The well-known tale of Beauty and the Beast, popularised by Disney in 1991, has potential roots in a real story from the 16th century, linked to Canary Islands.
The protagonist was Pedro González, known in Europe as Petrus Gonsalvus, born in Tenerife in 1537 and affected by congenital hypertrichosis, a rare condition that causes excessive hair growth all over the body.
As a child, he was kidnapped by corsairs and taken to Brussels to be presented to Emperor Charles V, although he eventually ended up at the court of Henry II of France as an exotic curiosity.
The monarch decided to educate him as a nobleman, allowing him to learn languages, court protocol and customs. Over time, he adopted the Latinised name Petrus Gonsalvus.
In France, he married Catherine Rafelin, a union initially arranged by the court but over the years became a stable marriage. They had six children, four of whom inherited the same condition.
The Tenerifean who inspired the tale of ‘Beauty and the Beast’
Portraits of the family can be found in the Ambras Castle in Austria, and have been interpreted as possible visual references for the literary development of the Beauty and the Beast myth.
The French author Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve published the first version of La Belle et la Bête in 1740, which was later simplified and popularised by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756.
The connection to the case of Pedro González, also known as the “wild gentleman of Tenerife”, is supported by these portraits and the notoriety he achieved in Renaissance Europe.
Journalist Enrique Carrasco explored this biography in his essay Petrus Gonsalvus, My Life Among Wolves (2006), detailing how the islander was protected in courts and exhibited as a curiosity in an era rich with “cabinets of wonders”.
The story of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, known throughout Europe
The interest in this connection between the story and Tenerife has been rekindled thanks to social media influencers, such as content creator Eyle Sanz Romero (@eylesanz_), who has reminded audiences on TikTok how Gonsalvus’s story spread across Europe and may have served as inspiration for the French fable.
The real story coexists today with numerous literary and cinematic adaptations of Beauty and the Beast, including the famous 1991 Disney animated film — the first animated feature nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture — and the 2017 version starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, based on Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s adaptation.
