I had been watching season 4 of The Tudors in January, which made me want to learn more about Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII’s repudiated 4th Queen. Despite being reputed to have a face a horse would be proud of, she ended up as the only one of Henry’s queens to outlive him. She also lived to attend the coronation of Henry’s daughter, Mary I, and nearly lived long enough to see the coronation of Elizabeth I. Anne of Cleves is also the only one of Henry’s wives to be buried in Westminster Abbey, which is within hobbling distance of the hotel.
It must be at least 10 years since I last visited the Abbey, and the lines to enter haven’t improved.
According to Wikipedia, Anne is buried “…in what has been described as a “somewhat hard to find tomb” – on the opposite side of Edward the Confessor’s shrine and slightly above eye level for a person of average height.” Err, no she isn’t. The only way her tomb is above eye level is if you’re one of the church mice.
With the help of one of the green garbed volunteers, who seems delighted that someone is interested in Anne of Cleves, I find that her tomb is well below eye level, and placed in the shrine, facing the marble pavement in front of the high altar. It must be an unusual request for assistance to locate Anne of Cleves, as whilst I am looking at her tomb stone, a red robed verger asks me if I’ve seen the front of her tomb and offers to show me.
Wikipedia, whilst a great resource (occasionally wrong, as in this case), also missed the most interesting aspect of Anne of Cleves – she is the only queen interred facing the altar, and as such has presided over every royal wedding, funeral, coronation etc, since the 16th century. Not bad for a repudiated queen, and particularly not bad for a woman who proved to be a great survivor in changing her religion from Catholic to Anglican as the prevailing rulers of the day required. Even the shared tomb of Mary I and Elizabeth I is off to one side in a chapel. A powerful woman in her time indeed.
The V&A museum is one of London’s great museums. Entry is free, and there are temporary exhibitions that are chargeable. One of these is Cecil Beaton’s retrospective of Queen Elizabeth II (it must be my day for royalty). Late in the afternoon, the exhibition is happily free of the rampaging hordes from Westminster Abbey, and it is a pleasant hour’s walk around the photographs. It also does my photographic mojo some good to see that even Cecil Beaton can fluff a straightforward architecture shot, as shown in the proofs on display.
