Henrietta Maria And Her Dwarf.
Hi,
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My goodness, it has been incredibly windy lately.
There are broken branches lying all over the place from the wind whipped trees.
Winter is a’comin in!
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Never mind, winter means staying in a warm house a lot more, doing lots of artwork and drinking lots of hot toddies
Talking of artwork, have you ever seen the fascinating van Dyck painting of Queen Henrietta Maria and her dwarf Sir Jeffrey Hudson, painted in 1633.
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Although dwarfs were a common sight at royal courts throughout history, and found to be a great diversion, some of them rose to important positions.
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Jeffrey Hudson lived a most unusual life.
He was born to normal-sized parents in Oakham in the West Midlands in 1619.
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He came to the notice of the Duke of Buckingham, who was thought by many to have been the lover of King James I of England, because his father was a retainer at the Duke’s court.
When Jeffrey was about 7, the Duke was visited by King Charles I and his new wife Queen Henrietta Maria.
During the banquet a large cold pie was presented to the royal couple and before it could be cut open an 18″ tall man dressed in armour leapt out of it and bowed elegantly to the astonished Queen Henrietta.
She was so taken with him that the Duke was inspired to give the 7 year old child into her care.
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Surprisingly she became very fond of him and eventually trusted her Sir Jeffrey enough to take him into her confidence and ask his advice.
When the Van Dyck portrait of them both was painted, Jeffrey was about 14 years old.
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Up until the age of about 30 he remained at the same height of 18″ but he then began to grow once more, eventually gaining his final height of 45″.
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He was a person of great influence and respect at the court for almost twenty years.
He was important enough to visit France as the at one period in order to find a suitable midwife for his queen.
He also fought a duel with a man who was thought to have referred to his height in an insulting manner.
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When the English Civil War eventually erupted, and the Royal family was endangered, he escaped to France with the Queen, where he unfortunately managed to become involved in yet another duel quite quickly.
This ended badly because his opponent did not take him at all seriously, arriving at the appointment armed only with a water-pistol.
Sir Jeffrey shot him anyway and had to leave his Queen and flee the court for his own safety.
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In his travels after this, he still had a startlingly adventurous life, which included fighting as a Captain Of Horse in the Civil War.
Later he was captured by pirates and was kept as a slave for 25 years.
Eventually, after making his way back to England, he ended up in prison after being accused of involvement in papist plotting at the royal court.
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It was in prison that he finally died at the grand age of 63.
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As late as 1822 he was still remembered well enough to have Sir Walter Scott write a novel called ‘Peveril Of The Peak’, which included Jeffrey and one of his adventures.
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Not a small life in any way!
j,
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