Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived...
After 500 years of living in the shadow of their husband, condemned to being part of a simplistic rhyme and neatly categorised by the collective, "Henry VIII's wives", it's time for the six women who were unlucky enough to be married to England's most famous Tudor tyrant to reclaim their identities from the unkind inaccuracies passed down through time and now widely accepted as gospel: Anne Boleyn, the "witch" who tempted Henry away from his first wife and slept with multiple men including her own brother. Anne of Cleves, the ugly one, dumped after only 6 months because Henry didn't fancy her. Katherine Howard, forever slut shamed as the promiscuous minx who brought her demise on herself. For all six women, their marriages were not those of equals - these queen consorts were very much Henry's subjects and if he chose you (or your ambitious family thrust you forwards), you had no choice but to submit.
Running until September 9th 2024, the National Portrait Gallery's Six Lives exhibition uses portraits, modern depictions on stage and screen and the queens' own personal effects to explore the women's lives, reigns and to reassert their individualities and cultural legacy.
But rather than pitying them, what about acknowledging the achievements left unknown and uncelebrated? Katherine of Aragon commanded an army against Scotland at the Battle of Flodden while Henry was invading France and won! Her famously militant parents, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, would have been proud. Katherine Parr, remembered only as the One Who Survived, was England's first published female writer, highly educated, a passionate patron of religious scholars, and like her namesake (her mother, Maud, was one of Katherine of Aragon's ladies in waiting), was appointed Regent-General while Henry left to wage war in France. And what about Anne of Cleves? Apparently rejected for her looks, she went on to be the most successful of all of the ex wives: a wealthy landowner in her own right, living a fabulous life as the 'King's Sister' in her palace in Richmond and visiting court for Christmas celebrations. She even attended Queen Mary I's coronation in 1553, showing that she remained close to the Royal Family years after Henry's death.
The Six Lives Exhibition
Six Lives opens with a gigantic painting of Henry. Larger than life size and glittering with cold power, the King is the lynch pin that connects all six women, and while just like how his wives are forever defined by their relationship with him, he too is most famous not for his politics but for the terrifying way in which he accumulated and discarded his queens. If you were to ask the public to tell you a fact about Henry VIII, most would reply with "he had six wives". While Henry's role in this exhibition cannot be denied, it is hard to not feel a sense of irritation to his overbearing presence right as you enter - it's not his turn to speak, this is about Katherine, Anne, Jane, Anne, Katherine and Katherine. Apart from his enormous suit of armour later in the exhibition, complete with comedically large codpiece, this is the only time Henry appears.
The exhibition goes on to explore what we think we know about the queens personalities through how they have been portrayed on stage and screen. From silent film to the RSC to current West End feminist smash, SIX, costumes, sketches and footage detail how these elusive women and their fates have fascinated us for centuries.
A collection of hauntingly beautiful huge black and white photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto make it appear as if the queens have done a studio shoot for a magazine - and while the subjects are not flesh and blood but wax models taken from Madame Tussauds, it feels tangibly close to meeting the real women.
A glass case displays naff merchandise in which "the Six" are reduced to a set of collectors items: postage stamps, Christmas decorations, a tea pot. Despite the fact that, even with Henry's penchant for choosing his next wife from the previous one's ladies in waiting, the six women were never all in the same room together, never the less they have been clumped into one homogenous group, neatly arranged in a dutiful flock around their husband, as the Tussauds waxworks were, prior to being freed so each could have her own photograph.
The final six rooms are each dedicated to a different Queen. So little is known about them after 500 years of erasure, but the the National Portrait Gallery takes on the tricky task of attempting to find tantalising glimpses of who they really were.
Katherine of Aragon
Katherine of Aragon's writing box suggests an intellectual woman, more in line with the fierce, passionate dignified Spanish princess as opposed to the dowdy, stubborn abandoned wife as she is so often portrayed. Her bravery and spirit is further revealed in a letter on display that she wrote to Henry, accompanying a report about the English Victory over the Scots at Flodden, led by Katherine as Queen Regent. She was so fired up after the battle that she wanted to send Henry the head of Scottish King James IV, but was persuaded that his bloodstained coat would suffice.
