The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-09-22
THE UGLIEsT QUEEN.

The matrimonial alliances and dog
mestic difficulties of Henry VIII. con-
stitute a subject of perennial interest,
and, while the casual student of Eng
lfsh history may recall little about
Henry's career as a montrch, he is
almost certain to remember that
Henry's career as a monarch, he is
hundred and two years ago today
Henry's fourth wife. Anne Of Cleves.
swats born, and she has the dubious
distin Stion Of being the "ugliest of
England's queens."> 1t is, of course,
ungallant to so characterize "a lady,
but history has attached that stigma
to her name, and it is certain that
Henry VIII, while not stickler for
comeliness in his spouses, was not long
able to tolerate the homely Anne as
the wife of his bosom.
Anne Of Cleves was born Sept. %,
1915, the daughter of John III. of
Cleves, a duchy in northeastern Ger
many, and now a part of Prussia. She
was "a years the junior of her future
lord and master, the much-married
Henry, who, when she was born, had
already taken as his first spouse Cath
crime of Aragon, widow of Henry's
elder brother.
| While Anne tf Cleves was develop
ing into an awkward, ugly girl, Henry
was seeking to divorce Catherine of
Aragon. Henry's first venture on the
troubled sea of matrimony was fruit
| less, for, although Catherine gave
birth to three sons, one was born dead
and the other two survived only a
| few hours. Aside from this, Henry
! was infatuated with Anne Boleyn,
Ewho remained resolute in her deter
! IN, ofI oyot iry,
/ ship with him other than that of his
legal married wife. III spite of the
threats of the pope and the clergy.
Henry divorced Catherine and took
Anne Bolevn to wife in 1888 Three
months later his second wife gave
/ birth to Elizabeth, whose subsequent
| reign shed so much glory on Eng
land. In 1886, shortly after the death
| of Catherine, the tickle Henry turned
! against his second wife, and she was
charged with misconduct before a
commission of peers. who condemned
her to death, with three gentlemen
and a musician who were alleged to
have shared her guilt. She was be-
/ headed at the Tower, and on the fol-
lowing day Henry married Jane Sey-
mour, daughter of Sir John Seymour.
| who had been maid of honor to the
l
Queen Jane died after giving birth to
/ the prince who afterward reigHed as
| Edward VI.
/ Then came the turn of Anne of
Cleves who became the bride Of
Henry in 1910. when she was rs years
old and the King nearly twice her
tage. The marriage between the Eng
fish monarch and the German princess
was negotiated by Thomas Cromwell,
Earl of Essex, who hoped thus to
unite the Protestants of England and
Germany. Henry. consented to this
project to please the Protestant party.
but the lady's unprepossessing APP
) pearance was more than the King
could tolerate. He ungallant1y de-
clared that to look at her made him
sick to the stomach. To avenge him
self upon the promoter of this I'M
happy marriage, Henry had Crom-
well thrown into the Tower, and he
} was afterward beheaded. Anne OF
Cleves occupied Henry's palace only
six months, when he'd ivorced her
and settled upon her annuity OF
$4,000 a year. A few weeks later
he married Catherine Howard, but
soon she shared the fate of Anne
Boleyn, and HAnry then married
Catherine Parr, who survived him
Anne of Cleves died in 1857, being
the last to die of Henry's six spouses