Who Was Known for Painting Incredibly Detailed Portraits of the English Royal Family

Featuring Richard 3, Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, George Iii and more Photo analogy by Meilan Solly

In recent years, the British regal family has filled the headlines as the Windsors hosted lavish weddings, welcomed petite princes and celebrated landmark milestones like Elizabeth II'due south sapphire jubilee. But over the course of the 2010s, historians, archivists, archaeologists and other researchers gave the press, ever hungry for more monarchial coverage, enough of reasons to write near the queen's historical predecessors, too.

From the unearthing of Richard 3's basic under a Leicester parking lot to George IV's surprising analogousness for Jane Austen novels, the rediscovery of long-forgotten archival documents and the identification of Henry VII'south likely wedlock bed, these were ten of the well-nigh fascinating revelations related to Britain's royals in the 2010s. Entries are listed in chronological order, as determined by the get-go date of each individual'due south respective reign.

The famously chaste Henry VI may accept had a sex passenger vehicle.

Pious, peace-loving and weak-willed, Henry Six (who ruled from 1422 to 1461) was the polar opposite of his father, the heroic warrior king Henry V. More interested in prayer and scholarship than governance and warfare, the Lancastrian male monarch was disastrously ill-suited for the business concern of ruling. Political pitfalls aside, Henry was reportedly and then devout that he even had an aversion to nudity. As royal clergyman John Blackman later wrote, a nobleman who hoped to gain favor by presenting a group of blank-bosomed dancers to the king failed to print; instead, Henry "spurned the delusion, and very angrily averted his optics, turned his back upon them and went out of his chamber, saying 'Fie, fie, for shame.'"

Documents and royal household accounts detailed by historian Lauren Johnson earlier this yr suggest the king's fear of intimacy extended to the marriage bed and was so debilitating he had to be coached by trusted courtiers who joined the royal couple in their private bedchamber.

"It'due south entirely possible that information technology had reached a certain betoken where information technology perhaps became necessary to brand articulate to him what he should be doing," said Johnson to the Observer's Dalya Alberge in Feb 2019.

Henry VI married French princess Margaret of Anjou on Apr 23, 1445. Photograph by Hulton Annal/Getty Images

Henry wed French princess Margaret of Anjou in April 1445, simply the couple failed to welcome an heir until eight years later, in October 1453. Co-ordinate to the Ryalle Boke , a contemporary text on purple protocol, Margaret's maidservants waited outside of the couple'southward bedroom when they were prepare to "lie together," but her husband's chamberlain or squire oft followed the pair inside.

"The Ryalle Boke does not brand it clear at what bespeak they left, leaving open the intriguing proposition that they remained to brand sure the marriage bed was being properly used," writes Johnson in The Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI. "Was the king perhaps non performing his conjugal duties?"

A recently discovered letter suggests Elizabeth Woodville, England's "White Queen," died of the plague.

One of England'southward nigh unlikely queen consorts, Elizabeth Woodville (1464–1483) won the crown by capturing Edward IV's heart, allegedly catching his eye while waiting under an oak tree in hopes of convincing the passing rex to restore her sons' inheritance. The years she spent enthroned beside her hubby are relatively well-documented, as is the tumultuous menses directly following his untimely decease in April 1483. (Richard 3 seized the throne from Woodville's sons and heirs, Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, who then disappeared into the depths of the Belfry of London. Her daughter Elizabeth of York became queen of England after marrying Henry Tudor, who usurped the crown just two years after Richard's accession.)

But Elizabeth—dubbed the "White Queen" in recognition of her links with the House of York, which touted a white rose as its keepsake—ended her days in obscurity, living quietly at Bermondsey Abbey from 1487 until her death v years later. Given the simple nature of the dowager queen's after years, the fact that her funeral was a modest event isn't wholly surprising. Still, a 500-year-old letter institute in England'southward National Archives earlier this twelvemonth offers an alternative explanation for the muted affair, suggesting Elizabeth died of the plague and was buried unceremoniously to avoid spreading the contamination.

As records specialist Euan Roger reported in a 2019 Social History of Medicine commodity, a 1511 alphabetic character penned by Venetian administrator Andrea Badoer attributes Henry VIII's fear of the plague and other deadly illnesses to the fact that "the Queen-Widow, mother of the tardily King Edward, had died of plague, and the King was troubled." The main private who fits this criteria is Elizabeth Woodville, Henry VIII'southward maternal grandmother. While she died long earlier Badoer wrote his cannonball, Roger argues that the ambassador was referring to a "historical fear [that] starts to shed calorie-free on Henry's own emotional state."

The remains of Richard 3 spent centuries hidden under a car park in Leicester.

