Posted on 02/02/2009 3:43:41 PM PST by PotatoHeadMick
He was an immense figure in the history of England. Just how immense, however, has finally been revealed after a study of his body armour exposed Henry VIII's extraordinary vital statistics.
It found that by the end of his reign the 6ft 1in Tudor king had a whopping 52in waist and 53in chest - enough to make him severely obese by modern standards.
The study by the Royal Armouries coincides with a forthcoming exhibition of his supersized battle dress at the Tower of London to mark the 500th anniversary of him taking the throne. Here, Philippa Gregory reveals the heavy price he paid for being a very tubby Tudor.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Since they did not yet have potatoes, it must have been all that fish & turnip chips.
I doubt the Yorkshire pudding helped, either.
Would you agree that a man 6’1” and 53/52 would be a great deal more than 280?
Let’s get AAM over here and we can form our own club!
FWIW, Philippa Gregory tends to write unencumbered by details like, say, history and fact. And her fiction ... ugh. Once again, a female novelist has to inject modern feminist theory into a story that contained none of it.
Weir and Fraser, on the other hand, I like quite a bit.
That was well before he died. The stats you cite indicate a pretty heavy person, but a 52" waist and 53" chest means he was closer to 30 stone(420#) than 20 stone(280#) .
Yes, I do agree with the modern principles being applied to female subjects in a time with it wasn’t modern with Gregory. And she does tend to interject somewhat of a lovestory element with taking some liberties with facts (such as implicating Cecil in the death of Amy Dudley), but I enjoy her style of writing.
We have that on vhs. It's a treasure. They had some great stuff on tv in those days. I remember seeing a tape of "Search for the Nile" when I was a kid, and now I still look for it occasionally. Haven't found it, but the searching turned up lots of other old gems that are now available. "Captains and the Kings." "Rich Man Poor Man."
And they used to say that tv was a wasteland!
Gads....420 pounds? He was a waddling edifice…if he was even able to waddle that is.
Thank you.
Sign me up for the club if it gets off the ground. I love this stuff!
That is one of things they’re missing. Henry VIII might have been a mighty trencherman, but most of that 53 inch chest was probably muscle from swinging pole axes and war hammers, just like Richard III’s “hunchback” was actually a hypertrophied right arm from using a battle axe. Henry VIII liked tournaments and, IIRC, fought in them frequently.
As king, Henry likely didn't get very much exercise at all except for the occasional activities he liked to participate in. Also as king, he was likely to have had whatever he wanted (in the way of food and drink) brought to him. In other words, Henry didn't work out on a regular basis and he didn't pay attention to his caloric intake. This lack of regular exercise and reckless disregard of the dietary guidelines governing good health was a bad combination for Henry.
I wonder how history would have turned out differently if Henry had use of a stairmaster and a weight room and had a nutritional guru at his side, advising him on the proper proportions of food and drink.
The fact is that many of us today are living like King Henry. Hopefully without the open sores and rotten teeth.
I remember seeing one of his suits of armor in the Tower of London many years ago. It looked like a pot-bellied stove.
I also am quite skeptical of the 6’1” figure for his height. I was 13 years old at the time I saw his armor, and I was taller than his suit of armor. I am 5’11” now. I’d say he was closer to 5’6” tall, which would make him even more rotund.
I’m also quite fascinated with Mary, Queen of Scots...Jane Dunn wrote a book comparing her with Elizabeth I. It was pretty interesting.
Another Tudor history buff on another forum suggested David Starkey...anyone familiar with his work?
I thought 6’1” sounded excessive. But then, they always add a few inches even to the present Royal Family who are all really a bunch of shortys. Princess Diana was tall and therefore had to wear very low heals when she was next to Charles so he wouldn’t look like the shrimp he actually is.
Sorry for the digression (only because it is all so interesting) and getting back to Henry...I also saw one of his suits of armor at Windsor Castle. It also looked as if it had been made for a not too tall and a tad rotund person.
He sure left his clothes all over the place, didn’t he?
David Starkey is quite good. I have his version of Six Wives, and a more recent one he did about Elizabeth before she ascended the throne.
Two thumbs up ... Xena sez check him out!
This means the present Royal Family is a bunch of Obamas pretending to be legit royals to the throne when they actually aren’t.
Oh, good...my local library has them both, IIRC (buying new books isn’t in the budget, LOL). I’m making a trip to the library this week anyway, so I might as well check one of them out!
If you haven’t yet, pick up Antonia Fraser’s book on Mary, Queen of Scots. It was written in 1969 and is immensely readable. It was my intro to Mary, and I’ve been fascinated by her ever since.
Did I say that out loud? OOOPS... :-)
Here’s something for you to see. The kind of thing I do when I’ve got time on my hands...http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2177197/posts?page=7#7
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.