The Royal Flush: Kings, Courtiers and the Surprising History of Ostomy Surgery

6 de noviembre de 2026

Illustrated king seated on a royal throne, for a history of kings and ostomy surgery | HIRO Ostomy Belts blog by O'Hamill Inc.

I once heard a story that some kings chose to have surgery so they would never have to wipe themselves, leaving the job to their servants. It is a great story. So I dug into the history to find out what really happened. The truth is a little different, but it is just as strange, and it connects royal bathrooms to the ostomy surgery that saved my life.

The King Who Had Servants for That: Henry VIII

English kings really did have a servant for the bathroom. The Groom of the Stool, formally the "Groom of the King's Close Stool," attended to the king's toilet needs. Historians still debate whether the groom actually did the wiping. What is documented is that he supplied the bowl, water and towels, kept track of the king's diet and bowel movements, and reported to the royal doctor.^[1]

It sounds like the worst job at court, but it was one of the most powerful. Being that close to the king meant trust and private access. Henry VIII's grooms, including William Compton, Henry Norris, Thomas Heneage and Anthony Denny, often acted as his private secretaries. Under Henry VII, Groom Hugh Denys became central to running the royal finances.^[1][2]

No surgery was involved, though. These kings had servants, not stomas.

The King Whose Surgery Became a Fashion: Louis XIV

The surgery part of the story most likely comes from France. In 1685, King Louis XIV developed a painful anal swelling that turned into an abscess and then a fistula. He was in severe pain and could not sit comfortably.^[3]

His surgeon, Charles-François Félix, practiced the operation on about 75 men before he operated on the king. The roughly three-hour procedure went smoothly and relieved the king's symptoms. Then something remarkable happened: for a while it became fashionable among courtiers to have the same operation, whether they needed it or not.^[3]

So kings did inspire people to have bottom surgery on purpose. It just was not to get out of wiping.

How the Real Ostomy Was Born

The idea of the ostomy came from France a few decades later. In 1710, Alexis Littré reported the autopsy of a newborn with a blocked bowel and proposed creating an opening in the abdomen so the intestine could work as a new exit. He never performed it himself, but the idea became the foundation of colostomy surgery.^[4]

1776: Pillore of Rouen made the first recorded attempt, on a wine merchant with a blocked bowel from cancer. The patient improved at first but died 28 days later.^[4]
1839: Jean-Zuléma Amussat in Paris performed the first successful lumbar colostomy.^[4]
1952: Dr. Bryan Brooke introduced the "budded" stoma.^[5]
1954: Nurse Elise Sorensen in Denmark conceived an adhesive ostomy pouch after her sister's colectomy. That idea led to the first adhesive ostomy bags and the company Coloplast.^[5]
1958: Dr. Rupert Turnbull at the Cleveland Clinic hired Norma Gill as the world's first enterostomal therapist. Gill was an ostomate herself: Turnbull had performed her ileostomy in 1955 after she developed severe ulcerative colitis.^[5][6]
1991: Surgeons reported the first laparoscopically assisted colectomy, removing part of the colon through small keyhole incisions.^[7]

My Surgery: No Stem-to-Stern Scar

When I had my ostomy surgery in 2008, laparoscopic bowel surgery was still relatively new. The first laparoscopic colectomy had been reported less than two decades earlier.^[7]

My surgeon was Dr. Peter Marcello of the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts, one of the pioneers of laparoscopic colorectal surgery. He did not just perform these operations; he taught other surgeons how to do them through hands-on laparoscopic colorectal courses.^[8]

Instead of the long, stem-to-stern incision that was the norm, I came out with a few small scars. Early on, some people did not believe I had had major surgery at all. They expected to see the big scar, and it simply was not there.

Within a year of my surgery I designed my first ostomy belt, because I wanted to surf, train and live like before.

Facing Surgery? Ask Questions

If you or someone you love may be heading toward ostomy or bowel surgery, take the time to learn your options and speak up for yourself. A few questions worth bringing to your appointments:

Is a minimally invasive (laparoscopic) approach an option for me? If not, ask why.
How much experience do you have with this operation?
Can my stoma site be marked before surgery? The Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society and the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons call preoperative stoma site marking best practice, linking it to higher quality of life and fewer ostomy-related complications.^[9]
Would a second opinion help?

I am not a doctor, and every case is different. Your surgeon and care team are the right people to help you decide. If you want to talk to someone who has been there, our ostomy resources page lists support groups, nurses and organizations, and you can always reach out to me.

From Royal Courts to Everyday Heroes

Kings once had servants to manage their most private business. Today, an estimated 725,000 to 1 million people in the U.S. live with an ostomy,^[10] thanks to centuries of surgeons, nurses and inventors who refused to accept that a blocked bowel had to be a death sentence.

That is what HIRO ostomy support belts are about: you do not need a royal servant. You need the right support.

Aloha,
Richard O'Hamill