Anthony van Dyke. Queen Henrietta Maria with Sir Jeffrey Hudson. 1633. Oil on canvas.
A famous painting by Sir Anthony van Dyke portrays Charles I's consort, Queen Henrietta Maria, and her fourteen year-old pet dwarf, Sir Jeffrey Hudson. Hudson was given as a present to Henrietta Maria by the Duke of Buckingham during a royal dinner at the Duke's country estate, where the dwarf emerged from a baked pie. Though Hudson was only a foot and a half tall, he was every inch the courtier and Henrietta Maria's trusted confidant. Hudson remained in her service until he killed a man in a duel, fought on horseback with pistols; he was imprisoned, but released upon the queen's intercession, although banished to Paris. Soon after Hudson was captured by Barbary pirates, and spent 25 years as a slave in North Africa.
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