{alltv} Joss Stone looks the part

Young and friendly British singer Joss Stone got the feeling she was being patronized, so she politely told her assembled castmates from The Tudors not to bother.

"They're just trying to make me feel better," Stone said. "I know. It's all an opinion."

The issue at hand was Stone's portrayal of Anne of Cleves — the fourth wife of Henry VIII — in The Tudors, the third season of which currently is airing Wednesdays on CBC.

Anne of Cleves, of course, infamously was the one that Henry VIII didn't like. And that's really saying something for an English king who beheaded two of his six wives, isn't it?

Anne of Cleves wasn't one of them, by the way.

Anyway, Anne of Cleves makes her first appearance in this week's episode — kinda, sorta. She is seen in a heavy veil, and by the time next week's episode rolls around, the suspense leading up to the actual sight of her face is thick indeed, both for the audience and for Henry VIII, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Henry has been assured Anne of Cleves is a great beauty, but this is long before Google image search. When he sees her, let's just say he is less than impressed.

"Lack of makeup," said Stone with a smile.

Stone initially was up for a different role in an earlier season of The Tudors, but a concert tour overlapped with the shooting schedule.

"I was so gutted because I couldn't take it," said the 22-year-old Stone, whose new CD, Colour Me Free, came out recently. "Then it kind of came about the next time around. So I will do anything, really."

Stone's experience as an actress is limited, and the producers of The Tudors admitted their biggest concern was whether she could handle Anne of Cleves' German accent.

"Yeah, same here, man," Stone said. "I was worried but it was fine. We figured it out.

"I don't like just sticking my feet in a little bit. I get bored doing that. I'd rather do something that's just right there and then, you know? If it goes wrong, then hey, I give it a bash and I try my best."

As a musician-turned-actor, Stone has found similarities between the two disciplines. But when she's acting the last thing she wants to do is find a rhythm in the words.

"I try not to," she said. "Sometimes I do and that's not good. You can't talk with rhythm. That's rapping."

All things considered, Stone pulls off the role of Anne of Cleves jolly well. And despite the awkwardness of playing the woman reputed to be the least attractive of Henry's wives, Rhys Meyers, for one, has no problem with the way Joss Stone looks.

As he put it, "There are worse things you could do with yourself on a rainy Tuesday morning in Dublin than hop into bed with the likes of Charlotte Salt (who plays Lady Ursula Misseldon) or Natalie Dormer (who played Anne Boleyn) or, indeed, Joss Stone."

Right again, your majesty.