WORST ROYAL ILLNESSES a compendium of interesting maladies Pebiau of Ergyng This 6th century ruler was known as Claforawg or Spumosus, in reference to his unfortunate affliction of frothing at the mouth & drooling. Yuck, nothing like a sloppy kisser to ruin the mood! Alfred the Great Prayed to God to be cured once & for all of his piles (ouch). God granted him this request. Unfortunately for Alfred, God has a twisted sense of humor! On his wedding night, he developed severe stomach cramps, from which he continued to suffer the rest of his life. Another mood killer! No word on if the piles returned. Eadred of Wessex Alfred's grandson, his stomach ailment far surpassed Grandpa's. Poor Eadred was unable to keep down his food! Vomit---another mood killer. Not surprisingly, he died young. Robert the Bruce This Scots king purportedly suffered from leprosy. Serves him right for what he did to William Wallace! Henry IV This Lancastrian usurper also was alleged to have suffered from leprosy, though some sources maintain it was only really bad eczema. In either case, NOT attractive! The Church maintained this was divine retribution for his execution of the Archbishop of York, while others thought his second wife, Joanna of Navarre, had inflicted it upon him through the use of witchcraft. Sounds like a fabulous marriage! Henry VI Thought to have inherited the "Valois madness" through his mother, Katherine, daughter of Charles VI of France, he suffered from recurrent bouts of melancholia, depression, & catatonia. Out of period, his symptoms were so similar to those of George III that it's fairly certain the Valois madness was porphyria & that it swam tenaciously in the Plantagenet gene pool waiting to pop up now & then. |