In 1628 as the guest of a lavish banquet thrown by the Duke of Buckingham, a large raised pie was set before the newly married Queen Henrietta Maria. Before she could cut into it however, the crust began to rise of its own accord and out of the pie emerged a tiny man - perfectly proportioned, but only eighteen inches tall.
This is the story of Jeffrey Hudson, The Queen's Dwarf - one of the most remarkable characters of the seventeenth century. While he may have stood at only eighteen inches tall, his story is certainly larger than life. It is a story of splendour and riches; of piracy and slavery; of war, treachery, intrigue and death. Above all, it is the true story of a man who lost every comfort he had, but retained his dignity, humanity and hope.
As a boy at court, he was celebrated by some of the finest artists of his day; he fell out of windows; jumped out of pies; hid in the pockets of giants; and was even blown into a bush by a particularly strong gust of wind. As he grew older, his adventures grew even more bizarre. He was captured by pirates (twice), killed an opponent in a duel, served as a slave in North Africa, and was falsely imprisoned for treason and released just shortly before his death.
