Who, and when, was the last Royal British Court Jester?

Tabby Tom

John Southworth's book 'Fools and Jesters at the English Court' regards the dwarf Jeffery Hudson as the last jester. Born in 1619, Hudson was taken into the household of the Duke of Buckingham as a boy and later presented to Charles I's queen Henrietta-Maria, probably in the late 1620s. He remained at Charles I's court till the outbreak of the Civil War. He accompanied the queen into exile in France but was banished from court for duelling in 1644. After a period in slavery in Turkey, he returned to England somehow, but little is known of his life till 1679, when he was imprisoned on suspicion of involvement in Roman Catholic plots. He died in 1682. In Pepys's diary for February 13, 1668, Pepys says 'Mr Brisband ... tells me ... that Tom Killigrew hath a fee out of the Wardrobe for cap and bells, under the title of the King's Fool or Jester, and may with privilege jeer or revile anybody ... without offence, by the privilege of his place.' Southworth thinks that this 'appointment' was probably a joke. Killigrew, like others of Charles II's courtiers, had a sharp wit and insulted people freely, but he can't be regarded as an official jester. Nov 25 02, 12:52 PM