Wolf Hall: the embarrassing true story of how Henry VIII met Anne of Cleves
Wolf Hall season two episode five saw Thomas Cromwell's son Gregory return from Henry's new wife, Anne of Cleves, with an excruciating tale of how the King met his fourth bride for the first time - but how much of it is really true? Find out here…
In the show, Henry is shown a portrait of his new bride and is delighted with her, deciding to travel to meet her in the final stages of her journey to London in order to surprise her, despite Cromwell's strong suggestion that she would not be prepared for this and the King would shock her - especially if he arrived in disguise when she had no idea who he was or what he looked like.
In reality, this appears to be very much the case. Henry did like Anne's portrait, and indeed decided to ride out to Rochester to surprise Lady Anne, despite it being against custom.
Henry was famously a romantic and attentive lover and believed that he would surprise and delight his new bride with the romantic tradition of dressing in disguise to meet her. However, Anne was from Germany, and may have been unaware of the popular French custom.
Even if she did know, their meeting did not go well. There are various accounts about what happened, with some claiming - like Gregory tells his father in the show - that Anne simply ignores the King as she has no idea who he is.
Others say that he tried to approach her and she pushed him away - presumably as she believed that he was a stranger when she was the King's intended.
Historic Royal Palace's head of research Professor Anthony Musson told HELLO!'s Right Royal Podcast: "She's come over from Cleves, a really long journey, several months worth… she's there on New Year's Day and the King thinks it will be a bit of a wheeze to go there in disguise… He either expects her to recognise him or to be gracious… but it must have shocked her.
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"She was due to meet him in a couple of days' time, so she was probably thinking she'd get organised for that so was off-guard, off-duty, and certainly not expecting the King. He wasn't what she expected. She might have thought of a younger man, less overweight. There are two elements there. She was perhaps plainer than what he was used to, and he makes a big deal out of it."
However, either way there is no doubt that the meeting profoundly wounded the King's pride, so much so that he is believed to have famously shouted "I like her not!" at his councillors in protest to the marriage.
It was also clear that Henry did not want to marry Anne, and like in the show, tried to claim that her previous engagement to the Duke of Lorraine should prevent her marrying again. However, it was simply not the case - and there was political pressure for Henry to make an alliance with Cleves following a peace settlement between France and the Holy Roman Empire.
In reality, as in the show, Henry was unable to consummate the marriage, and complained about his new wife, claiming that she smelled and telling Cromwell: "I liked her before not well, but now I like her much worse."
The marriage was annulled just six months later, with Cromwell stating: "Many times, his majesty has declared unto him that his nature has abhorred her ever since, so far that if his grace would... go about to have a do with her, his highness verily thinks that his nature would not consent to do so." Henry went on to marry his fifth wife, Katherine Howard.
Anthony spoke about Anne's life after Henry, saying: "She probably did the best out of all of them. She got a really good settlement with her divorce, she was known as the King's beloved sister. She was given a precedence after the King and Queen's children. She was the foremost woman in the realm after. She even learned English… she outlived Henry."
