Random Firsthand Descriptions Of Historical Royals Really Looked Like (16 items)

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  (#4) Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

  • Dec. at 58 (1500-1558)

  Holy Roman Emperor Charles V first reigned as king of Spain in 1516. That year, the courtier Sancho Cota described the new, 16-year-old Spanish king:

  He was of medium height, with a long face, blond hair, beautiful light-blue eyes, a narrow but well-proportioned nose, his mouth and chin not as beautiful as his other features... He was a graceful man in very good shape; an upright man in his life, eating and drinking in a measured fashion, very clever for his years; liberal and magnificent and very virtuous.

  Cota's description of Charles's "long face" and unattractive chin were veiled references to his so-called Habsburg Jaw, or a chin that markedly protruded. Thanks to the Habsburg dynasty's shallow gene pool - they intermarried frequently - many of the members of the royal family had this distinct physical feature.
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  (#1) Henry VIII of England

  • Dec. at 56 (1491-1547)

  By the time King Henry VIII of England perished in 1547 at the age of 55, he weighed nearly 400 pounds. But as a young man, he was heralded as an athletic, handsome ruler who embodied kingly ideals. 

  One eyewitness to the young king's appearance was Sebastian Giustinian, the ambassador from Venice. In 1519, he wrote that 29-year-old Henry was "extremely handsome" and that "nature could not have done more for him." He continued:

  He is much handsomer than any other sovereign in Christendom; a great deal handsomer than the king of France; very fair, and his whole frame admirably proportioned. On hearing that Francis I [of France] wore a beard, he allowed his own to grow, and, as it is reddish, he has now a beard that looks like gold.
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  (#14) Mehmed the Conqueror

  • Dec. at 49 (1432-1481)

  Mehmed II became the Ottoman sultan when only 12 - and he would keep stacking up achievements. At 21, Mehmed captured the city of Constantinople, bringing a final end to the millennium-old Byzantine Empire. From there, he pushed deeper into Europe, earning the sobriquet "The Conqueror."

  The Venetian diplomat Giacomo de' Languschi described the royal shortly after his conquest of Constantinople:

  The sovereign, the Grand Turk Mehmed Bey, is a young man of 26 years of age, well formed and of a stature rather above the average. He is skilled in the use of weapons. His appearance inspires fear rather than respect. He laughs rarely, is cautious in his judgments, and is endowed with great generosity. He shows great tenacity in all his undertakings, and bravery under all conditions. He aspires to equal the glory of Alexander the Great, and every day has histories of Rome and other nations read to him.
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  (#3) Mary, Queen of Scots

  • Dec. at 45 (1542-1587)

  Queen Mary of Scotland did not get much praise for her politics during her reign from 1542 to 1567 - she abdicated the throne before she was 25.

  Her appearance, on the other hand, was highly regarded. According to a diplomat from Venice, the queen was "personally the most beautiful in Europe." She was also tall - Mary's height was almost 6 feet.
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  (#5) Anne Boleyn

  • Dec. at 35 (1501-1536)

  Henry VIII created his own Protestant church so that he could divorce his first wife and marry Anne Boleyn in 1533. 

  But what did Boleyn - the woman who changed English history forever - actually look like? In 1532, Mario Savorgnano - a diplomat from Catholic Venice - wrote of Boleyn:

  Madam Anne is not one of the handsomest women in the world, she is of middling stature, swarthy complexion, long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised, and in fact has nothing but the English King's great appetite, and her eyes, which are black and beautiful, and take great effect on those who served the Queen [Catherine of Aragon] when she was on the throne.
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  (#13) Empress Elisabeth of Austria

  • Dec. at 61 (1837-1898)

  Sixteen-year-old Elisabeth of Bavaria stepped onto the world stage when she married 24-year-old Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria, in 1854. She quickly became the toast of Europe, thanks to her dazzling beauty. According to an American official in Vienna, the empress was:

  [A] miracle of beauty - tall and slender, with a wonderfully lovely figure, an abundance of light brown hair, a low Grecian forehead, soft eyes, very red lips, and a sweet smile.

  Elisabeth's beauty became legendary - and a magnet in Viennese society. According to the Viennese minister of police, "The beauty of Empress Elisabeth draws many people to the court who would otherwise stay away."

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