By 1540 the king was getting older. But his decline from the statuesque solidity of Holbein's full-length portrait to the bloated, piggy-eyed king depicted in Cornelis Matsys's 1544 engraving was gradual. The year 1536 has been seen as a watershed and in January of that year Henry had a near fatal jousting accident that left him unconscious for two hours. Whether or not this led to a sea-change in his character, as some have argued, it certainly marked the end of his jousting days and the end of regular vigorous exercise, probably accelerating his advance towards obesity. But against this backdrop of advancing age, life at court continued much as ever, remaining magnificent to the end. The king's jousting days may have been over but hunting and hawking continued, as did splendid receptions, banquets and munificent diplomatic gifts. Hall's description of Henry's first meeting with Anne of Cleves at Blackheath in 1539 shows that although less dashing than before, he was still able, with the help of his goldsmiths, to cut an impressively magnificent figure, not much removed from the older and heavier monarch depicted in an anonymous portrait in the National Portrait Gallery (fig. 14.1):

No less marked than his changing appearance, however, were the changes in his behaviour, most notably his increasing tendencies towards excess, unpredictability, cruelty and avarice. Charles de Marillac, the French ambassador, captured two of these, writing in March 1541 that he is ‘marvellously excessive in drinking and eating’ and a year earlier that ‘this prince […] is so covetous that all the riches in the world will not satisfy him’.