4 – He Was a Hypochondriac
Although he certainly suffered from a wide range of health problems throughout the course of his life, Henry was the very definition of a hypochondriac. While he was still a fit, active and healthy young man, the king was paranoid about becoming ill and dying. Admittedly, there were plenty of illnesses worth worrying about in the 16th century, and Henry was terrified of catching the plague and sweating sickness. The latter was a common ailment that was often fatal.
During the all-too-regular outbreaks of these diseases, Henry would go out of his way to avoid anyone who might have been exposed to the infection. During 1517-18, there was a severe outbreak of sweating sickness in London, and Henry left the capital for almost a year. He even refused to see ambassadors at one stage. He was still exposed to some degree as he couldn’t live without his servants.
While he was reportedly infatuated with Anne Boleyn, his keen sense of self-preservation overrode any love for his paramour when she became infected with sweating sickness in 1528. Although he sent a doctor to check on her, Henry stayed well away until all traces of the illness passed. Boleyn clearly didn’t hold it against him since she married him five years later.
For a man so keen to avoid illness, his life was ruined by it. Even before his jousting accident, Henry suffered from smallpox when he was 23 and malaria when he was 30. The open sores on his legs and sporting injuries led to further bouts of malaria later on. Henry had varicose ulcers on his left leg in his mid-thirties and in 1524; he was struck by a lance above the right eye during a joust. He suffered from migraines for the rest of his life.
However, things went completely awry with his health once he received that terrible wound in 1536. Henry put on a huge amount of weight in a relatively short time and the many sores on his legs, along with the festering wound, made it tough for him to walk. Other problems included mental issues, syphilis and a series of strokes due to his sky-high blood pressure. Add in his failing eyesight, and you have the story of a man who was completely falling apart before the age of 50. Admittedly, the average life expectancy at the time was 45.