The end of her marriage to Henry is represented by the magnificent Howard Grace cup on display. Gifted to Katherine early in her queenship, she had it decorated with her emblem, the pomegranate, many of which were then removed when Henry annulled their marriage. The cup is said to be a precious relic, once belonging to the martyred archbishop Thomas Beckett, and so the fact that it was chosen as a gift for Katherine shows her famous devotion to her Catholic faith.
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn doesn't have a confirmed painted portrait -the iconic painting of Anne with her famous B necklace was painted after her death by an unknown artist in the late 16th century, but may have been based on a likeness taken during her three year reign. Executed for treason, any images of her painted within her lifetime were quickly destroyed, save a lead medal dated from 1534 with a faded profile of a woman along with the initials AR (Anna Regina) and her queenly motto, The Most Happy.
Anne famously initially refused to become Henry's mistress, keeping him waiting, besotted, for seven years until their wedding, and evidence of their flirtatious courtship can be found in Anne's romantic note written to Henry in her Book of Hours, her signature ripped away following her execution.
The rest of the room is focussed on her downfall - the famous letter after her daughter, Elizabeth's birth, the word prince hastily amended to princess, a humiliating blow to the King who had moved heaven and earth to break with the Catholic church, divorce Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne, in order to get a male heir. On the far wall, portraits of the men who hated her. Her , seems like a cruel joke.
Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour who achieved immortality as Henry's favourite wife by dying young at the peak of her success, giving Henry the son he'd so desperately wanted. In fact, despite having 3 further marriages, it is Jane that Henry chose to be buried beside in Windsor. Her portrait is very likely to be a true, reliable likeness, as it was painted the year that she died rather than decades or even centuries later. Jane also features in the cartoon of what would have been a much larger family portrait featuring Henry VIII, his parents and the young Prince Edward, firmly establishing Jane in Henry's family. It's thought that the portrait was commissioned by the Seymours to reassert their role in providing the royal heir.
On display is Jane's letter to Thomas Cromwell, in which she proudly informs him of the birth of her son, the future King Edward VI and Henry's longed for heir. She was to die only 12 days later, locking in her position as the Favourite Wife.
Her place as Henry's one true love is further displayed on the garishly colourful title page of the 1539 Great Bible, where Henry dominates, so massive on his throne that Jesus is squished into a small purple cloud at the very top. But down in the bottom right is the smiling figure of Jane, resplendent in a white and silver dress and her modest black hood - older title pages show that this figure was originally another woman all together, but Thomas Cromwell had it repainted as the late Queen shortly after her death in order to persuade Henry of the value of releasing the new reformed English language Bible. This shows the pull on Henry's heart that Jane still had, even two years later, as his lost love.
Anne of Cleves
A Degas copy of the instantly recognisable Anne of Cleves portrait greets you as you enter her gallery, sweet faced and calm looking beneath her traditional dress and head covering. In another, dressed in even more frumpy Cleves fashion, Anne, optimistic and ready for love, holds a pink carnation, symbolic of betrothal.
Chosen as a wife without meeting, this was a political match, a protestant alliance to take on Catholic France and Spain, but it started in embarrassing disaster and ended after only 6 months. As was the chivalric custom of the time, Henry liked to disguise himself and appear to his guests as a handsome travelling stranger, only to then reveal himself as the king. The idea was that this would demonstrate true love; that the recipient would have been instinctively drawn to him, even without knowing his mighty identity. History tells that Anne reacted badly to this, thinking that the huge man approaching her, twice her age and fat, was an intruder - some accounts even suggest that she pushed him away. Henry's response was that of a sulky school boy, insisting that it was he who had rejected her, on account of her being so unattractive compared to her portrait, and the young queen's reputation was doomed.
