It's all about Jane

 Brianna here, playing Jane Seymour in our show.
Motto: Bound to Obey and Serve
Can I love someone who makes me want to roll my eyes? Definintely.
Not a whole lot is known about Jane, and she gets pretty eclipsed by Anne Boleyn's glittering fame. But the more I discover about this seemingly prim, conservative Queen, the more I discover a tenacity and an edge about her that I really like. So much decorum had to conceal one iron personality! (Although she was also known to be very gentle, and there's something under-appreciated about the Nice Girl, isn't there?)

Jane Seymour was hanging around court for a while, serving both Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn when they were Queens, but it took awhile for her to catch Henry's eye. Once she did, however, he never forgot her, and she was immortalized as his Queen posthumously in the famous Tudor family portrait years after her death. After all, she was the only Queen who managed to secure the line and satisfy his obsession by giving him a son. (Score one for me in the battle of true Queendom!)


The physical opposite of Anne Boleyn, Jane was petite and buxom with very pale skin and golden hair. In other words, she was a great example of the popular look of the day- some noblewomen had themselves bled by barber-surgeons to get that wan, pale skin! No wonder Henry noticed her when he was fed up with tall, dark Anne. In fact, Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane on the 20 May 1536, the day after Anne Boleyn's execution. All of Anne's rooms were stripped of her crest and initial, and it was done so hastily that you can still see the A's peeking out from under the J's.


Jane wasn't as educated as the proceeding Queens, but she probably hit the mark when it came to the sort of woman Henry really wanted for a wife. She was demure and agreeable on the surface but a firm household manager known for her resolute manner and etiquette. She banned the loose manner of the court than Anne had cultivated and strictly contolled the appropriate dress and manner of her ladies. French fashion was out.
Jane did try to sway Henry in affairs of the state just once, when she asked for pardons for participants in the Pilgrimage of Grace Rebellion-- but Henry flipped out and reminded her what had happened to proceeding Queens when they tried to "meddle." Yikes. Jane must have learned to operate more subtly pretty quickly after that!


Jane was renowned for her beautiful needlework, which Henry was very fond of. (You'll catch Katherine of Aragon yammering on about how she hand-embroidered Henry's shirts...well big whoop. She wasn't alone on that one! ) She was very dedicated to the family and managed to get Mary Tudor welcomed back to court by her father, though she was unable to secure Mary a place in the line of succesion. The two women were both of the 'old faith' (Roman Catholic) and became good friends. And speaking of family...


When Jane finally got pregnant in early 1537, Henry was completely indulgent. Jane's every whim was indulged by the King, convinced that his first 'true wife', carried his long hoped for son. She had a craving for quail  but it was a bad time of year in England, so Henry had them imported in for her!


Jane did it! Jane had a son! The future King Edward VI of England was born on 12 October 1537 at Hampton Court. He was whisked off to a wet nurse (Jane was not going to be caught making a fuss about nursing her own babies like Anne Boleyn had- what bad breeding-ugh!) Everyone was so excited about it, in fact, that they left poor Jane to delerium and fever. She had a difficult delivery (at least three nights) and developed puerperal fever due to a bacterial infection contracted during the birth or perhaps due to a tear in her perineum which became infected. She was dead by October 24th.
Jane Seymour was the only one of Henry's wives to receive a Queen's funeral.
(Score one more for me as the One True Queen!!)


The following inscription was above her grave:
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 two such.


After her death, Henry wore proper mourning  and did not remarry for three years.
And at the end of it all, Henry was buried with her. The only one of his wives to remian at his side for eternity.

I am so looking forward to duking it out with the other Queens- clearly the evidence is on my side- Jane is the True Queen!!