Without question, the nearly significant royal discovery of the decade was the recovery of Richard Iii's (1483–1485) remains, which were unceremoniously dumped into a shallow grave following his defeat at the Boxing of Bosworth Field in August 1485. Researchers unearthed the ruler's skeleton while searching a Leicester parking lot in fall 2012. The following February, university archaeologists positively identified the remains as that of the 15th-century rex, stating, "Across reasonable uncertainty it's Richard."

Richard 3 was buried at Leicester Cathedral on March 23, 2015. Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The discovery ignited a firestorm of controversy, adding new layers of complexity to the centuries-old fence over Richard's reputation. Alternately viewed as a plain-featured autocrat who murdered his nephews to articulate his path to the throne and a capable all the same much-misunderstood monarch, the polarizing rex's legacy has been shaped by Tudor propagandists—including William Shakespeare, whose history play Richard 3 cemented the unflattering portrait of an ugly, tyrannical usurper in popular imagination—and the more recent rise of Ricardians, cocky-proclaimed admirers who seek to rehabilitate his image.

Analysis of Richard's remains has debunked the myth of a hunchbacked king, showing he suffered from adolescent-onset scoliosis but was able to disguise the slight discrepancy in his shoulders' height with clothing. The tests as well revealed his cause of death: ii glancing blows to the head, including one that virtually sliced the back of his skull off. Additional insights revealed by the assessments range from the king's rich diet of heron, peacock and other delicacies to his probable appearance and bad habit of grinding his teeth.

An oak bed believed to have been deputed for the wedding of Henry Seven and Elizabeth of York spent xv years in a British hotel'southward honeymoon suite.

Antiquarian dealer Ian Coulson purchased the bed, so advertised equally a Victorian era frame, for £ii,200 in 2010. Courtesy of the Langley Collection

Henry Seven'south (1485–1509) claim to the English throne was tenuous at best. His mother, Margaret Beaufort, was descended from a line of royal bastards barred from always wearing the crown, while his father was the product of a scandalous spousal relationship between a lowborn Welsh courtier and the dowager queen of England, Catherine of Valois. To strengthen his hold on England, the first Tudor king married Elizabeth of York, girl of Edward Iv and Elizabeth of Woodville. With the couple's wedding, the two warring houses of Lancaster and York were finally reconciled, their clashing rose emblems united under the reddish-and-white Tudor rose.

Antique dealer Ian Coulson discovered a potent—and surprisingly well-preserved—symbol of the pair'south marriage largely past chance. In 2010, he purchased an oak poster bed online for £two,200. Purported to date to the Victorian era, the bed had spent 15 years in a hotel'southward forest-paneled honeymoon suite and nearly ended upward in the trash.

Afterward examining his new conquering, Coulson realized information technology was much older than previously believed—marks left on the bed frame appeared to exist more consistent with medieval hand tools than mechanized saws, and the extent of repairs evident far outpaced that of most Victorian era furnishings. Perhaps virtually intriguing, carvings seen on the imposing oak creation alluded to prominent Tudor iconography, hinting at the bed's purple provenance.

Gilt-statuary tomb effigies of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in Westminster Abbey Photo past Angelo Hornak/Corbis via Getty Images

Coulson spent the adjacent nine years gathering show to support his theory. The results of this investigation constitute a convincing case: DNA analysis of the oak frame identify the forest as originating from a unmarried tree felled in central Europe, while microscopic traces of ultramarine paint (at the time, the paint was more expensive than gold) recovered from the headboard testify to its one-time owners' high condition. Carvings on the bed depict the red rose of Lancaster and white rose of York, dating its commission to the early months of Henry'due south rule, when the cherry-and-white Tudor rose had yet to be adopted. Images of Adam and Eve comport marked similarities to early portraits of the king and queen, and fertility symbols seen on the frame insinuate to the importance of producing heirs to secure the Tudor dynasty's longevity.

If Coulson's hunch proves correct, the bed represents one of the only Tudor furnishings known to survive the mid-17th century English Civil War.

"If this isn't the royal bed, what else can it be?" Coulson said to National Geographic. "So far nobody has come upwardly with whatever disarming possibilities."

The sailors employed on Henry VIII'south flagship, the Mary Rose, detail the diverseness of 16th-century England.

The Mary Rose is possibly best known for famously sinking as the Tudor king watched in horror at the Battle of Solent in July 1545. Simply new research conducted by the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth offers insights on a lesser-known aspect of the send: its surprisingly diverse crew.

DNA and isotope analysis of the remains of eight Mary Rose sailors advise two hailed from the Mediterranean. Two others had ties to North Africa or the Heart East. Per a press release for the museum's "The Many Faces of Tudor England" exhibition, a crewmember researchers dubbed "Henry" was genetically like to gimmicky Moroccans and Algerian Mozabite Berbers. Just oxygen isotopes in his teeth indicated he grew up in a rainy area of Britain, making it likely he received this genetic material from previous generations. Meanwhile, isotope assay of a different skeleton nicknamed the Archer Royal showed he grew up in inland Northward Africa or southern Europe.

