Death of King Edward VI
Henry VIII’s only legitimate son to survive infancy, Edward VI, became king on 28th January 1547 – at only nine years old.
His reign would be short, he died when he was just 15.
Edward’s mother was Henry’s third wife Jane Seymour, who died a few days after Edward’s birth.
Amidst all the celebrations when Edward VI was born, no-one could have envisioned that he would be the last royal Tudor baby.
Even though Henry VIII and his three children remained on the throne of England for a further 65 years, there were no more Tudor babies.
Throughout England there was great rejoicing that this young prince – and hopefully his offspring – would ensure the future of the Tudor dynasty.
Edward died at the age of 15 without marrying, and
both of his two half sisters would die childless.
Mary twice believed she was pregnant, but she was mistaken, and Elizabeth chose not to marry.
As heir to the throne, Edward was highly educated. His education included Latin and Greek, and training in how to think and write clearly.
It is said he was especially adept at philosophy, theology, and enjoyed the sciences.
Both of Edward’s sisters Mary and Elizabeth, doted on their younger brother.
Edward wrote to Mary in 1546 that he “loved her most,” and Elizabeth gifted him a shirt she had made herself.
Henry VIII demanded his son’s household be strictly secure and cleaned, as little Edward was
“this whole realm’s most precious jewel.”
In 1543 Edward was betrothed to Mary, the young Queen of Scotland.
Edward was nearly six-years old and Mary was seven-months old.
Henry VIII wanted to bring Scotland under English control and stop the age-old enmity between the two countries.
However, although the lords in Scotland initially agreed to the match of the young couple, within six months they had changed their minds.
The agreement was annulled and Mary was later betrothed and married to Francis II of France.
By the age of 14, Edward was being encouraged to take an interest in government, and attend occasional privy council meetings.
He examined council documents, sometimes adding his own comments, and he began to write papers, agenda and memoranda of matters for the council to consider.
Edward became king at the age of nine ,after the death of his father Henry VIII, in 1547.
Edward was to be crowned with St Edward’s crown and the Imperial crown, but they were both too large and heavy, so a smaller lighter crown was made to fit him.
He was first crowned with the heavy crowns and then finally with the new crown, which he continued to wear for the rest of the ceremony.
The coronation service was shortened, to take into account that Edward was only nine years old, and too young to fully understand a long drawn out ceremony.
When Edward was ceremonially dressed in his coronation gown, sandals and spurs, they were immediately removed for fear that he might trip over them.
Edward kept a diary of events, unique in the fact, that it is written by a child king.
The diary, which may have been started as an educational exercise, includes a resumé of his life, to the beginning of 1550 and then for the next three years, until shortly after his fifteenth birthday.
He recorded political and ceremonial events of the time, but some entries give a hint of Edward’s own personal interests too.
In April 1552 he recorded that he had fallen sick with measles and smallpox.
Two men, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, and his brother Thomas, Lord Seymour, were Edward’s uncles – and the relatives that were most closely involved in the young king’s life.
Despite their kinship to Edward they both failed to develop a close relationship with him.
Somerset and Seymour had powerful enemies among the privy councillors who influenced the king against his uncles, and brought about their downfall.
Although he did not make the decision to exEcute both men, Edward had sufficient authority to stop the exEcutions if he had chosen to do so.
As such, Edward VI allowed two of his uncles to be condemned to death.
In 1551 Edward was again betrothed.
This time the betrothal was to Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry II of France.
This betrothal came to nothing, with Edward’s untimely death.
At the Palace of Placentia, on the 6th July 1553, Edward whispered his last prayer, and died at the age of 15.
His last words were
“I am faint; Lord have mercy upon me,
and take my spirit.”
Edwards death is attributed to tuberculosis, a diagnosis accepted by many historians.
It is believed that Edward contracted tuberculosis after a bout of measles and smallpox in 1552, which suppressed his natural immunity to the disease.
A surgeon opened Edward’s chest after his death, and decreed the king had died of a lung disease.
The lungs had two great ulcers which were putrefied.
King Edward was buried in Henry VII’s Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey, on 8th August 1553.
The burial service from the English Prayer Book was used for the first time at the funeral of a monarch.
His grave remained unmarked until a stone was inserted in front of the present altar.
Just before Edward died, John Dudley persuaded the dying king that Jane Grey, his Daughter in Law, and a Protestant, should be chosen as the royal successor.
Jane was chosen over Edward’s half-sister Mary, a staunch Catholic.
Lady Jane Grey would be known as the nine days Queen….