Henry VIII – Ugly Portraits, Ugly Personality, Ugly End
At this point in his life, Henry VIII was not pleasant to be around. The jousting accident, which had prevented him from enjoying his favorite pastime, had also prohibited Henry from exercising. Henry’s final suit of armor in 1544, three years before his demise, suggests he weighed at least three hundred pounds. By 1546, Henry had become so large that he required wooden chairs to carry him around and hoists to lift him. He needed to be lifted onto his horse and his leg continued to deteriorate. It is this image, of a morbidly obese king, that most people recall when asked about Henry VIII. Henry’s later years were a far cry from the valiant, charismatic prince of 1509.
The endless pain was undoubtedly a factor in Henry’s metamorphosis into a bad-tempered, unpredictable and irascible monarch. Persistent chronic pain can severely impact quality of life – even today- and with the absence of modern medicine, Henry must have been faced with excruciating pain daily, which must have had an impact on his temperament. Henry himself wrote to the Duke of Norfolk, excusing himself from traveling and confessing: “to be frank with you, which you must keep to yourself, a humor has fallen into our legs and our physicians advise us not to go far in the heat of the day”. He would have likely been suffering from sepsis and fevers. Soon after, Castillon to Montmorency from the English Court, wrote: “and for ten to twelve days the humours which had no outlet were like to have stifled him, so that he was some time without speaking, black in the face and in great danger.” It paints an uglier picture even than the portrait by Peter Isselburg. This was a cycle for Henry VIII until he succumbed to his ailments in 1547.