Phimosis: Rumor has it that King Louis XVI, of France (1754-1793), had phimosis. This is an abnormally tight foreskin. It does not usually happen due to disease or accident. One can be born with phimosis. Some historians mistakenly say that the king was circumcised to relieve the situation, and immediately after that, circumcision became popular in France, but that seems not to be the case. It is true that his marriage was childless for the first seven years, but then he and his wife Queen Marie Antoinette, had four children. Reports from people close to the couple indicate that they were simply not very sexually active. What with ruling all of France, perhaps they had other things on their minds. Then too, phimosis can make ordinary intercourse painful, and so perhaps the king’s natural inclination to fuck was trumped by the fact that fucking would hurt him.
Evidently the king’s doctors were consulted, and said that the dangers of circumcision outweighed any advantage. The operation would be painful in the days before anesthesia, the king would be indisposed for weeks, and if anything went wrong, such as an infection, they would have no good way to cure it.
King Louis died at the age of 38, not from an infection or anything like that, but due to beheading in the guillotine.
Phimosis can be so tight that the foreskin forms a point in front of the glans. The foreskin cannot be retracted, and trying to do so can hurt. The man with this condition runs an additional risk of infection around the always-covered top of the penis.
Occasionally a man with moderate phimosis suffers something worse: Before the penis is fully erect, the foreskin can be retracted. Then, when hard, the foreskin will not roll back into position. This forms a tight band behind the glans, which keeps the blood from flowing back out, and the man ends up with a condition in which the glans is being chocked off. These men can usually manage to get the foreskin back in position, but it can become a medical emergency.
See also: My Mother Fixed A Problem With My Penis.
