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Jane Seymour Filmography
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Jane Seymour: Biography
Jane was the daughter of Sir John Seymour of Wiltshire and Margaret Wentworth.
Her birth date is problematic, it is usually given as 1509; however, in her book
The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Alison Weir noted that at her funeral 29 women walked in succession, an odd number until it is revealed that it was customary for the attendant company to mark every year of the deceased's life in numbers - therefore, Weir moved her birth back by about eighteen months.
After serving as a lady-in-waiting to both Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, Henry's first two queens, Jane caught the king's eye. His desire to marry her made him eager to believe the false accusations of adultery against Anne. He married Jane on May 30, 1536 only a few days after Anne's execution and she quickly became pregnant.
As Queen, Jane was strict and formal. She was close only to her female relations, Anne Stanhope (her brother's wife) and her sister, Elizabeth Seymour. The glittering social life and extravagance of the Queen's Household, which had been masterminded by Anne Boleyn was replaced by a strict, almost oppressive, atmosphere in Jane's time. Desperate to appear like a queen Jane became obsessed with tiny details such as how many pearls were sewn into each lady's skirt and she banned the elegant French fashions introduced by Anne Boleyn. Politically, Jane was a conservative, but her only intervention into the realm of government in 1536 ended when the king brutally told her to remember the last queen, who had lost her head because she meddled in politics.
During her pregnancy, Jane developed a craving for quails and the King ordered them from Calais and Flanders for her. She grew incredibly fat and her dresses had to be unlaced as much as was possible. Jane went into seclusion in September 1537, and gave birth to a male heir in October. However, she contracted puerperal fever and died on October 24 1537, at Hampton Court Palace, shortly after giving birth to the future King Edward VI of England on October 12, 1537. She was buried at Windsor Castle; upon her tombstone there was for a time the following inscription:
:
Here lieth a Phoenix, by whose death:
Another Phoenix life gave breath::
It is to be lamented much:
The world at once ne'er knew too such.
Jane's two ambitious brothers, Thomas and Edward, used her memory to improve their own fortunes. After Henry's death, Thomas married Henry's widow, Catherine Parr and even had designs on the future Elizabeth I. In the reign of the young King Edward VI, Edward Seymour set himself up as protector and effective ruler of the Kingdom. Both brothers eventually fell from power and were disgraced and executed.
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