Pop History Moment: The Death of Queen Jane Seymour

Of all his six wives only the third - Jane Seymour - earned the sobriquet 'my only true Wife' from Henry VIII; her death is said to have left the King in mourning for the rest of his life...

Having served as lady-in-waiting to his previous two wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, she was betrothed to the King in May 1536, the day after Anne Boleyn was beheaded. They were married ten days later.

Proclaimed Queen on June 4th (but never formally crowned due an outbreak of the plague), she found herself pregnant early in 1537. In October 1537 she gave birth to a Prince, named Edward (later Edward VI) at Hampton Court Palace; three days later she participated in her son's christening, although ill. She died on this day in 1537 of complications related to puerperal fever.

Because she was female, the date of her birth was not recorded; it is thought, however, that she was 29 at the time of her death. She was buried at Windsor Castle, with her stepdaughter Princess Mary acting as chief mourner.
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