Today, 23rd February back in 1623, was when the diarist Samuel Pepys was born. Each year (once he was old enough to speak and form sentences, I expect 
) he would give thanks for his continued good health and fortune.
These thanks would be along the lines of, “This is now 28 years that I am born and blessed be God. In a state of full contentment, and a great hope to be a happy man in all respects.”
However, things changed a little on his 46th birthday as he took his family to Westminster Abbey for a bizarre treat. The skeleton of Henry V’s wife Catherine de Valois, who had died over 200 years earlier, was on display and it seems that Mr Pepys gave her a hug! As he wrote in his diary for that day, “I had the upper part of her body in my hands and I did kiss her mouth, reflecting upon it that I did kiss a Queen and that this was my birthday…”
Shudder….
) he would give thanks for his continued good health and fortune.These thanks would be along the lines of, “This is now 28 years that I am born and blessed be God. In a state of full contentment, and a great hope to be a happy man in all respects.”
However, things changed a little on his 46th birthday as he took his family to Westminster Abbey for a bizarre treat. The skeleton of Henry V’s wife Catherine de Valois, who had died over 200 years earlier, was on display and it seems that Mr Pepys gave her a hug! As he wrote in his diary for that day, “I had the upper part of her body in my hands and I did kiss her mouth, reflecting upon it that I did kiss a Queen and that this was my birthday…”
Shudder….
Yuck