Spent a couple of hours watching a National Geographic Channel piece on “The Madness of Henry VIII”. The premise is that, once possessed of the overwhelming need for a legitimate son and heir, Henry manipulated, and was manipulated by, events until the young, handsome king became a sick, overweight, middle-aged, paranoid despot… and that said despotism was indicative of psychological illness…
What piqued my interest, for the moment, was the description of the festering sores on Henry’s legs – it sounded like they could have been diabetic ulcers. Considering his morbid obesity and his taste for rich food, could he have been T2?
I’m not an archaeological forensic pathologist historian (or whatever it is you call someone who searches through history and tries to figure out what diseases people died from), but I’m curious… Not yet curious enough to research it, but I’m wondering if anyone else has…
LW: thanks for the links. The references to H and D in the first are pretty superficial. The references in the second sound like the author may be speculating MODY or a link between family history of T1 and recessive development of T2… I’d be interested in looking at something a bit more in-depth, possibly co-authored by a historian and a forensic pathologist?
Susan: That would be Eric Bama. I’ve not yet seen the film, but he’s definitely eye candy in the trailers…
