The New Murrey and Blue blog

Seeing family likenesses is always irresistible, and few can deny that Henry VII and his mother are practically identical…well, except that as far as I know he wasn’t inclined to dress up to resemble a nun! From this I conclude that Beaufort blood is the key. Just how much Beaufort blood is arguable, of course. Maybe 50%, maybe 100%. But that’s another story.

So, next we come to Henry VII’s son and heir, the awful Henry VIII. OK, I defy anyone not to agree that in his youth he was the image of his father!

The likeness of Edward VI below was the prompt for this present article. It’s from this article and as soon as I saw it I was drawn to the eyes, which have a very similar lop-sided look to that of Henry VII (his grandfather) and Margaret Beaufort (his great-grandmother). The rest of his face is not Beaufort particularly, but to me the eyes definitely are.

Next I come to Mary Tudor, the elder of Edward’s two sisters. Yup, there again I see the Beaufort eyes, if nothing else.

And finally, Elizabeth. Oh, yes! In her case the whole Beaufort face emerges again.

It seems The Look was inescapable for our Tudor monarchs! If you go to this gallery you’ll find a host of fascinating images, including other royal figures from Britain’s past.