Far from being dull and stupid, as Henry claimed, Anne's accounts book from her brief time as queen shows her greatly enjoying courtly life: her gambling debts, payments for hiring musicians and gifts including a parrot and a leek from a Welshman. Also on display is the huge document nullifying Henry and Anne's marriage.
Katherine Howard
Teen queen Katherine Howard is another to whom history has not been kind. Like her fellow beheaded queen, her cousin Anne Boleyn, Katherine has no confirmed portrait (a miniature by Holbein, long labelled "probably Katherine Howard" is now thought to be perhaps her predecessor, Anne of Cleves). We're not even sure of her date of birth. Such was the disgrace following her execution that she was deliberately and hurriedly forgotten even by her own family; While Anne Boleyn's memory was granted some form of rehabilitation through her daughter Elizabeth I's reign (her family were suddenly keen to claim kinship to the Howard/Tudor queen that they'd previously written off as "the whore's bastard"), Katherine has been historically discarded as the teenage temptress who should have known better than to cuckold the king.
This means that the only documents on display are the State evidence compiled against her, including a tragic letter to Thomas Culpeper, the courtier she was accused of having an affair with, and Archbishop Cranmer's report following his interrogation of the terrified woman, when she tearfully admitted to previous relationships she had had before she ever met the King.
An inventory of Katherine's royal jewels lay out her rise, reign and ruin: you can see them being given to her by an infatuated Henry, her regifting some to the future queen Elizabeth I, her first cousin once removed and now stepdaughter, and the record of them being taken back from her, after she was stripped of her title as queen following her arrest.
The most intriguing object is a Holbein sketch of a jewel Katherine herself commissioned including her own initials - while Henry had gifted her bejewelled H's to wear, labelling her as his own, this design shows her own mind and a desire to have something beautiful that represented only her.
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So vixen or victim? Her queenly motto, No Other Will But His, paints an uncomfortable image of the young woman married off to a much older man, especially in the light of the contemporary Me Too movement - from early childhood, Katherine had been taken advantage of by men in a world where she had no power or voice.
Katherine Parr
Katherine Parr, Henry's sixth and final wife, was lucky enough to outlive him, even as Henry's paranoia had once again taken hold and she was being investigated for heresy. Often thought of as the elderly king's nursemaid, she, like Katherine of Aragon, was given the immense responsibility of leading the country as Regent General while Henry was away in France. a letter from Katherine to her husband while he was on campaign is signed Kateryn the Queen KP- she seems to be asserting her independence from the previous two Queen Katherines with her initials.
As well as political achievements, Katherine also triumphed domestically: as royal stepmother to all three of Henry's children, she helped to restore Mary and Elizabeth back into the line of succession after their brother,
A new portrait on display for the first time, once thought destroyed in a fire, holds a tiny personal clue in Katherine's cuffs: if you look very closely at the square black gems you will notice gold text reading Laus Deus - a reference to Psalm 64: "Remaining silent. praise to you O God". Painted in 1547, just after she narrowly avoided being arrested for heresy, this seems like a deliberate artistic choice.
Katherine's greatest achievement of all is her writing. Between 1544 and 1547 she wrote and published three religious books, progressing from translation to original work, unheard of for a 16th century woman. On display is Katherine's own copy of Psalms or Prayers, her first book, a collection of works by John Fisher that she translated into English. It has a personal note written in it from Henry on the back of the title page.
Six Lives at the National Portrait Gallery, London runs until September 9th, 2024
St Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE
Open daily: 10.30 - 18.00, Friday & Saturday 10.30 - 21.00
Closest tube station: Leicester Square (Northern/Piccadilly Line) and Charing Cross (Northern/Bakerloo Line)
Adult £21.00
Concession £18.90
Child 12-18yr £10.50
Art Pass £10.50
Child Under 12yr £0.00
Disabled Visitor's Carer £0.00
Members and Patrons go free
Outside of special exhibitions, the rest of the National Portrait Gallery is completely free to enter. If you enjoyed Six Lives, make sure you visit the Tudor gallery on floor 3, full of famous faces from 1485-1603.
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