Is this the true story behind “Beauty and the Beast”?

It was the year 1537 when Petrus Gonzalvus was born in Tenerife, Spain. He had a congenital disease that is rare but still exists today: hypertrichosis universalis congenita, also called Ambras syndrome. This causes excessive hair growth all over the body, particularly on the face, ears, shoulders, and nose. To date, fewer than 50 cases have been documented worldwide.

Superstitious people of the time believed that the boy was a kind of werewolf. Consequently, he was kidnapped and taken to the court of King Henry II of France, as a gift for his royal wedding to Catherine de Medici — a "freak" to entertain his courtiers.

The king soon realized that the child was not a wild beast. He named him Petrus (Peter) Gonsalvus (Gonzalez) and decided to educate him. In time, he learned the classical humanities, all the rules of court etiquette, and three languages. Among them was Latin, a language considered the highest expression of culture and reserved for aristocrats. Knowing how to speak it perfectly was synonymous with social prestige.

At the age of 20, Peter became a waiter at the royal table, a position reserved for the highest-ranking nobles, and the king bestowed upon him the honorific title of “Don,” since Peter was descended from the king of the tribe of the Guanches, a native people of Tenerife.

In 1573, when Peter was 36 years old, Queen Catherine decided to have him marry the most beautiful of her ladies-in-waiting, also named Catherine. This choice was not accidental; some say that she did it out of malice, and others simply out of scientific curiosity, to see what would emerge from this contrasting union.

The story goes that when Peter was presented to the beautiful damsel as her future husband, she fainted in front of him. Peter was a truly noble man, however. The union led to an unexpectedly happy story, as Peter’s sensitivity, gentleness, and culture ended up winning Catherine’s heart.

The couple had a long married life and had six children: Francoise, Perre, Henry, Charlotte, Orazio, and Ercole. Four of their children inherited his hypertrichosis. 

In 1582, Peter obtained a doctorate in Canon Law and later became a professor of this discipline at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

His family was the subject of medical research by – among others – Ulisse Aldrovandi. This passionate 16th-century naturalist published some depictions of the family in one of his small books entitled De Monstris, where the Latin term “monstrum” did not have the negative meaning the word “monster” has today. It referred to something out of the ordinary, astonishing, or exceptional.

Gonzalez later settled with his family in Italy, where he died in 1618, at the age of 81.

The unusual love story of this couple is widely said to be the inspiration behind the famous fairytale, La Belle et la Bête, or Beauty and the Beast, by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in Paris in 1740. The fanciful fairytale has little in common with this true story, but still highlights values such as charity and exalts inner beauty as opposed to external appearances.

The story has been re-written many times over the centuries and was adapted for the big and small screen several times. However, it became even more popular thanks to the Disney film adaptations, which take further liberties with the story.

Pedro Gonzalez is considered one of the best known European figures of his time. Details of his life can be found, among other sources, in the Vatican Archives and in the archives of Rome and Naples. Modern historians have also contributed to the literature about this unlikely couple.

In the castle of Ambras, in Austria, a series of four paintings by an unknown artist depicting Petrus Gonsalvus with many of his sons is kept in the Chamber of Arts and Curiosities.