16. Julia was famed for her natural beauty and she won the hearts of both European royalty and America’s political elite
As a young woman in society, Julia was considered to be a great beauty. According to the records, she was five feet, three inches tall, with brown hair and striking grey-ish eyes. While most contemporary accounts note that she was buxom yet had a slender waist, like many women of her social class and age, she was reputedly constantly worried about her weight. Indeed, according to several biographies of the future First Lady, right up until the eve of her wedding to Tyler, she fretted that she had grown a little ‘plump’.
Unsurprisingly, just as in Europe, Julia attracted the eye of many of Washington’s men – both single bachelors and older, married politicians. Writing several years after the fact, she revealed that, in the spring of 1842, while she and her family were in the national capital for the social season, an older man openly flirted with her. It was only later she learned that this man was Millard Fillmore – and that the future-President was not only two decades older than Julia, but he had been married to Abigail Powers for 16 years!