DIVORCED, BEHEADED, SURVIVED

Part Two T he death in 1537 of Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour had cast the King into a deep depression and his marital track record – divorcing his first wife Catherine of Aragon and executing his second wife Anne Boleyn – hardly recommended him to a prospective fourth wife. Nevertheless courtiers, anxious that their sovereign should have a male “spare” to add to his heir Edward, began hunting for another royal bride.

Henry’s closest advisor Thomas Cromwell was particularly keen for a match from Germany in order to create an alliance against the Catholic threat of Spain and France. Anne of Cleves fitted the bill and Hans Holbein was commissioned to paint her portrait in order to