Beware what lies behind the veil

I settled down last night to enjoy the last episode of Series III of the Tudors, Hollywood's take on the life and times of King Henry VIII of England. And if you can put aside the historical inaccuracies and the fact that the extremely handsome actor who plays Henry never seems to age a day nor add any weight his washboard stomach, it makes for good viewing.

Series III culminates in the annulment of Henry's marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Henry had never seen Anne before she arrived in England for the wedding, relying only on an overly flattering portrait by Holbein and the untrue reports of his ambassadors that she was a beauty. They had, in fact, been prevented from seeing her face properly as she was always veiled in their presence.

Upon setting eyes on her, Henry famously likens her to a Flanders Mare. "I like her not!" he declares in the manner of a petulant child. He refuses to consummate the marriage and demands an annulment. Anne is played by Josh Stone, who isn't at all plain, but there you go - that's Hollywood for you.

Anyway, this morning I was skimming through the local paper - the Gulf Daily News - and the following headline caught my eye: "Surprise stubble ruins wedding."

It seems that an Arab ambassador in Dubai called off his wedding after discovering that his bride-to-be, who had worn a niqab (face covering veil) whenever they met, was in fact bearded and cross-eyed. After the marriage contract had been signed, the ambassador attempted to kiss his bride-to-be and discovered she had facial hair and a pronounced squint. He was understandably disappointed. I'm sure Henry would have sympathised.

Like Henry before him, the ambassador claimed he was tricked into marrying the woman after her mother had shown his mother photos of the bride's sister instead of the bride. And the sister presumably didn't have stubble and could see straight.

He went to court and had the marriage annulled. But the court did allow the woman to keep the $136,000 worth of presents he had already showered upon her, so she didn't go away empty-handed.