I think Anne was at first shocked, dismayed, and heartbroken when she learned the King wanted to set her aside.  But this was a very sensible woman.  After she learned the terms of the settlement, she decided to accept them.  She was to stay in England. She wasn't going to be shipped to some godforsaken castle to die, and she wasn't going to be beheaded. She didn't have to return to her brother.  (Which was a plus.)  I believe she said had she returned home, her brother would slay her.  I think she was relieved when it was over.  She was living well and she made the best of her situation.  That doesn't mean she did not want to be Henry's Queen.  Upon the demise of Catherine, Anne was hoping Henry would be open to remarriage, but that was not to be.  Henry chose to marry Katherine Parr.  Anne as sensible as ever, accepted her life in England and her position as sister to the King.

I cannot believe that Anne of Cleves was happy about the annulment, as it could damage her reputation as being a discarded bride. Royal women were taught their destiny was to marry and carry on a bloodline. Having said that, Anne was an intelligent women, and unlike Henry's other wives, knew better than to fight him.

Anne of Cleves won out in the end. She took what was offered to her, showed Henry and his court that she was a reasonable women, aware of what was necessary to survive and live peacefully with the King and his children. Unlike the others who came before her, Anne of Cleves was politically savvy enough to find a place for herself, when she easily could have been roughly pushed aside like her predecessors.

I am sure there must have been times when Anne of Cleves hoped for a reconciliation. I've read in the past, she hoped for a reunion with Henry after Catherine Howard was executed, but I cannot remember the source of this information.

I've always felt that Anne of Cleves was the best choice of a wife for Henry. She was reasonable, kind, intelligent without being difficult, arrogant or having a temper. If Henry wanted the perfect Tudor wife, Anne of Cleves was it. His children adored her, she loved them and him, and would have provided the best domestic structure for him.

DuchessofBrittany said:

I cannot believe that Anne of Cleves was happy about the annulment, as it could damage her reputation as being a discarded bride. Royal women were taught their destiny was to marry and carry on a bloodline. Having said that, Anne was an intelligent women, and unlike Henry's other wives, knew better than to fight him.

DuchessofBrittany raises an excellent point by drawing attention to the shame that fell on Anne with the dissolution of the union (and the rather humiliating way Henry brought it about).Certainly contemporaries thought it was humiliating and Anne is presented in a rather pathetic manner in various writings, including in ‘The Remonstrance of Anne of Cleves’, a French tract that portrayed Anne as a woman saddened by the dishonour done to her. When Katherine Howard was executed, we know that discussions began about the possibility of Henry taking back Anne to restore her ‘honour’. Obviously he wasn’t remotely interested in having her back, but the fact that some members of the Cleves side even thought about such a thing could occur is interesting, and Chapuys was concerned about this (being the representative for William of Cleves’s enemy, Charles V). As Sharon notes, Anne had to be rejected once more.

What made matters worse for Anne, was Henry’s insistence that she was the rightful wife of the duke of Lorraine. When Lorraine married another – Christina of Milan – Henry refused to recognise the match. So in England Anne was seen as the ‘ditched’ wife of Lorraine; abroad she was the discarded wife of Henry VIII. Not a pleasant situation for her.

I would certainly recommend Retha Warnicke’s study on the Cleves marriage which goes into a lot of detail about Anne’s reluctance to see her marriage end. It is also the only study that has examined Anne, and England's relationship with Cleves, in any considerable depth.

 Christina of Milan was one of the ladies Henry was inquiring about marrying after Jane died.  Wasn't she the one who said if she had two heads she would gladly have given one of them to Henry?    Couldn't resist.  Maybe Henry had more than one motive for refusing to recognize her marriage to Lorraine.

I had not thought of the Duke of Lorraine mess either.  It seems Anne was humiliated quite often by Henry.  The papers, stating the betrothal between Anne and the Duke had been broken legally, were never sent to Henry; and Anne had to sign a declaration before Council stating she was free of any previous contracts the day before they were married.  The more I read about Anne the more I love her.  She had to be a very strong lady to have borne the humiliation heaped upon her. 

I think Anne of Cleves is a fascinating character – found herself in a strange land, humiliated before the world by the man she married yet still managed (I think!) to maintain something of his respect whilst building a new life for herself and forging good relationships with all his children.  Not easy with such siblings as Mary, Elizabeth and Edward.

Perhaps deep down she wished for the restoration of her marriage to Henry – after all that had been the role alloted to her in life – but was wise enough to know not to rock the boat.  And given what happened to Henry's previous wives, she must have been scared out of her wits yet still managed to handle it all with grace and dignity.

I always liked the story of her and Katherine Howard dancing the night away at the New Years celebrations while Henry grumped off to bed early with his bad leg.  He he!   

Sharon said:

 Christina of Milan was one of the ladies Henry was inquiring about marrying after Jane died.  Wasn't she the one who said if she had two heads she would gladly have given one of them to Henry?   

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I would love to say that this story was true, however it was first mentioned in the seventeenth-century, and contemporary despatches imply that Christina was rather keen on becoming Queen of England. It seems though that Marie de Guise’s dismissal of Henry may be correct. Henry desired, in his own words, a “big wife” (i.e. a tall woman) because he was “big in person” (6ft 2in). He heard that Marie was rather tall, along with being quite good looking. She retorted that “I may be big in person but my neck is small”. Meow!