Edward VI

Edward VI (October 12, 1537 - July 6, 1553) was King of England from January 28 (crowned at Westminster Abbey on February 20), 1547 to July 6,1553.

Edward VI
King of England, Ireland and France

Edward VI, the only surviving son of King Henry VIII was England's first protestant king. Though his father had broken the link between English Catholicism and Rome, it was in Edward's reign that the decisive move was made from catholicism to a form of protestantism which came to be known as Anglicanism.

Edward VI was born on October 12, 1537, the son of Jane Seymour, who died a few days later. The boy's father, Henry VIII, was delighted by his birth, but devastated by the death of his third wife. Henry had long hoped for a male heir, but the boy turned out to be sickly (in fact, Edward suffered from congenital syphilis, passed on by his father) and he was not expected to have a long life, leading Henry to re-marry quickly in the hope of fathering more healthy children.

When Edward came to the throne at age nine, his uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset (1506 - 1552), became regent, consigning the boy to a purely ceremonial role. The story of Edward's reign is that of a number of nobles attempting to take over as Lord Protector. Somerset was removed from office by the efforts of John Dudley, Earl of Warwick and later Duke of Northumberland. The latter took power, and Seymour was executed for treason. The other major figure of Edward's reign was Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, who forged ahead with the Protestant impetus begun during the reign of Edward's father. The first prayer book in English was published in 1548 - the Book of Common Prayer.

By the time of his death, on July 6, 1553, Edward was enough the master of his own destiny to have concerns about the succession. He had been brought up a Protestant and had no wish to see England revert to Catholicism. This led him to support the claim to the throne of Northumberland's daughter-in-law and puppet, Lady Jane Grey, against his own half-sister, Mary.

King Edward VI is buried at Westminster Abbey.

He is the subject of historical fiction novel "The Prince and the Pauper"- 1881 by Mark Twain. Edward is the Prince of the title.The Pauper is Tom Canty, a look-alike of Edward born in a poor family of London on the same day as Edward: October 12, 1537. The book at first examines their parallel lives, one in poverty and one in riches, until the fatal day that the two boys meet and end up changing places for a while between January 27 and February 20 of 1547. Edward is introduced to the life of poverty and to social injustice and Tom to the thrown and the intrigues of the court. The boys change places again on the day of Edward's coronation. Tom stays by Edward's side as a favorite of the young King who now has a stronger sense of responsibility to his poor subjects for the rest of his short life.