A Deep Dive into Queen Elizabeth I and rumors of her "death by vanity"
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This blog is a little bit of a tangent, but it will tie into our next show.
Let's talk about Queen Elizabeth I, "The Virgin Queen". She was born in 1533 and died in 1603, and ruled from 1558 until her death. Queen Elizabeth (daughter of King Henry the VIII and Anne Boleyn) took the throne at the age of 17 and ruled until her death at 69. 69 is a respectable age of death for even a royal in those days. So did she die of age, health issues, or something else?
Let's first acknowledge that history has, until recently, been written by the victors, and until recently, that has mostly been the (fucking) patriarchy. History has also often been written by those who are bitter and poor losers (also the patriarchy). This is why our podcast exists.
History says many unkind things about Elizabeth - she was a slut (of course), she was a man (because she was an amazing leader, unquestionably intelligent, and financially savvy, so Elizabeth must have been a man. ugh), she was declared illegitimate by her own father (it was later reversed, obviously), she was maybe a murderer, and she very rarely bathed. History has also told us that Elizabeth used thick white paint to hide both her aging and the scars of small pox. Hollywood and some of the portraits of her paint her as almost clown-faced. A Jesuit letter writer using the pseudonym (what a chicken!) "Anthony Rivers" wrote in 1600 that Queen Elizabeth I's makeup was "near half an inch thick" in some places . Why would she do that? And did her make up actually poison and kill her? History tells us that she died of vanity, or more specifically of lead poisoning from her white face paint.
Let's talk about the fashion of the times. Pale white skin was a signal of wealth, due to the appearance of nary setting foot outside. In Paris, where much of the trend setting happened, faces were painted much whiter than in England, where a more subtle pale glow was preferred. Unknown at the time to be toxic, lead-based cosmetics were commonly used by many in Elizabeth's time to achieve a subtle whitening, brightening and diffusing effect. We obviously know now that the use of such things will may lead to toxicity over time. Lead poisoning has well known and tell-tale symptoms.
I love lesser known history and I love cosmetics, so when make up artist and make up historian Erin Parsons did a series on lead based make up, I was all in. Working with some of the leading experts on the chemistry of these things, Parsons learned that white lead powder by itself, or mixed in water just sits on top of the skin. It is not water soluble so other solvents are needed to "dissolve" the lead into a liquid form; and to permeate the skin and cause illness, lead has to be mixed with something that allows it to break past the outer layer of epidermis. Some recipes from the era are still available to us today. Dr. Fiona Mcneill, Professor of Physics at McMaster University, has re-created these lead based make ups using the original recipes for them, and tested them. In the recipes used, both glycerine, camphor, and vinegar are used as solvents for the lead powder, and it is the use of those agents that allow the lead to permeate the skin.
One of the more more common "make up" products used was “Venetian Ceruse” (known also at the time as “the spirits of Saturn” or "Salt of Saturn"), aka Lead Carbonate. A chemical process produced white lead flakes, which were then ground up into a powder, and mixed with beeswax, almond oil, rose water, and camphor, and this combination becomes "Venetian Ceruse".
A different recipe creates something called Lead Acetate is created by taking Lead Carbonate and mixing it with white vinegar (acetic acid is an alpha hydroxy acid) and this allows the lead to permeate the skin and enter the body much faster than Venetian Ceruse. But did either of these common recipes produce the white face paint that Hollywood has portrayed Queen Elizabeth with?
The recipe for Venetian Ceruse produces a hard waxy cake which the team tested on (ethically sourced) pig skin; it leaves a very subtle brightening of the skin, with diffusing properties. The tests produced a really lovely effect to be honest. It gives a "no make up make up" effect that I am certain we would use today if we didn't know better! This was the every day make up likely worn by many women at the time. While it did not immediately enter the body through the skin, its long term use was, of course, toxic. The recipe for Lead Acetate, however, breaks down the skins barrier and enters deeper into the skin within as little as 4 hours. But it also did not produce an opaque white paint on the skin. The effect is just slightly whiter (and I mean slightly), with the same brightening, whitening, slightly luminous sheen. Neither recipe produced anything close to an opaque white paint, such as the movies have portrayed Elizabeth wearing.
These substances were classified as a poison 31 years after Elizabeth’s death. Nonetheless, in the late 1700's, (long after she died, and long after they were found to be toxic) a product that was a pearl powder mixed with a liquid glycerine to create a lovely white sheen called "Laird's Bloom of Youth" became popular. It was not disclosed to contain lead, but instead Calcium Carbonate or "french chalk". The women who were using "Bloom of Youth" started showing the tell tale and advanced signs of lead poisoning within a few years. When tested, some batches were also found to contain lead acetate, which is even worse than the Lead Carbonate. Either way...the fuckin' beauty industry, man...they've been lying to us for hundreds of years!
But back to Elizabeth and the 1600s...The Queen contracted small pox at the age of 29 and almost died from it. She was left with some scarring on her face, though possibly not as bad as history tells us (shocking). She almost definitely used some white face make up as most noble women of the time did. She may also have used a lead face paint in the form of lead acetate as a form of skin care. This was often prescribed by a doctor to dry up the sores caused by the pox (similar to how we use Calamine lotion now), and this is likely the case with Elizabeth, who obviously would have had the best medicine could offer. Lead Acetate/face paint/medicine also breaks down the skin, and it's possible that more applications of it might have been used to help with that, creating a vicious cycle. But if she had been suffering from lead poisoning, it stands to reason that she would have shown signs of it LONG before her death at age 69!
