Solving the puzzle of Henry VIII

Southern Methodist University ^ | March 3, 2011 | Unknown

[decimon]

Caption: Blood group incompatibility between Henry VIII and his six wives could have driven the Tudor king's reproductive woes, and a genetic condition related to his blood group could finally provide an explanation for his dramatic physical and mental changes at mid-life

Credit: tudorhistory.org

Usage Restrictions: None

[decimon]

Kell’s belles ping.

[Uri’el-2012]

Who is paying for this junk science ?

[barbarianbabs]

I LOVE watching the Tudors on netflix.

[ReverendJames]

Don’t know if diet played any part in it but all he mostly ate was red meat. I mean lots of it. I enjoy a steak and a burger every now and then but this guy was over the top.

[silverleaf]

interesting!

[Dr. Ursus]

His boys couldn’t swim!

[chae]

There is also a thoery about Anne Boleyn’s miscarriages that I think is interesting. The theory is that after she delivered Elizabeth, she developed problems with the Rh factor.

[chickadee]

My thought as well. It’s consistent with Kell except for this, that and the other thing. yadda yadda

I had read that Henry’s leg problems were due to vanity, he wore garters to show off his calves. I don’t think anyone got a grant for that study:)

[Eepsy]

[SonOfDarkSkies]

He could have also had mumps as a child. At certain ages, the mumps can affect proper development of reproductive organs, the result of which may have been low testosterone. Low T folks often, of course, have low sperm count.

Furthermore, I read a report (the name and identity of which I cannot remember) that indicated that some low testosterone men have adrenalyn surges--are feisty and aggressive--apparent due to absence of the odd calming affect of normal T levels.

[Miss_Meyet]

Thanks for posting this!

[muawiyah]

The caveman diet ~ definitely a factor. Now, to his chilluns' ~ they seem to have suffered from indeterminate infertility ~ a totally different condition but fully explainable if Henry had some non-Gothic, non-Gaellic, non-Frankish ancestors in the mix ~ perhaps a Finn or Sa'ami.

The first Vasa King is just a generation ahead of Henry, and he had a Great Grandmother with Bourbon "titles" ~ so reciprocity could have brought Henry's Great Grandfather a clear blue eyed platinum blond beauty in the deal, and WHAMMO ~ indeterminate infertility.

[I still care]

There is a very interesting documentary called Royal Deaths and Diseases. It’s hard to find, and I don’t think it was ever out on DVD. I’d buy it in a minute if it was.

Each segment dealt with another kind of royal disease, and one of them was pregnancy and childbirth. It was fascinating. In that segment they stated that they believed the royal wives were totally sequestered in chambers and basically fed crackers and wine. This was because of the belief that a woman could “mark” the child with her fears and upsets.

It was very well researched, and had lots of original notes and texts from the doctors. They did fatal wounds, madness, genetics, etc.

[RedStateRocker]

One report I saw speculated that a severe jousting outcome (falling off a horse in full armor can have the same effect on the body as a 45mph crash sans seatbelt) let to his personality shift.
Something happened; he went from vigorous, dashing and (relatively) sane and benevolent ruler to a deadly tyrant, supposedly in a short period of time.

[Tennessee Nana]

Henry had 1 orf 2 illegitimate children besides the 3 who survied childhood...Mary, Elizabetyh, Edward

His first wife, Catherine of Aragon had at least 6 children...4 of them boys

They were mostly born alive but succombed to cold etc

One healthy bonnie little boy was taken outside in a freezing January shortly after his birth to be baptised in the palace chapel...

He caught pnuemonia and died ...

Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb things like that killed the babies and not necessarily the birth..

Anne Boleyn was pregnant at least twice...

She lost a little boy

Jane died at Edwards birth..

Anne of Cleves was never bedded...She was too “ugly” and spurned..

Catherine Howard, Anne’s cousin may have been preggers when she was beheaded...But it may have been a lovers

Katherine Parr never had any children but she was more of a nurse in Henry’s old age and bad health and not a young bed mate...

Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived

[AnAmericanMother]

That theory's not too far from this one. Similar problem with subsequent pregnancies.

The old theory was that he suffered from syphilis, which used to be known as "The Great Pretender" because it could produce so many symptoms. I don't know if anybody's dug up ol' Henry, but syphilitic lesions on bones are diagnostic.

[decimon]

Thanks for posting this!

You're welcome.

And let's thank Uri’el-2012 for paying for it.

[DallasDeb]

He could have also had a multitude of venereal diseases that impaired the mistresses/wives, causing miscarriages and stillborn births. Some speculate the same with John Kennedy;i.e., he gave Jackie diseases that caused her to miscarry and give birth to weak babies.

[LibertarianLiz]

I don't think this is junk science. It's just that we don't call it Kell. I had this with my two girls, but they now have a shot that they give the mother so that she won't reject the next child. My blood type is B-negative; both of my girls were "positives". If I had not gotten the shot, my body would have "rejected" my second daughter.

My eldest brother had this problem with his second child (in the 60's) and they ended up transfusing all of his blood. He did survive, but I remember it being dicey for him for quite a while. By the time I had children, they had developed the shot that I was given.

I just saw something on the History Channel that mostly pointed to his injuries while jousting, which were head injuries, for his behavior.