Raising royal bodies

Throughout early modern Europe, the royal body was elevated and sacralized. While the reclusive hidden monarchy of Philip II of Spain was intended to mystify the king’s person, the idealized and ever-youthful visual image of Elizabeth I of England was meant to immortalize her increasingly fragile frame. ¹ In turn, the conspicuous display of Louis XIV’s levers and couchers served to regulate and ritualize the bodily functions of the French sovereign. ² At its most elemental, the royal body was the physical site of monarchical power, a living, breathing centre from which divinely appointed authority originated. Through representations of the princely figure, the body became a stage on which the sanctification of kingship was repeatedly performed. The treatment of the royal body not only reflected sovereignty but also sustained it.