Revealing mistake: During her wake, Jane Seymour is supposedly dead, but she is breathing. (00:48:05)
The Tudors (2007)
1 mistake in The Death of a Queen
Starring: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Henry Cavill, James Frain, Anthony Brophy
King Henry viii: You think you know a story, but you only know how it ends. To get to the heart of the story, you have to go back to the beginning.
Question: Henry VIII was over 300 pounds through much of his reign. Why was Jonathan Rhys Myers not padded more realistically to portray him?
Answer: Although the series claimed to be historically accurate, there were many factual discrepancies throughout, including the extent of Henry's physical health and morbid obesity. As to why this was changed, the creators apparently felt they could better dramatize the story with a more physically fit and mobile Henry. In the real Henry VIII's later years, he was so incapacitated by weight and other maladies, that he literally had to be carried around by attendants.
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Answer: While he was obese for much of his life, Henry VIII didn't gain significant weight until after the death of Jane Seymour when he fell into a deep depression and succumbed to the pain of a leg injury he obtained from a jousting accident. He should've been heavier but he wasn't obese for his whole life, especially during his younger years. He was known to be 210 pounds, standing at 6'2", and to have a 32" inch waist for much of his life.