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Anne of Cleves 1515-57
German princess and Queen of England

She was the daughter of John, Duke of Cleves, a noted champion of Protestantism in Germany. Plain and ill-educated, she was selected for purely political reasons after the death of Jane Seymour, and was married in 1540 to Henry VIII, as his fourth wife. Henry, who claimed to have been deluded by the portrait by Hans Holbein, the Younger, had the marriage annulled by parliament six months later. She was granted a pension and lived the rest of her life quietly in England. If Henry privately referred to her as the 'Flanders mare', he was publicly courteous towards her.

Bibliography: Julia Watson, Anne of Cleves (1972)