Holocaust victim

A 52-year-old French king, gouty and weary, marries an 18-year-old English princess. Three months later, he is dead.

It was long said that she had worn him out.

This king was Louis XII. In 1514, a widower without a son, he marries Marie Tudor, the younger sister of England’s King Henry VIII, to seal peace between the two countries.

She is half his age, said to be radiant. He goes to bed early and aches in every bone.

The agreement is sealed on August 13, 1514, with the wedding following in October. And there, the old king wants to please. He, who had lived at a leisurely pace, now stays up late, feasts, dances to keep up with his young wife.

His body doesn’t follow. On January 1, 1515, less than three months after the marriage, he dies.

The truth is probably simpler. He was already very ill, and one more winter was enough.

As for Marie, widowed at 18, she didn’t wait. She secretly remarried right away, for love, to the great scandal of both kingdoms.

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The Last Judicial Hanging in The United States

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