Anne of Cleves

Historians seem on the whole to agree that Anne of Cleves might well have described herself as German – but whether she would have given this as her "nationality" is debatable.

Anne was born in Düsseldorf, which is now in Germany but was at that time (1515) the capital of the Duchy of Berg. Like most of modern Germany, this was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Her father was John III, Duke of Cleves and Count of Mark; her mother was the Duchess Maria of Jülich–Berg. In 1521 John, known as John the Peaceful, founded the United Duchies of Jülich–Cleves–Berg – still part of the Holy Roman Empire.

According to an answer on Quora, Düsseldorf was at the time " in what was often called the 'Kingdom of Germany' but was really a loose confederation of states with a common language, known as the Holy Roman Empire. [Anne] would have been considered German."

Another responder to the same question explains, however, that "Anne of Cleves might now be described as German, but Cleves was much closer culturally to the Low Countries, which we now call Flanders (Belgium) and the Netherlands." The contributor goes on to point out that she was described as "a Flanders mare" by "one of her detractors, possibly Henry VIII".

A third contributor summarises thus: "Difficult concept, nationality, in the 16th century, so by modern standards, she was of Dusseldorf, but not German, as such, because this concept would only really take off in the 19th c."