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Claire | October 12, 2014
At two o’clock in the morning on Friday 12th October 1537, St Edward’s Day, Jane Seymour finally gave birth to the future King Edward VI after a long and tiring 30 hour labour. Henry VIII had a legitimate son and heir at long last! Church bells around London pealed in celebration, parish churches around the […]
Claire | July 6, 2014
At sometime between 8pm and 9pm on 6th July 1553 fifteen year-old King Edward VI, the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, died at Greenwich Palace. He died in the arms of Sir Henry Sidney, one of the Chief Gentleman of his Privy Chamber, and his last words were “I am faint; Lord have […]
Claire | June 21, 2014
On 21st June 1553, letters patent were issued changing Edward VI’s heir from his half-sister Mary to Lady Jane Grey, the eldest daughter of Edward’s cousin Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk. The following is taken from The chronicle of Queen Jane, and of two years of Queen Mary, and especially of the rebellion of Sir […]
Claire | February 20, 2014
Following her birth on 18th February 1516, the future Mary I, was baptised on 20th February in the Church of the Observant Friars at Greenwich. The little princess was carried to the font by the Countess of Surrey and her godparents were Catherine Courtenay, Countess of Devon and daughter of Edward IV; Margaret Pole, Countess […]
Claire | December 30, 2013
On 30th December 1546, Henry VIII signed his last will and testament, authorising changes he’d instructed William Paget to make on his behalf on 26th December 1546. These changes were made to ensure successful transfer of royal authority to his son, the future Edward VI, and to prepare for Edward reigning during his minority. The […]
Claire | August 8, 2013
On this day in 1553, King Edward VI was buried in a white marble vault beneath the altar of Henry VII’s Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey. Merchant-taylor Henry Machyn recorded the funeral procession in his diary: “The viij day of August was bered the nobull kyng Edward the vj, and vij yere of ys rayne; […]
Claire | July 6, 2013
On the evening of 6th July 1553, King Edward VI, son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, died at Greenwich Palace following a few months of illness. Chronicler Raphael Holinshed recorded his final prayer: “LORD God, deliver me out of this miserable and wretched life, take me among thy chosen: howbeit not my will, but […]
Claire | March 20, 2013
On this day in 1549 Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron of Sudeley, Lord High Admiral and the fourth husband of the late Dowager Queen Catherine Parr, was executed on Tower Hill. He had been found guilty of thirty-three counts of treason following his arrest at Hampton Court Palace when he had allegedly broken into his nephew […]
