English essayist Walter Bagehot (1826-1877) in his book The English Constitution (1867), addressed the necessity of keeping secrets for the British monarchy... and warned against too much transparency. According to Begehot, maintaining a level of opacity in certain aspects of its workings preserved the dignity, authority and stability of its sovereigns. He wrote:
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Don't let the light of day penetrate the magic of monarchy. Its mystery is its life. We must not let daylight in on the magic.
This was undoubtedly the vision of Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022), who during her seventy-year reign embodied it in her management of public information through another maxim, the famous 'never explain, never complain'. Even in her final days, no details were divulged about her medical condition. The official version given in the publication of her death certificate, simply mentions that she died of 'old age'.
The mystery behind the crown, however, tends to wane over time. In January 2024, Buckingham Palace's announced that King Charles III was to undergo prostate surgery. A month later, the Palace made another announcement, this time, more worrying. Both announcements were an unprecedented display of transparency.
The health of members of the Royal Family has always been a subject of gossip, as evidenced by the recent rumours and conspiracy theories concerning Kate Middleton. This has been the case since Henry VIII (1491-1547), with George III (1738-1820) being the most representative example.
Henry VIII's oozing leg hidden behind royal doors
Today, experts could diagnose Henry VIII with obesity. His armor shows that his chest and waist circumferences rose from 107 and 89 centimeters at the age of 24, to 145 and 137 centimeters by the time he was 50. It has also been reported that the appetite of the man who stood over 1.80 meters tall was 'gargantuan'. Moreover, Henry VIII could have been diagnosed with a potential type II diabetes, which could have lead to serious nerve damage and therefore could explain the persistent, foul-smelling ulcers on his 'swollen leg' ('sorre legge'), as his contemporaries described it.
However, if the problems of the six-wife sovereign have been widely documented, it's not because of the monarch's personal surgeons and their notes, who surely feared execution by treason - increasingly common at the end of his reign. What historians do know is based on:
state documents and [contemporary] letters of the period, especially despatches sent from the English court by foreign ambassadors reporting the king's state of health to their own governments.
The documents were based on statements from his royal physicians, that have been recorded in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2009).
When Eustache Chappuis, Spanish ambassador for Charles V, wrote that Henry VIII had 'the worst legs in the world', in reality, rumours about his state of health were not so widespread. Of course, courtiers and diplomats saw him being transported in a sedan chair, but the king soon retreated to his private apartments. When he died in 1547, news of his death remained secret for three days. Edward Seymour, maternal uncle of the new (and very young) King of England Edward VI, was plotting to become Lord Protector of the kingdom while the latter was a minor.
George III's medical secrets and noisy rumours
The Georgian era was also not marked by transparency. Queen Consort Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1683-1737), grandmother of George III, suffered in silence for thirteen years from a painful hernia.
Natalee Garrett, Senior Lecturer in History at the Open University (England), explains in The Conversation:
no one other than Caroline's husband, George II, was aware of her condition, as she had refused to speak to a doctor about it
It was only in November 1737, when the mass broke off, that she consulted a doctor, too late.
Her grandson George III, on whom she is said to have exerted great influence during his lifetime, was also affected by the disease. It was mentioned in the prequel to Bridgerton, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. The disease manifested itself in pain, convulsions and mental episodes (frenzied speech, erratic behaviour), supposedly caused by a hereditary blood disorder (porphyria) or bipolar disorder. The exact diagnosis is still unknown, 150 years after his death.
By the end of the 18th century, George III's pathology had become a subject of intense concern and debate, due to its impact on his ability to govern. The bulletins issued publicly by his doctors - sometimes with updates twice a day - were vague, and rather than providing precise details, only fueled public speculation. These bulletins are available to consult online.
According to Natalee Garrett, the nature of the correspondence 'triggered a regency crisis and a media storm, with conspiracy theories abounding.' It kind of sounds familiar in 2024...
Despite his debts and apparent frivolity, his eldest son, the future George IV, was the natural choice to act as regent. But his links with the opposition against the British government worried Prime Minister William Pitt, who delayed formalising a 'temporary leadership'. This is surely what gave rise to what Natalee Garrett describes as a 'spectacular conspiracy theory'. A theorywhich accused the statesman and George III's wife, Queen Charlotte, who was popular with the people, of conspiring to seize power.
At the time, newspapers played a crucial role in keeping the public informed about the King's condition, calling out his doctors for their 'non-disclosures'... However, newspapers also played a role in widely sharing the opposition's fake news—defamatory attacks against the Queen that the historic daily The Times (founded in 1785) would denounce elsewhere.
It is only George III's reinstatement, just as the Regency Bill was about to be passed, as well as his official appearance in Parliament on March 10, 1789, that put an end to the rumors.
Numerous examples throughout the history of the monarchy
The multiple miscarriages and children lost at birth of Queen Anne (1665-1714), despite being repeatedly declared 'healthy' (she probably suffered from lupus, an autoimmune disease). The fatal legacy of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) who supposedly passed on her hereditary hemophilia to three of her nine children. Those are just two examples of the numerous cases of British sovereigns concealing their medical conditions throughout history.
As much as secrecy isn't liked, it was and still is motivated by a variety of reasons: fear of tainting the reputation of the monarch who is supposed to be the embodiment of the strength of the state, fear of challenging their ability to govern; genuine political issues... In the past, there was also a less developed understanding of diseases compared to today.
Unfortunately, these reasons could and still can give rise to harmful speculations, but they also shine a new like on the desire to keep 'medical information' private which was the wish of Kate Middleton, whose abdominal surgery was only later revealed to the public.
This article has been translated from Geo.
Read more:
⋙ The story of how King Charles allegedly smuggled a mystery blonde woman onto the Royal train in 1980
⋙ Will King Charles stop this extreme royal tradition that has a worrying impact on UK's history?
⋙ Fact checking: Lady Louise is not the new Duchess of Sussex, where are these rumours coming from?
Sources:
Irish Medical Times: A sorry tale of a king's 'sorre legge'
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine: 500 years later: Henry VIII, leg ulcers and the course of history
The Conversation: How conspiracy theories around George III’s madness and Queen Charlotte’s scheming took hold of the 18th-century British press
Newcastle University - Special collections: Bulletin on the state of King George III’s health – October 2011
Journal for Eighteenth Century Studies: ‘Albion's Queen by All Admir'd’: Reassessing the Public Reputation of Queen Charlotte, 1761-1818
The Conversation: The royals have historically been tight-lipped about their health – but that never stopped the gossip
