Skip to main content

Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII's Unwanted Wife by Sarah-Beth Watkins: A Book Review

Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII's Unwanted Wife
Author: Sarah-Beth Watkins
Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography
Publisher: Chronos Books
Release Date: October 26, 2018
Pages: 176
Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: Anne of Cleves left her homeland in 1539 to marry the king of England. She was never brought up to be a queen yet out of many possible choices, she was the bride Henry VIII chose as his fourth wife. Yet from their first meeting the king decided he liked her not and sought an immediate divorce. After just six months their marriage was annulled, leaving Anne one of the wealthiest women in England. This is the story of Anne's marriage to Henry, how the daughter of Cleves survived him and her life afterwards.

      My Review: Anne of Cleves has always been the most overlooked of Henry VIII’s wives. She has often been glossed over as Tudor enthusiasts happily relish Catherine Howard’s juicy story. In this new biography of Anne of Cleves, Ms. Watkins shows that she was an ordinary woman who was not meant to be queen. Her future was meant to be as a duchess. However, through an odd twist of fate, she wound up becoming queen of England for a few brief months. After Anne’s divorce, she quickly became the wealthiest woman in all of England.

  This short biography details Anne’s upbringing in Cleves. The author stressed that Anne’s lineage was the most impressive of all Henry’s wives, except for Catherine of Aragon. She was related to both the Kings of England and France. She was originally meant to be the wife of Francis of Lorraine. However, their engagement fell through. She then became the unlikely bride to Henry VIII. When the marriage was agreed upon, she quickly packed her bags and left her family and home for England. The author also suggests that the reason why she was disliked by Henry was also because she had ignored him upon their first meeting. Since then, Henry never forgave her. The biography also stressed that Anne never got the treatment she deserved either from Henry VIII or his court. Throughout her life, she was always overlooked and seen as Henry VIII’s discarded bride.

   Overall, this was a very short but detailed biography of Anne of Cleves. There was no groundbreaking information about Anne, and it was very similar to Elizabeth Norton’s biography of her. However, I did think that Ms. Watkins biography is much easier to read than Mrs. Norton’s because there were not as many primary documents included in this biography. While this book is mostly a rehash about Anne of Cleves, this biography will still fascinate those who do not know her story. Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Unwanted Wife shows that she was truly a survivor and was an accomplished woman.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars


Comments

  1. She was always my favorite, even though my novel was about Anne Boleyn. Anne of Cleves was really the one that got the best deal of the bunch.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, I agree with you. It is much better than being beheaded, dying in childbirth, and shunned, never to see your daughter again. Though Alison Weir claims on her Facebook page that she may not have been the "luckiest" out of Henry VIII's wives.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn: A Book Review

The Rose Code Author: Kate Quinn Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Harper Collins Release Date: 2021 Pages: 635 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: 1940, Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire.        Three very different women are recruited to the mysterious Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes.       Vivacious debutante Osla has the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses – but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, working to translate decoded enemy secrets. Self-made Mab masters the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and the poverty of her East-End London upbringing. And shy local girl Beth is the outsider who trains as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts.       1947, London.        Seven years after they first meet, on the eve of the royal wedding between Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, disaster threatens. Osla, Mab and Beth are estranged,

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki: A Book Review

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post Author: Allison Pataki Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Ballantine Release Date: February 15, 2022 Pages: 381 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Mrs. Post, the President and First Lady are here to see you. . . . So begins another average evening for Marjorie Merriweather Post. Presidents have come and gone, but she has hosted them all. Growing up in the modest farmlands of Battle Creek, Michigan, Marjorie was inspired by a few simple rules: always think for yourself, never take success for granted, and work hard—even when deemed American royalty, even while covered in imperial diamonds. Marjorie had an insatiable drive to live and love and to give more than she got. From crawling through Moscow warehouses to rescue the Tsar’s treasures to outrunning the Nazis in London, from serving the homeless of the Great Depression to entertaining Roosevelts, Kennedys, and Hollywood’s biggest stars, Marjorie Merriweath

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) by Lucinda Riley: A Book Review

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) Author: Lucinda Riley Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Publisher: Atria Release Date: 2015 Pages: 463 Source: My State Public Library Synopsis: Maia D’Apliese and her five sisters gather together at their childhood home, “Atlantis”—a fabulous, secluded castle situated on the shores of Lake Geneva—having been told that their beloved father, who adopted them all as babies, has died. Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue to her true heritage—a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of her story and its beginnings. Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to