As Miranda Kaufmann, author of Black Tudors: The Untold Story, told the Guardian's Nicola Davis earlier this yr, Tudor England was home to a small population of black sailors, craftsmen and musicians. Many of these individuals (or their ancestors) migrated to England via Espana or Portugal. Onyek Nubia, writer of Blackamoores: Africans in Tudor England, Their Presence, Status and Origins, echoed this sentiment in an interview with Davis, explaining that England hosted individuals of many ethnicities.

The Mary Rose findings, he said, are "not a one-off thing."

An unfinished portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, was painted over following her execution in 1587 and replaced with the likeness of Tudor courtier Sir John Maitland.

In the few gimmicky or near-gimmicky portraits of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1567), known to survive today, the Stuart queen's fiery red pilus starkly contrasts with her fragile porcelain pare. Generally, she wears a square-necked gown, her hand resting at its waist and her caput tilted slightly to the side.

These signature characteristics helped researchers identify the subject of an unfinished portrait, institute beneath some other 16th-century painting in 2017, as Mary. According to a press release from the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS), which conducted the enquiry in conjunction with the Courtauld Institute of Art, conservators discovered the long-hidden likeness while conducting an X-ray assay of a 1589 portrait of Tudor courtier Sir John Maitland.

Adrian Vanson painted this likeness of Sir John Maitland, 1st Businesswoman Maitland of Thirlestane (left), over an unfinished portrait of Mary Queen of Scots (correct) National Trust, Ham House, London

The test revealed atomic number 82 white pigment believed to represent the contours of a adult female's face, dress and hat. Based on comparisons with two miniatures of Mary, as well as other authenticated portraits, the researchers were able to match the mysterious sitter with the controversial queen.

Painted by Netherlandish artist Adrian Vanson in 1589—two years later Mary's execution on the orders of her cousin, Elizabeth I—the Maitland portrait may have been overlaid onto the before design in response to the Scottish queen's death and subsequent unpopularity.

Still, curator David Taylor said at the fourth dimension, the sheet' very existence "shows that portraits of the queen were being copied and presumably displayed in Scotland around the time of her execution, a highly contentious and potentially unsafe affair to exist seen doing."

Elizabeth I's "idiosyncratic" handwriting identified her as the scribe backside a long-overlooked translation.

The terminal Tudor queen, Elizabeth I (1558–1603), was known for her scholarly prowess. Only no one realized she was the author of a long-overlooked translation of Tacitus' Annals, a history of the Roman Empire from Tiberius to Nero, until recently. As John-Marking Philo of the University of E Anglia wrote in the Review of English Studies last calendar month, annotations on the text, which has been housed at London's Lambeth Palace Library for centuries, friction match the queen's "strikingly idiosyncratic" handwriting.

Although a professional scribe wrote out the full text of Elizabeth's translation, the English queen scribbled corrections and additions in the margins herself. These markings, written in a incomparably sloppy hand, find the messages "one thousand" and "n" reduced to horizontal lines, and "due east" and "d" into disjointed strokes.

Elizabeth's penmanship deteriorated over time, with the speed and sloppiness of her writing ascension in direct correlation with the crown'south increasing demands. Photos via Lambeth Palace Library and public domain; photo analogy by Meilan Solly

Per a press release, Elizabeth's handwriting deteriorated as the demands of monarchy increased.

"The college you lot are in the social hierarchy of Tudor England, the messier you tin can let your handwriting become," explained Philo in the argument. "For the queen, comprehension is somebody else's problem."

The translation's chosen subject—a scene in which a Roman general'due south married woman, Agrippina, calms her married man'south troops—offers farther evidence of its regal provenance: In a motility mirroring Tacitus' heroine, Elizabeth famously addressed her regular army prior to its clash with the Spanish armada in July 1588.

"I know I have the torso of a weak and feeble woman," the queen told her soldiers, "just I have the middle and tum of a king, and of a male monarch of England as well."

George III considered abdicating during the Revolutionary War.

Of the roughly 350,000 documents bachelor via the Royal Drove Trust'southward digital Georgian Papers Programme, perhaps the well-nigh intriguing is an abdication spoken communication drafted by George III (1760–1820) in March 1783, just months before the terminate of the Revolutionary War.

Covered in corrections and strikethroughs, the never-deployed draft reveals the Hanoverian king's increasing disillusionment with the business of governance. Stuck in gridlock exacerbated by politicians' bitter partisanship, George viewed the impending loss of the American colonies every bit a result of Britain's "internal crisis," according to historian Arthur Burns of King'southward College London. Every bit a result, wrote Burns in January 2017, the spoken communication is centrally concerned with Uk'southward changing political sphere, discussed in relation with the male monarch'southward ain reign and the institution of monarchy as a whole, rather than the embarrassing defeat beyond the pond.

