Bonjour!
My neuroscience class visited Chateau d’Amboise on Friday, June 15. This beautiful chateau overlooked the Loire River and was used by many French royals. Our tour guide, Roxie, was telling us about all of the royals who spent time in this chateau, including Henry the Eighth.
Roxie told us an interesting fact that Henry VIII had syphilis. His wives, Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, had numerous miscarriages which lead people to believe that Henry VIII had some disease that spread to his wives and affected their ability to carry children. I looked into this topic a little more and what I learned leads me to believe that Henry VIII did not have syphilis which is what some people still believe.
Henry VIII married his first wife at the age of 17 (Henry VIII). Since his first wife had many miscarriages and stillbirths, Henry would’ve needed to contract the disease before the age of 17. Since the treatment of penicillium for syphilis wasn’t created until 1928, this means the king’s disease would have gone untreated for decades. During these times, syphilis was thought to be cured with a 6-week treatment with mercury. With our current knowledge, we know that mercury would have not cured syphilis. Thus, it would have been left to manifest for decades. If syphilis is left untreated for decades it can progress into neurosyphilis. Neurosyphilis is an infection by Treponema pallidum and can affect the brain, spinal cord, brainstem and nerve roots (Berger and Dean 2014). Accordingly, this disease can present itself in a diversity of ways; however, Henry VIII was never reported to have any behavioral or neurological changes. On the other hand, these changes would have been difficult to recognize during these times because of the state of technology. Henry VIII died at the age of 55, which means that he would have had syphilis for more than three decades which is enough time for neurosyphilis to present itself through a variety of notable ways; however, none were ever noted in his doctors’ notes.
It was also reported that Henry VIII had never undergone the mercury treatment or was absent for 6 weeks which also leads us to believe that he had never contracted syphilis. Roxie told us about being critical as we walked through the castle, and she was right. I love being able to relate my experiences to what I am learning in class!
References:
Berger, J., & Dean, D. (2014). Neurosyphilis. Handbook Of Clinical Neurology, 1461-1472. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-7020-4088-7.00098-5
Henry VIII, Syphilis and Mistresses by Kyra Kramer – The Anne Boleyn Files. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/henry-viii-birthday-post-kyra-kramer/