7th March 2016
Wooden panels in a church in Bedfordshire, in the Museum of London and in private ownership have been identified as commissioned by Anne of Cleves for one of her residences – probably Chelsea Place, where she died. Objects associated with Anne are very rare, as is interior decor from the period. There are images of the panels, showing Anne's monogram, the emblem of Cleves and a lion's head, at the first link below – it's fascinating to imagine her ordering and admiring them, enjoying displaying her status as the 'King's Sister' after her divorce. It's really rather miraculous given the fates of Henry's other wives that she managed to live out her days as a fabulously rich free woman in her adopted country. I loved writing about her – her joy in her escape and her sorrow at the fate of her lady-in-waiting Katherine Howard – in my novel The Boleyn Inheritance. Here's a quote from her point of view:
So it is over. I shall wear mourning for the king, and then I shall attend the coronation of the prince, the little boy I loved, now to be King Edward. I have become what I promised myself I would be, if I was spared Henry’s axe. I promised myself that I would live my own life, by my own lights, that I would play my part in the world as a woman in my own right; and I have done this.
http://royalcentral.co.uk/historic/lost-parts-of-king-henry-viiis-home-found-in-church-58043
Image: Portrait of Anne of Cleves by Hans Holbein the Younger, c.1539, via Wikimedia Commons