Golden Diana: the main woman in the life of Henry II, who killed herself in an attempt to preserve her beauty (6 photos)

Diane de Poitiers (1499-1566) - the recognized beauty of her time and favorite of the French king Henry II, who managed to seize attention, soul and body of the ruler for a long 20 years, until his death from life.





How did she manage to do this, given that they were separated 20 year age difference? And Diana was older. The king showered his beloved with gifts, built specially for her several palaces. Even being excommunicated from the court after the death of Henry his legal wife Catherine de Medici, until the last years of her life she retained a look that many young courtiers would envy charms.



According to the surviving evidence, the woman carefully guarded face from the sun - wore a mask, limited myself to food, a lot of time devoted to horseback riding. Of course, did not ignore the achievements cosmetology of the time. But, as it turned out, her attempts to save elusive beauty, bordering on obsession, acquired a strange form.

Golden Drink Diane de Poitiers



In 2009, French scientists decided to shed light on the mystery the beauty of Diana. And they examined a strand of the woman's hair. The analysis gave unexpected results. It is well known that the human body contains precious metals - gold, platinum, silver. But in microdoses. Yes, in blood of an average person whose body weight is 70 kg, contains approximately 0.2 mg of gold. That is, a grain of sand barely visible to the eye in objectified expression.

And the study of Diana's curl showed that in her body the dose of gold content exceeded the standard. Not at 2, 3 or even 5, but at 250 once! This can be partly explained by the popularity of the precious metal among know. Aristocrats ate from golden dishes, wore clothes made of fabrics with gold embroidery, jewelry. And used cosmetics with by adding crushed metal and gemstone powder.



But in the archives there are records of recipes for Parisian alchemists who developed a "golden drink" especially for Diana. The so-called elixir of beauty and youth included gold foil, lemon juice, wine and a few other natural ingredients. All this driven through the cube, resulting in slow-motion poison actions. Which the favorite took not a couple of times a month, like others charms of the Middle Ages, but several times a day.



Portraits of the "golden woman" captured porcelain whiteness skin, which can be explained by banal anemia caused by a decrease the level of red blood cells against the background of the constant use of "drink beauty."

What is striking, against the backdrop of daily voluntary poisoning herself with poison, a woman managed not only to preserve her beauty (testimonies are embodied in manuscripts, and singing the praises of a retired the favorite out of a desire to flatter it no longer made sense), but also to live up to record for that time 67 years. When the average life expectancy women from high society slightly exceeded 33 years.



Apparently, Diana still knew some other secret, which so far remains a mystery to modern science.