The appearance of Catherine of Aragon in contemporary accounts and Francis's remark about her

In 1519 the French king Francis remarked of Catherine of Aragon that Henry VIII had an old, shapeless wife, while he himself was young and handsome.

Catherine of Aragon was 34 at the time, Henry 28, Francis 25.

When Catherine was 30, the Venetian ambassador described her as rather ugly than otherwise.

By the age of 45 she was spoken of as "short, rather stout, with a modest face".

It is hardly surprising that she was already heavy by thirty: her numerous unsuccessful pregnancies had badly undermined her health. Researchers note, however, that Francis's remark about shapelessness may have referred not to the figure but to the face of the English queen, who suffered from a markedly protruding lower jaw, visible in some of her portraits.

Report a translation error

September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

The appearance of Catherine of Aragon in contemporary accounts and Francis's remark about her

Read more

September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s