Edward VI of England
16
at his window in Greenwich Palace, horrifying those who saw him by his "thin and wasted" condition. During the next two days, large crowds arrived hoping to see the king again, but on the 3rd, they were told that the weather was too chilly for him to appear. Edward died at the age of 15 at Greenwich Palace on 6 July 1553. According to John Foxe's legendary account of his death, his last words were: "I am faint; Lord have mercy upon me, and take my spirit". He was buried in Henry VII Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey on 8 August 1553, with reformed rites performed by Thomas Cranmer. The procession was led by "a grett company of chylderyn in ther surples" and watched by Londoners "wepyng and lamenting"; the funeral chariot, draped in cloth of gold, was topped by an effigy of Edward, with crown, sceptre, and garter. At the same time, Queen Mary attended a mass for his soul in the Tower, where Jane Grey was by then a prisoner. The cause of Edward VI's death is not certain. As with many royal deaths in the 16th century, rumours of poisoning
abounded, but no evidence has been found to support these. The Duke of Northumberland, whose unpopularity was underlined by the events that followed Edward's death, was widely believed to have ordered the imagined poisoning. Another theory held that Edward had been poisoned by Catholics seeking to bring Mary to the throne. The surgeon who opened Edward's chest after his death found that "the disease whereof his majesty died was the disease of the lungs". The Venetian ambassador reported that Edward had died of consumption—in other words, tuberculosis—a diagnosis accepted by many historians. Skidmore believes that Edward contracted the tuberculosis after a bout of measles and smallpox in 1552 that suppressed his natural immunity to the disease. Loach suggests instead that his symptoms were typical of acute bronchopneumonia, leading to a "suppurating pulmonary infection", septicaemia, and kidney failure. Princess Mary, who had last seen Edward in February, was kept informed about the state of her brother's health by Northumberland and through her contacts with the imperial ambassadors; these also made her aware of some "mighty plot" to deprive her of the succession. Charles V advised her to accept the throne even if it were offered to her on condition she made no change in religion. Two days before Edward's death, she was summoned to court. Instead, she left Hunsdon House, near London, and sped to her estate at Kenninghall in Norfolk, fearing a trap. Northumberland sent ships to the Norfolk coast to prevent her escape or the
Queen Jane and Queen Mary