George III has long been portrayed as a despot, simply newly revealed documents showcase a unlike side of the Hanoverian rex. Photo by National Galleries of Scotland/Getty Images

"In 1783, faced by what appeared momentarily an irresolvable crisis, he judged that he could no longer exist of 'utility' to his kingdom," explained Burns. "In that circumstance, his own agreement of what information technology meant to be a good king meant that it was fourth dimension for him to get."

George never followed through with his proposed abdication. Instead, the Hanoverian king remained on the throne, ruling first Great Great britain, and and then the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, until his death in 1820. Although George is often described as an out-of-control despot, the trove of digitized documents showcases a different side of the much-maligned monarch, from his scholarly interests to his methodical style of ruling and fears for his son'south hereafter.

"Hailed in history books as United kingdom's longest-reigning king, George Iii was often looked at just rarely seen," wrote Sara Georgini for Smithsonian magazine in January 2017. "Until now."

George Four was 1 of the outset customers to buy Jane Austen's debut novel, Sense and Sensibility.

George 3's wayward son, the future George IV (1820–1830), was ane of Jane Austen'south earliest fans. As documented by a fifteen-shilling bill of sale discovered in 2022 through the Georgian Papers Programme, the and then-prince regent purchased a re-create of Austen's debut novel, Sense and Sensibility, on October 28, 1811—a total ii days before the volume was outset publicly advertised.

"Equally the showtime documented buy of an Austen novel, information technology raises all sorts of delicious speculations, non to mention some entertaining irony," historian Sarah Glosson told Georgini in Smithsonian. "The prince, while reviled by many, would accept been a tastemaker in his social circle, so the fact that he probable had one of the very first copies of Sense and Sensibility—perhaps in his hands before anyone else—is remarkable."

Known for his profligate lifestyle, George assumed command in 1811, reigning equally prince regent on behalf of his ailing father before taking the crown himself upon the elder George'south death. He had expensive tastes, purchasing artworks, books and furniture in excess, and accrued awe-inspiring debts through his "vast expenditure on palaces and pictures, militaria and mistresses, parties and pageants"; past the fourth dimension of his accession, the rex had go "a byword for senseless extravagance and a national joke," according to historian Steven Parissien.

Austen herself was no fan of the Hanoverian royal, though she likely appreciated the boost in stature afforded by his patronage. (Georgini notes that Austen's novel found its way to the prince regent through local connections: Her publisher knew bookseller Becket & Porter, who in turn sent the novel to the prince regent.) Still, when invited to dedicate a novel to George, the writer grudgingly acquiesced, addressing the 1815 work, Emma, to "His Royal Highness the prince regent."

Queen Victoria's belatedly-in-life confidant, an Indian servant named Abdul Karim, kept a diary cataloging his much-criticized friendship with the queen.

In 1887, a young man named Abdul Karim was presented to Queen Victoria (1837–1901) every bit a "souvenir from India." Over the side by side 14 years, Karim—originally brought to England as an attendant tasked with translating conversations betwixt the Hanoverian queen and Indian dignities during her aureate jubilee celebrations—and Victoria became unexpectedly close friends.

Much to the chagrin of the court, likewise equally the queen's own family, Victoria lavished gifts and titles on Karim, granting him extravagant favors and elevating him to a condition rarely reached by servants. In addition to having homes at multiple royal residences, Karim received a land grant in his dwelling house urban center of Agra. He sat for multiple portraits and accompanied the queen on trips, much like another royal favorite, John Brown, had before him.

An 1883 painting of Queen Victoria, taken from an 1882 photograph past Alexander Bassano Photo past Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The courtroom's hatred of Karim can exist attributed largely to the racism prevalent in 19th-century United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. Following Victoria'southward death in Jan 1901, her children immediately sent Karim back to Bharat. They burned as much of the pair's correspondence as they could detect and did their best to hide their mother'due south beloved munshi , or language tutor, from history. But one key record of the unusual relationship survived: a personal diary kept by Karim and handed down across generations. In 2010, Karim'due south descendants shared this journal with historian Shrabani Basu. Her business relationship of the duo'southward friendship, titled Victoria & Abdul: The Truthful Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant , spawned a 2017 pic starring Judi Dench and Ali Fazal every bit the queen and her companion.

As Kristin Hunt wrote for Smithsonian magazine in September 2017, "Karim'due south diary gave incredible new details on an unexpected, intense friendship that crossed course and racial lines—1 that began over a delicious plate of craven curry."

British History British Writers Decease Elizabeth I England Henry Eight Jane Austen Kings Mary, Queen of Scots Monarchs Queen Victoria Queens Royal Family Scotland Tudors

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Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ten-things-weve-learned-about-britains-monarchs-past-ten-years-180973867/

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