Tuesday 3 June 2014

Jeffrey Hudson: The Queen's Dwarf

image credit

Jeffrey Hudson (1619 - 1682) was an English court dwarf at the court of Queen Henrietta Maria. He was famous as the 'Queen's dwarf' and was considered one of the 'wonders of the age' because of his extreme but well-proportioned smallness.

He fought with the Royalists in the English Civil War and fled with the Queen to France but was expelled from her court when he killed a man in a duel. Jeffrey Hudson was captured by Barbary pirates and spent 25 years as a slave in North Africa before being ransomed back to England.

0 comment(s):