12 October, 1537

Length of reign:

Six years and six months between 1547 and 1553.

Edward never married or had children. He was only 15 years old when he died. Despite his comparatively young age, a marriage contract had been agreed before his accession, although never ratified. Under the Treaty of Greenwich, Prince Edward was to be married to the young Mary Queen of Scots. The marriage never took place. Edward never married or had children.

Edward never really had opportunity to impose his own authority. From the outset, he was controlled by powerful men, while his father did not leave him with a particularly impressive legacy. The country was suffering from economic hardship; lots of people were out of work; and there were threats of invasion from the big Catholic powers in Europe. In September 1547, fears of a French/Scottish alliance were eased by the English defeat of the Scots at Pinkie.

The King had a love of education and founded a number of grammar schools throughout the country. He also made some efforts to alleviate the distress of the poor. He established a workhouse at Bridewell and Christ's Hospital in London.

As Edward was a boy king, he ruled through Regents. Edward's advisors at the time of his accession were taken from his mother's side of the family. His uncles Edward and Thomas Seymour conspired to influence the young king. Thomas Seymour was made 'Lord High Protector of the Realm' and Duke of Somerset.

However, the Seymour family did not remain in power for long. Both Seymour brothers were executed before the end of the reign and into their shoes stepped John Dudley, who later was created Duke of Northumberland.

The Protestant reforms proposed by the Seymours and taken forward by Northumberland met with some Catholic resistance. Rebels in Devon, protesting against the newly-issued English prayer book, were swiftly dealt with, but were the expression of a general discontent at the pace of religious change. 

The succession question which plagued the Tudors from the accession of Henry VIII in 1509 was a matter of crisis for the young king. The Protestant reforms enacted during the period threatened to be undone by the fact that the next succeeding monarch was to be Edward's half sister, Princess Mary, daughter of King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Princess Mary had remained resolutely Catholic, like her mother. The Duke of Northumberland planned and plotted to marry his son to the Protestant Lady Jane Grey, Edward's cousin and the granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister, Princess Mary. Under the terms of Henry VIII's will, the heirs of his sister would be in line to the throne after his own immediate heirs.  Therefore the throne should have passed to his daughters, Princesses Mary and Elizabeth before it passed to Lady Jane Grey. 

An amendment to his father's will, signed by Edward, effectively ignored the succession claims of the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth and handed the crown directly to Lady Jane Grey. In this way, it was hoped, Edward's reforms would not be undone. 

Alas for forward planning! Lady Jane Grey would go down in history as the Nine Day Queen - nine days was the length of her reign before Mary Tudor seized the throne as the heir of King Henry VIII. Northumberland and his son were executed. On 12th February 1554 at the tender age of 16 years, Lady Jane Grey lost her head, executed under the orders of the new Queen. Such was the price of Northumberland's schemes.

Edward was born a Protestant and raised as such. In addition, his advisors were keen on Protestant reform. Although his father had decreed that England should follow the Protestant religion, changes had been relatively scant and life continued pretty much as normal for most people. Visitors to England in 1547 would have been forgiven for thinking that England was still essentially Catholic. The first moves of Edward's reign quickened the pace of religious change. All shrines and pictures of saints were destroyed and the number of official ceremonies reduced. In addition, one radical event was the production of a prayer book in English. Previously, all prayer books had been printed in Latin, which was the language used in the Mass. This was followed in 1552 by a second book of common prayer, which was even more radical than the first.

Edward kept a journal throughout his reign. In one entry, he recorded a conversation with his sister, Princess Mary, and touched upon the reasons that he decided the succession should go to Lady Jane Grey:
'She answered that her soul was God's and her faith she would not change. It was said I constrained not her faith, but willed her as a subject to obey. And that her example might breed too much inconvenience.'

The young king was certainly cool about the execution of his uncle, Edward Seymour. Writing in his diary for that day, the young King recorded: 'Today the Duke of Somerset had his head cut off on Tower Hill.'