anne of cleves

Henry VIII's six wives did not live royal fairy tales—rather, they lived downright horror stories. These are their heartbreaking stories.

Today, we know the six wives of Henry VIII more by the phrase "divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived" than we do by their own names and legacies. But what would they look like today?

In the saga of King Henry VIII, Anne of Cleves holds her secrets tight. She gave him no children, they were married for barely half a year, and most surprising of all, she survived. Legend has it that Henry fell in love with Anne’s flattering portrait, took one look at her in real life, and divorced her. But what was the real truth behind Henry's disgust?

Although Henry tried to have all portraits of and references to Anne Boleyn destroyed after her execution, if you look up in the carved arches of Hampton’s Great Hall, you can still see the one thing left behind—and it’s utterly heartbreaking.

When Henry VIII finally met Anne of Cleves, he claimed she was unthinkably ugly—but modern historians suggest a more disturbing reason for his disgust.

Henry VIII is famous for his six wives, two of whom he beheaded, but that's just the tip of the iceberg with this dark and disturbing English monarch.