not know a word of English and, in contrast to the English nobles, does not know how to dance, play a musical instrument, or go hawking; she only wears clothes passed on to her by her sister-in-law. She has no choice but to accept. In December of 1539 she lands at Deal, from there proceeds to Rochester, where she is guest of the bishop.

Henry has always loved dressing up and masked balls – very popular at the time of Anne Boleyn, when on the Continent he was talked of as “the most handsome prince in Christendom”. Now, almost fifty years old, he is hardly recognizable: the obese tyrant, saddled with poor health. He decides to surprise her: together with the Duke of Norfolk he will go to meet her at Rochester, dressed as woodcutter. He planned to enter her rooms, as she mistakes him for an intruder, and the guards intervene, only then he will reveal himself.

But during the thirty miles’ ride from London to Rochester it snows heavily, the two arrive soaked. Henry is impatient, he bursts into her rooms. The Duchess is at the window: he approaches her from behind, trying to hug her. As she turns, and sees him – a badly-dressed ruffian, dripping with water, who is trying to touch her with his coarse hands. She starts crying out in German. He looks at her, aghast, he rushes out of the room, into the waiting room where Cromwell awaits him: “You lied, you will pay for this!” he bellows.

He insults him, hits him: “She’s a monster with yellow teeth!” he hisses. “She’s marked with smallpox, splatters saliva when she squawks in that terrible language! She’s... a carthorse! I can’t possibly love her!”

However, in the Strait of Dover the Emperor’s fleet is preparing to invade, and the powerful Duke of Cleves will join the Emperor if the marriage contract is not respected: Henry is forced to marry her. The wedding takes place on 6 January 1540.

In the meantime Cromwell and his lawyers desperately seek a solution. Since her brother had already promised her in marriage to the Duke of Lorraine, and since the present marriage has not been consummated, the annulment is possible. In exchange Henry will offer Anne a substantial pension of three thousand pounds sterling per year, the use of several castles and properties, including Richmond, Bletchingley, Hever and Lewes, the invitation to attend celebrations at court, gifts of expensive jewels, precious fabrics, and the honorary title of “dear sister”.

She accepts. She does not take offence as a woman, because she knows that in the meantime the king has taken a liking to one of her ladies in waiting: the young and lively Kathryn Howard, whom he will marry in the following six months’. Anne writes to her brother Wilhelm to assure him that it was her will to accept the annulment and remain in England where she is happy – and where she will become one of the richest women of the coutry. She urges him not to take any action against Henry. It is said that when she is told that after the annulment she could re-marry, she replied: “Oh no, never again!”.

The woman, said to be plain, shy, awkward, applies herself to the study of English, music, dance, court etiquette, and learns to dress elegantly. Her skills as a German housewife are similar to those of Tudor women: baking the family bread, brewing the beer, preserving meat and vegetables for the winter, making jams, producing candles and soap, spinning wool, selecting medicinal herbs, treating minor illnesses: and for this she is adored by every woman of the kingdom.

And because she is kind and generous she is loved by all: she brings to court the king’s children – Mary, who is now twenty-four years old and has suffered much from her father’s cruelty to her mother, Catherine of Aragon; Elizabeth, who is now seven, and was not even three when she tragically lost hers, Anna Boleyn; the little Edward who is three, and whom she cuddles with motherly affection.

Once the procedures of annulment are completed, the king takes revenge on Cromwell, who has made him the laughing-stock of the court over the ridiculous affair with Anne of Cleves: Cromwell will mount the scaffold in July 1540, Henry will die seven years later, Anne will survive him by ten years, passing in Chelsea Old Palace on 16 July 1557.

Her body is embalmed and placed in a casket covered with standards interwoven with gold and bearing her crest and surrounded by lit torches, with prayers of vigil day and night.

On 3 August she, who was never proclaimed Queen of England, is conveyed to Westminster Abbey, where on her tomb of dark marble there is engraved the epitaph:

Anne of Cleves, Queen of England.