Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan (by Jacopo da Trezzo, 1533)
After the death of Jane Seymour in 1537, Henry VIII hoped to have the lovely Christina as his 4th wife, and he had Hans Holbein paint a portrait of her.
Although Christina said that she would obey her uncle the Emperor Charles V if he would have her marry Henry VIII, privately, she was reluctant. She shuddered how ‘her great-aunt (Katherine of Aragon) was poisoned, that the second (Anne Boleyn) was innocently put to death, and the third (Jane Seymour) lost for lack of keeping in her childbed'.
‘If she had two heads', Christina allegedly commented, ‘one of them would be at His Majesty’s disposal'.
The marriage negotiations eventually came to nothing, and the King married Anne of Cleves instead.
Later in life, Christina visited England during in the reign of Queen Mary (who could have been her step-daughter). The Queen's husband, Philip of Spain, supposedly paid too much attention to the still-beautiful Christina, arousing Mary's jealousy. When Christina finally left her court, Mary was said to be quite relieved.
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