5th February 2016
Interesting work from neurologists at Yale suggests that Henry VIII may have suffered brain damage similar to that which affects NFL players – and from a similar cause. American football players suffer from a lot of blows to the head while playing the sport, and Henry VIII suffered several jousting injuries. The most famous was when he was knocked unconscious in January 1536.
Of course, this isn't a new theory, and although impotence can be a side effect it doesn't account for Henry's difficulty in getting a male heir before and after his accidents. But another possible theory – of a Kell positive blood type with associated McLeod syndrome (see Blood Will Tell: A Medical Explanation of the Tyranny of Henry VIII by Kyra Cornelius Kramer) accounts for the miscarriages and stillbirths as well as the mental troubles.
http://news.yale.edu/2016/02/02/did-henry-viii-suffer-same-brain-injury-some-nfl-players
Image: Detail of portrait of Henry VIII from the workshop of Hans Holbein the Younger. (Google Art Project)