Sexton, a gift from Wolsey

Henry's previous fool Sexton, known by the nickname Patch (meaning 'fool'), was also considered a 'natural' who needed help and support in his life. When Cardinal Thomas Wolsey gave Hampton Court Palace, now in Greater London, to Henry VIII, he also 'gave' him Sexton. Allegations of treason were being made against Wolsey, the Lord Chancellor, and he was desperately trying to win back Henry's favour.

Sexton's life at court

We know that it took six tall yeomen to transport the clearly distressed Sexton to the court. A succession of 'keepers' or carers were paid to look after him and given money for his needs - his food, laundry, shoes and 'posset ale'. He didn't even have to buy his own clothes.

However, as with the other 'natural fools' in Henry's court, Sexton did not wear the harlequin's motley and cap with bells familiar to us from images of court jesters at the time. He wore high quality cloth and silk doublets and coats, the clothes of a favoured retainer (servant).

Jane the Fool

Another prominent 'natural fool' of the 16th century was 'Jane the Fool'. She seems to have been employed as the 'woman fool' by Anne Boleyn, Henry's second queen; by Princess Mary, his daughter, and from 1544 by Katherine Parr, his sixth and last queen.

Court records show that Jane was richly clothed at the court's expense, and that there were eight payments of four pence a time for 'shaving of Jane [the] fool's head'.