Royal Fools

On April Fool's Day, everyone is on the look out for practical jokes and jests designed to catch others out.  But in medieval and Tudor times, royals paid someone to provide a constant supply of japes, tricks and laughs.  The court jester was a regular fixture at regal courts around Europe until the 18th century with the most famous being Will Somers, the joker at the palaces of Henry VIII.

Henry VIII liked a good laugh and paid a man to attend his court to make sure everyone smiled

The King's Jester was a semi official position with the funniest, wittiest and most daring comics taking on the challenge of poking fun at the great and the good for the amusement of their monarch while keeping on the right side of taste so as to avoid offending a lord or lady who could end up having a huge influence on the king and queen of the day.  While we think of them today as fools, their original role was as satirist and their humour was often sharp.  There was a uniform, usually a multi coloured coat or a brightly coloured tunic.  In the early days of their profession, jesters wore a hat with asses' ears which was replaced by a pointed hat with a bell on it in later years.  The jester fell out of favour in England as the reign of Charles I gave way to civil war and then the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell.  But on April Fool's Day it's worth remembering that for several centuries, the kings and queens of Europe paid to make their courts smile - and the jokes had to be good.