On October 12, 1537, King Henry VIII’s beloved wife Jane Seymour finally gave birth at Hampton Court Palace to his only surviving legitimate son, the future King Edward VI. Henry was ecstatic. The labor had been long and hard but Jane seemed to slowly recover and even wrote a letter to Thomas Cromwell announcing the birth. But after a few days, Jane was obviously sick. There are several theories on the exact cause of her death but it was clearly complications from childbirth. She succumbed on October 24.

Henry was devastated by her death and withdrew to Windsor. By November 1, Henry decided Jane would be buried in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor and Monday November 12 was to be the date of the burial. The court was orderedto wear mourning and clothes were issued to the household from the Great Wardrobe. The King would have worn purple or white mourning with everyone else wearing black.

Other than choosing the date and place of the burial, Henry left all the details to others. The plans for the funeral were delegated to the Duke of Norfolk and Sir William Paulet. As directors, their assignment was to gather a suitable cortege to take the body from Hampton Court to Windsor. This is probably an indication of Henry’s grief over Jane’s death as he usually took great interest in ceremonials of this kind. Custom indicated the king would not attend the funeral himself.

Jane was the first Queen of England to die “in good estate” since King Henry’s mother Elizabeth of