---------
October 6, 1539
-THE WILLOWS outside swayed in the wind, the stooping branches hitting the windows.
Anna of Cleves looked up from her book, and stared intently outside; past the sprawling green meadows and little cottages. Past the towns and castles and mountains. She tried to see-or imagine-what England would be like.
She had heard enough of it, oh yes. The visiting ministers prattled on and on endlessly about England's beauty, her nature, her huge castles, her friendly people, and their great King. Anna always heard about this Henry VIII. He was the handsomest Prince in all of Christendom; the greatest, the strongest, the golden-haired lion.
Anna took all these sayings graciously. They were all well and good, but she wanted to see for herself, and find out if she could fit in.
She knew it was being silly, being so picky. It was her destiny to be married off; she ought to have been honoured to have been paired with a King; and King Henry VIII, among all people!
Her mother and brother said as much. "You ought to be proud," her mother said sternly; her proud, protective mother. Anna wondered if she really wanted to let her daughter stray from her elbow, or if she was just bending to her son's will again.
Anna's brother said the same. "It is an honourable position," he said, "And a good one, in terms of alliance. I want you to be in your best behaviour; don't behave like a wanton, and stay well-mannered, virtuous and amiable while you are there. Don't play the silly, empty-headed foreigner." Anna had nodded and bowed her consent.
Perhaps in the end it would be better to go. She would be free of her dominating brother's clutches, and be able to live out a new life instead of the strict, conservative plan laid out by her mother. Anna allowed herself a small smile. She would be a Queen; she would rule justly, be gracious and be kind and warm-hearted.
Anna had heard much and more about the King and his three wives, and his three children. She was a little appalled at this King Henry's deeds and obstinacy.
He had split from the Roman Catholic Church to rid himself of his wife of twenty-four years, Katharine of Aragon; a virtuous, devoted woman beloved by the people. Anna learned that the former Queen was stripped of her titles, and forced into exile, while the King remarried her lady-in-waiting Anne Boleyn! What kind of behaviour was this?
And then, after a while, when he had tired of her, Henry had this new wife, an enticing girl with quite a temper, executed, for adultery and treason! There was even talk of it being false accusations. Anna couldn't believe it.
Then there was the third, Jane Seymour, quiet and gentle...she had died, too, in childbed. Anna heard that the King knew his wife was in pain, but distanced himself nevertheless.
Anna didn't quite know what kind of man this Henry was. He seemed to be some sort of madman; nevertheless, she would do her duty. She would be the good Queen of England, and live a new life. If there was one thing she learned under her strict upbringing, it was that speaking out or disagreeing didn't do any good.
YOU ARE READING
The Six
Historical Fiction'Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived." In this way, the six wives of Henry VIII were remembered not for how they lived, but in the way they died. It is impossible to know exactly what they were thinking or had to go through, in h...
