Henry V’s beauty in the film “The King” and his arrow scar from Shrewsbury in 1403

What Did Henry V Look Like?

Shakespeare's portrait of Henry is idealised. But the portrait of Henry created by the Australian director David Michôd, with Brad Pitt's company behind him, is almost flawless. Note that Netflix nonetheless files The King under "biographical" and "based on real events".

The first discrepancy to catch the eye is the impeccable beauty of Henry V as played by Timothée Chalamet. The king, of course, was not merely less handsome: his face was disfigured by a scar, the result of a very unfortunate arrow strike to the right cheek at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. The arrow went in so deep and so badly that a special instrument had to be made to extract it, and to the end of his days Henry bore a large, gaping scar, preferring to appear in portraits only with his left side turned to the viewer. In Shakespeare this wound is described as a small scratch, and on the film hero the mark of the arrow is scarcely visible either.