Could people really smell Henry VIII coming from three rooms away?
You may have heard the story that Henry VIII's leg ulcers were so awful that people could smell him coming from several rooms away. It's certainly a horrible thought, isn't it?But where does this story actually come from? Who first wrote about it? Was it someone at Henry's court, one of the ambassadors, or perhaps one of his physicians?
After doing all that research into Henry VIII's troublesome legs for my previous video, I decided to do a bit more digging and see if I could find the original source for this claim. And I have to admit that I've repeated this story myself in the past, without questioning where it came from!
I've been looking through contemporary accounts, biographies, medical articles and Tudor surgical treatments to see what evidence there actually is. Could Henry's leg ulcers have produced such a terrible smell? What treatments might his physicians have used? And, most importantly, did anyone who knew Henry actually write about his legs smelling?
In my latest video, I share what I've found, including some interesting details about Tudor medicine and where this rather unpleasant story might have come from.
I'd love to know what you think, particularly if you've come across a contemporary account that I've missed!
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