Everything you know about Anna, Duchess of Cleves, fourth wife of King Henry VIII, is incorrect. Even her name. She was called Anna, not Anne and was a Duchess in her own right. The author has found definitive, primary source, historical evidence that Anna’s birthday is June 28 (or no later than July 1), not September 22, 1515 as previously believed. Even the eventful first meeting between Anna and Henry didn’t go as previously advertised, according to the primary sources.

Darsie places Anna in the context of the Holy Roman Empire, German, and Low Countries history which explains why her marriage came about. She gives the background for the Von der Mark family and the various duchies that made up the patrimony of Cleves and tells how her brother Wilhelm inherited the Duchy of Guelders, thereby angering HRE Charles V and starting a series of wars. Thomas Cromwell’s fall from favor wasn’t based upon the failed marriage but had everything to do with his brokered alliance with the Low Countries and German princes and his failed foreign policy. He didn’t have the skill of his mentor Cardinal Wolsey, to his own detriment.

Darsie uses her training as a lawyer to make convincing and cogent arguments that Anna’s reputation was besmirched, all in the name of obtaining an annulment of her marriage. Once it was determined the alliance with Cleves was no longer necessary, a secret commission was constituted to dissolve the union. Anna had no formal representation on this commission and it was in this covert context that Anna was declared ugly and sexually unattractive, all without her knowing.

Anna was fortunate in that Henry and his advisors wanted to keep the anger and tension with Anna’s brother Wilhelm to a minimum. Consequently, they made a generous offer to Anna of an ample income and the possession of several properties in England. She had no intention of going back to Cleves and enjoyed her life as a free woman, even if she was a little lonely. I can highly recommend this book. It should be the new definitive biography of Anna, Duchess of Cleves and required reading for lovers of Tudor history.

This is where Henry VIII may have found his arguments for annulling his marriage to Anna.