FRAGMENTS OF A DYNASTY
Summary: Anne of Cleves contemplates the idea she is ugly.
Pairings: Anne of Cleves/Henry VIII
She looked into the looking glass and felt...numb.
She had never thought highly of herself. She maybe a princess but she had never been treated as one. Her brother felt no compassion and was determined to make her submissive towards him. She would have been whipped if she thought herself beautiful.
She had to cover her face so she would not be seen as vain.
But she had never once thought herself ugly.
"She looks like a horse...she is hideous...she smells vile...get rid of her!"
She looked into the looking glass and saw a normal woman. She did not look ugly but she did not look beautiful. She was no beautiful Spanish Princess like Katherine of Aragon, she was not an exotic sexual being like Anne Boleyn, nor was she pretty like sweet Jane Seymour, but she did not look like a horse.
She had nice eyes, normal face, plain hair, and was considered unfashionable because of the backward ways of her German country and strict brother.
Dressed in English's finest fashions and drowned in the English crown jewels she almost felt beautiful and if it had lasted longer than three months she might have fallen into that trap of vanity.
"If I do not satisfy the king...would he have me killed?"
She was very fortunate. In comparison of his other wives she was certain she saw something they did not see. Yes he was temperamental, yes he was cruel at times, and yes he was the worst husband imaginable, but he was a good friend. He had been tender, he had been kind, he had looked upon his children with a loving eye and spent time with her in a way a friend would. Her platonic relationship with him was so wonderful that it hurt her when he had called her ugly.
She was to be his sister. She was to have Anne Boleyn's childhood home and a good fortune to keep her in comfort. She had been treated better that poor Katherine in poverty or beheaded Anne or pale ill Jane.
And yet his insults were haunting her.
She did not want to be ugly.
She did not want to be desirable either because that caused too much attention that was unwanted.
She looked into the looking glass and had a sudden urge to smash it.
Ugly, indeed, though there would never be anyone as ugly as vain greedy Henry. The ugly side was eating away at the good side.
Anne of Cleves may forever be remembered ugly (wrongly so, she was merely plain) but Henry VIII would be remembered as a monster.
This is a shame because underneath all that ugliness of character he was a charming loving man.
Sighing, she looked away from the looking glass, ugly, she decided, is a nasty word.
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