Part 3, How Many Wives Will He Have?: Chapter 13 Summary and Analysis

This chapter opens with a description of Henry's eager, unprecedented and unplanned visit to his next wife, Anne of Cleves. The author describes how it had been two and a half years since the death of Jane Seymour, how Henry had fallen in love with Anne's portrait, and how he was so eager to meet his new bride that he impulsively decided to travel to meet her shortly after learning she had arrived in England. The author concludes this brief, introductory section with a description of how Henry was instantly disappointed when he saw Anne's true face.

The author then describes, at some length, the process Henry went through to select Anne as his next bride. Edward, she writes, was healthy, but Henry worried that any sudden...