When someone has lead poisoning, it causes nerve damage of various kinds. It is irreversible. It accumulates in soft tissue and bones and does more damage over time. One of the common symptoms of lead poisoning in Elizabethan times was "the wrist drop". This was/is caused by damage to the radial nerves and includes weakness of the wrist and finger extensors. This kind of nerve damage can show up weeks or months after repeated exposure, a few years at most. This is not noted anywhere in the documentation of Elizabeth's time as Queen.
At any rate, the rumor that Queen Elizabeth wore make up "an inch thick", which circulated near the end of her life and after her death, seems to be false based on make up standards, and images of her at the time. Many of the most unflattering and misogynistic rumors were perpetrated by bitter patriarchal whiners, as well as Catholics who were in hiding, because Queen Elizabeth was staunchly Protestant! (Hence her feud with her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots!)
Queen Elizabeth was a very successful queen of a great empire in a patriarchal world, no doubt. She had to give the appearance of strength and invulnerability at all times. She was never known as a great beauty, and she knew it, but she did try to portray a pleasant countenance. She was said to be quite vain and very picky about her portraits and images of her. If she was, oh well...but was she vain? Or was it critically important that, the only surviving child of King Henry VIII (her older siblings all died before she inherited the throne) and bearer of the Tudor legacy be depicted very carefully? England thrived under Elizabeth for 45 years, so I think it's fair to say she was doing something right (even if the Catholics would, rightfully, disagree)! For her portrait sittings, she insisted on open lighting and no shadows and if she lived today, she would most definitely be using filters to soften her facial features and signs of aging. But did she paint her face clown white? It doesn't track, logically or historically.
It stands to reason that if many of the paintings of her were commissioned and required the approval of her critical eye, they would be a reasonable likeness and how she would like to be perceived. What woman would want to be remembered as an ugly clown? She is said to have used "the Mask of Youth", but what does that even mean? "The Mask of Youth" was a phrase coined in the 1970s (!) by an art historian to describe her political propaganda, part of which was making sure that any images of her depicted strength, subtle beauty, confidence, and stability. This is no different than any political propaganda of modern times. The POTUS does not like images of his doddering clumsiness, though thanks to the free press we still sort of have, he can't avoid it. I promise you that Trump would control his image much more like North Korean leaders have if he could! If you take a brief look at official photographs of Presidents' meetings with foreign leaders, the body posture, style of handshake, facial expression, seating arrangements are all orchestrated to portray a particular message. With Queen Elizabeth I, over time, "The Mask of Youth" became synonymous with her white face paint, which became exaggerated as well.
In fact, the Queen's favorite portrait is said to be the "Darnley portrait", which was painted when she was 42. She looks...40ish. She doesn't look like she's trying to look 20. She favored this portrait so much, it was approved as a pattern for authorized portraits of Elizabeth into the 1590s.
There was another portrait of her painted at the same time which is very famous and beautiful. It is called "The Phoenix" and her face is very fair, has facial features that are far more diffuse. Her clothing has remarkable detail. It is a stunning work, and it could have met the requirements for perceived, strength, ageless beauty, and stability. Yet, for reasons unknown, she favored the slightly more realistic one, the Darnley.
Was her face really as white as many of the paintings depict? "Recent conservation work has revealed that Elizabeth's now-iconic pale complexion in this particular portrait is the result of deterioration of red lake pigments, which has also altered the coloring of her dress." (https://www.rmg.co.uk)
So, no. Her make up likely did not kill her. She did not die of vanity. Autopsy was forbidden, but some proposed causes of death include pneumonia, streptococcus (infected tonsils), or cancer. "Close to the time of her death, Elizabeth’s coronation ring had grown into her flesh. This was due to the fact that she never had it removed during the 45 years of her reign. Her doctors insisted that the ring had to be removed, and within a week Elizabeth died." This screams of ACUTE infection, doesn't it? She was also very isolated and alone and said to have suffered from depression. Her father Henry VIII seems to have likely suffered from some mental illness stemming from any number of ailments or inherited conditions, an it isn't unlikely that Elizabeth's stubbornness and temper may have had some flair of unwellness. As she aged, this increased, as it does with most of us. "Elizabeth’s emotional and physical ailments escalated to the point that she took to standing in her bedchamber up for 15 hours without assistance before collapsing onto the floor which her ladies-in-waiting had covered with cushions. It is said that Elizabeth resisted lying down out of fear that she would never rise again. Elizabeth lay speechless on the floor for four days before her servants finally managed to settle her into bed." (https://www.rmg.co.uk)
Ultimately, Elizabeth's "vanity" and "mask of youth" was not likely the cause of her death, so much as it was the propaganda that any politician utilizes. Lead poisoning would have manifested itself in the Queen much earlier than her late 60s! And as I mentioned, "The Mask of Youth" phrase was coined in the 1970s by an art historian to describe her political propaganda. I don't know if the author of the phrase was down with feminism or not, but, what was going on in the 70's that might have caused the build up of a rumor about a great female leader being vain? Oh, Idanno, 2nd wave feminism, the sexual revolution, female empowerment, free love, reproductive rights, women in the work place, the fight for gender equality...some things that might have the modern day "Anthony Rivers" of the world manipulating the term "mask of youth" to "paint" one of the greatest rulers in England's history as a clown.
