Henry VIII has just beheaded Anne Boleyn and has sworn off marriage for good. His courtiers are determined however, not to pass up such an excellent opportunity for making political capital, and they persuade Henry that as a man he needs a wife and as a King he needs another Queen. Holbein is sent round the courts of Europe and comes back with some portraits of well-connected princesses, including a very small minature of Anne of Cleves, the most promising bride to be bu the courtiers' standards, if not by Hemry's. Reluctantly he agrees to send for her, but once he sets eyes on her-dumpy and blonde, whe his tastes run the the svelte and dark-he threatens to have her sent straight back.
He goes through with the marriage, however, and what follows is the hilarious wedding night scene between the fuming Henry, who speaks only English, and the nervous Anne who speaks only Flemish. In desperation Henry calls in Wriothsley, a courtier who speaks both languages, to translate for them. Outraged at being forced to share a bed with two men when she had expected only one, Anne proceeds to keep then all awake with a harangue on the only subject she knows well-heraldry-and finally the three of them settle down to play cards for the rest of the night.
In time Anne grows to love Henry like a brother, which prompts him to have the mariage annulled by proclaiming her to be his sister. Henry find temporary happiness with Kathryn Howard; Anne fins more lasting happiness in her country retreat with Wriothsley.