Royal of the month: Jane Posted on 21 Jul 00:00
Continuing on with our Royal theme, this month I will be looking at one of our most famous Queens, Jane. There have been many Queen Janes spanning hundreds of centuries in England, however in this blog post, I will be discussing the somewhat tragic life of Queen Jane Seymour.
Royal of the Month: Jane
Jane Seymour was born in 1508 in Wiltshire, she was also the descendent of King Edward III, which made Henry VIII and her fifth cousins.
As we all know, Jane Seymour was the wife of Henry VIII, the third in fact. Henry VIII had six wives - Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleeves, Kathryn Howard and Katherine Parr.
Whilst Henry was still married to Anne Boleyn, Jane had caught his eye in February 1536 (at this point, he had been married to Anne for 3 years). His love for Jane continued to grew, whilst the fate of Anne had not yet been sealed. This must have been awkward for both Anne and Jane - both trying to win Henry's heart - the two women shared the same great-grandmother, making them half-second cousins. Research tells us that Jane had a very calm and gentle demeanour - submissive to Henry and willing to obey and serve as his Queen.
24 hours after Anne's demise, Henry and Jane were engaged. The new Queen, Jane, married Henry VIII on the 30 May 1536 at Whitehall Palace - 11 days after Anne Boleyn was executed. Jane never had a coronation, unlike Catherine and Anne before her, so she was never officially crowned as 'Queen'.
In 1537, Jane fell pregnant - with what Henry hoped to be his long-awaited son (he had 3 sons with Catherine which didn't survive and a son with Anne who was stillborn). Henry had maintained that Jane was his first 'true wife' and he seemed to worship the ground she walked on throughout her pregnancy.
At long last, on 12 October 1537, Jane gave birth to a son, the first male heir to the throne, Edward VI, at Hampton Court Palace. The new future King, Edward, was christened three days later. Jane had suffered complications with the birth, but was able to attend the ceremony, although very weak. On 24 October 1537, Queen Jane died of childbirth complications in London - she had only been reigning as Queen for a year and a half. She was buried at Windsor Castle in St. George's Chapel.
Henry VIII took the death of his 'true wife', Jane, very badly - he wore black for months after her death and waited 3 years until he married again. It is thought that Henry truly did loved and cared for Jane - she is the only wife to be buried in the same tomb as him after his death in 1547.
It is so sad that Queen Jane had such a short, tragic life. We pay tribute to Queen Jane Seymour by honouring one of our favourite LED filament light bulbs after her. Our Jane light bulb features linear filament LED inside a carbonised (sepia), pear shaped cover. She provides an impressive 600 lumens per watt, lasts up to 30,000 hours and is fully dimmable. Find out more about our Jane here.
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Read our other Royal of the Month posts: Joseph