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Happy Anniversary

Today is the anniversary of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves (1540). Their marriage lasted six months.

It is also the anniversary of George and Martha Washington (1759) and George and Barbara Bush (1945).

And after today, it will be the anniversary of a girl I taught in Sunday school when she was six or so. I will feel old during the ceremony, but I am content with my age. In trying to find a card for their gift, I had trouble finding one that wasn't sappy or silly or unimaginative or grandmotherish. I finally settled on one with a loose-lined ink drawing of a cake, and it reads "big cake, big hopes, big dreams, big day, congratulations."

I am imagining the kind of card one would give to Anne of Cleves--one with an illustration of the Fat Man, with the inside sentiment reading, "don't do it."

Comments

dive said…
Hee hee.
That's lovely, Robyn.

I do, however, admire Henry's honesty in stating to Archbishop Cromwell (no, not THAT one) at his wedding to Anne "My Lord, if it were not to satisfy the world, and My Realm, I would not do that I must do this day for none earthly thing."

Kinda got off to a shaky start, that marriage …
1:16 PM
Scout said…
Not knowing anything about Anne Cleve, I read a little bit on Wikipedia this morning. It was kind of funny that she should be called The Ugly Queen (must have been the the small pox scars) when Henry was so hideous and morbidly obese. At least she got cash and a castle.
1:19 PM
Daniel Martins said…
Dive, it was Archbishop Cranmer, not Cromwell. Trust me on this.

Robyn, let's give Hank a break here. He agreed to marry Anne based on a painting by the celebrated portrait artist of that era, Hans Holbein. Apparently, Herr Holbein "photoshopped" her real countenance to such a degree that some truth-in-advertizing laws were broken. From what I can tell, Henry was always more than generous with her for the rest of her life, and she did get to keep not only her castle, but her head!
4:23 PM
Sassy Sundry said…
We read the same "this day in history" column, I think. I thought about saying something about ol' Enery.

Good luck wit hthe wedding.
4:51 PM
Scout said…
Well, maybe we can all be right here. According to Wikipedia, it was Cromwell who brokered the marriage agreement, and when Henry saw Anne in her actual state he begged Cromwell for a legal way out of the deal. It was Archbishop Cranmer who performed the actual ceremony. There, we're all happy.

Sassy, I'm 'Enery the 8th I am, 'Enery the 8th I am, I am.
7:17 PM
Sassy Sundry said…
So the wedding you went to was of the widow next door?
7:19 PM
Scout said…
Sassy, I read your comment and thought what the heck? But then it occured to me--I got married to the widow next door. Your such a clever girl.
8:50 PM
Old Knudsen said…
6 months? I only gave it a week.
1:30 AM
dive said…
Thanks for the corrections, folks.
I'm operating out of an increasingly faulty middle-aged brain.
Names, dates, which way is up … it all gets so confusing these days …
6:22 AM
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