How likely do you think it is that Will had a learning disability? Let me know below and check out my PATREON site for extra perks at

To me this guy was no fool to survive that long in the Tudor court and still have his head😊

It seems to me that to possibly have been learning disabled, Will was a smart man. To have survived at least three of the Tudor monarchs, and maybe four, is a testament to his ability to fly under the radar.

It's striking how he was not just at court but was included in family portraits. A person who is differently abled might be called "simple and innocent" and still be clever, funny, kind, attentive -- that is, good company. Narcolepsy, which was suggested, can be accompanied by confusion which could be entertaining and also result in saying things you otherwise wouldn't. He had a memorable life. Thanks for introducing him to us!

It’s interesting, really, how much changing concepts of neurodivergence/learning disabilities may have affected the legacy of this man. It’s fully possible for someone to have noticeable learning difficulties and struggle with the kinds of social cues and norms that would stop someone of this time angering Henry like that, whilst still being witty and clever and very good company. I’ve known many autistic people who are very quick-witted and intelligent, but lack social understanding which can make them appear “simpler” than they are - I myself have ADHD which presents very similarly, and while I’m very capable of some things I can definitely come across as naïve and dumb sometimes, and accidentally saying something socially unacceptable is a pretty major hallmark of most neurodivergent people, it was unfortunately far more dire in his situation. There’s still a lot of stigma and misunderstanding around basically all kinds of mental disorders, which absolutely will not help trying to review someone who lived so long ago. Thank you for this video, greatly enjoyed learning more about this man!

I was born with no hands (my left arm is half an arm, my right goes to my wrist) and a speech impediment. All my life I've been treated rather decently. Of course, I do come across rude people, or people who treat me like a child, not as an adult. In school, I was hardly bullied. People are surprised I was not bullied a lot. I always ask them "Would you bully a black belt martial arts student wearing a metal hook?" It is at that point they stop wondering. lol :)

You have no idea how excited I got at this notification. There's so little information about him that i have to be intrigued. He was there for everything!

He might have been simple but was smart enough to keep his head when so many around him lost there`s

Will Sommer wasn't the fool, Henry was.

It seems Will was autistic. He was obviously well loved by all. Think about what we now know about learning difficulties and what they knew about learning difficulties back then.

As someone who is engaged to an autistic person, the outburst recorded by Chapuys sounds very similar to some previous outbursts my partner has had.

He reminds me of my next door neighbor. He's differently abled and unable to live alone or do certain tasks without help because he doesn't understand, but he's so incredibly kind and funny. He comes every day to snuggle my dog for at least an hour, and he's very much like a big brother to me.

Our beautiful daughter born in 1978 was autistic and had epilepsy, and no speech Her IQ was way high, . She loved sitting in the large bay window in our front room, which had a small garden and faced a very busy road. She loved watching the cars going by and many people passing would stop and waved to her. he kids from a nearby secondary school, before and after going to school used to collect outside our house, sometimes 40 of them making monkey noises and ridiculing her. She was heartbroken. The police station was just a few yards from our house and the police cars used to drive past and do nothing. In the end my husband involved the local paper and something was done. Little changes does it?. The shock of her passing away suddenly in 2010 put us in a dark place for many years. Now we think back to how she suffered at those teenagers hands and console ourselves that she is safe from them

As someone who is also disabled, I would like to thank you for talking about this (and using the correct terminology).

As someone with multiple conditions/disabilities, I’m always interested in how people of the past who fell outside of “normal” lived. I have actually never heard of Will before this, so my judgment is purely based on your video. I think he was either an amazing actor or possibly fell on the autism spectrum. He must have been smart to have survived in the court for as long as he did! And he certainly had to have been charming to be so beloved that he made it into the family portraits.

It appears to me that he was loved by the Tudors, he was very familiar around them, like he was the family pet!

In a way it’s almost sweet that these jesters were regularly included in family portraits. It shows how close they were to their employers (although being close to Henry VIII was itself a curse) and while obviously many of them were treated horribly, it seems like as a disabled person in those days there was really no better position. Free room, board, food and fine clothes was certainly more than most commoners could ever obtain by themselves

The handkerchiefs bought for Sommers may well have been part of his 'act'.

It's impressive to have survived so many monarch- so many other people who were very intelligent/very close/ very powerful fell in and out of favour, whoever he was I feel like he must have had some captivating quality for Henry (a notoriously capricious monarch) to keep him close by for so long

Supposedly there was a record of will telling Henry after the death of Jane how everyone you love leaves you referring back to his mother dying in child bed fever. Henry was more tolerant of will than many others “above” him and he was used to pass messages between courtiers and the king when delivering “bad news” I’m so grateful for the covering of him for what a feat it was for anyone to survive the Bear pit that was the tudor court let alone 4 tudor monarchs