Jane Seymour - Marriage

Marriage

King Henry VIII was married to Jane at the Palace of Whitehall, Whitehall, London, in the Queen's closet by Archbishop Cranmer on 30 May 1536, just eleven days after Anne Boleyn's execution. As a wedding gift the King made her a grant of 104 manors in 4 countries as well as a number of forests and hunting chases, for her jointure, the income to support her during their marriage. She was publicly proclaimed as queen consort on 4 June. Jane’s well-publicized sympathy for the late Queen Catherine and the Lady Mary showed her to be compassionate, and made her a popular figure with the common people and most of the courtiers. She was never crowned, due to a plague in London where the coronation was to take place. Henry may have been reluctant to crown Jane before she had fulfilled her duty as a queen consort by bearing him a son and a male heir.

As queen, Jane Seymour was said to be strict and formal. Her motto was "Bound to obey and serve."

She was close to her female relations, Anne Stanhope (her brother's wife) and her sister, Elizabeth. Jane was also close to the Lady Lisle along with her sister-in-law the Lady Beauchamp. Jane considered Lisle's daughters as ladies-in-waiting and she left many of her possessions to Beauchamp. Jane would form a very close relationship with Mary Tudor. The lavish entertainments, gaiety, and extravagance of the Queen's household, which had reached its peak during the time of Anne Boleyn, was replaced by a strict enforcement of decorum. For example, she banned the French fashions that Anne Boleyn had introduced. Politically, Seymour appears to have been conservative. Her only reported involvement in national affairs, in 1536, was when she asked for pardons for participants in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Henry is said to have rejected this, reminding her of the fate her predecessor met with when she "meddled in his affairs".

Jane put forth much effort to restore Henry's first child, Princess Mary, to court and heir to the throne behind any children that Jane would have with Henry. Jane brought up the issue of Mary's restoration both before and after she became Queen. While Jane was unable to restore Mary to the line of succession, Jane was able to reconcile her with Henry. Eustace Chapuys wrote to Charles V of Jane's compassion and efforts on behalf of Mary's return to favour. A letter from Mary to Jane shows that Mary was grateful to Jane. While it was Jane who first pushed for the restoration, Mary and Elizabeth were not reinstated in the succession until Henry's sixth wife, Queen Catherine Parr, convinced him to do so.

In early 1537, Jane became pregnant. During her pregnancy, she developed a craving for quail, which Henry ordered for her from Calais and Flanders. During the summer, she took no public engagements and led a relatively quiet life, being attended by the royal physicians and the best midwives in the kingdom. She went into confinement in September 1537 and gave birth to the coveted male heir, the future King Edward VI of England at two o'clock in the morning on 12 October 1537 at Hampton Court Palace. .