What did Jane Seymour & Edward VI look like? | History Documentary & Facial Reconstructions

hello everyone and welcome back to royalty now where we use descriptions from the past to bring historical figures to life Jane Seymour the third wife of Henry VII was different from Henry's other wives in almost every way not only in manners and temperament but also because she was the only woman to save Henry from his deepest insecurity the son she would give Henry would be his only male child to outlive him and become king of England but Edward v 6 life would be far from Easy we'll talk about the lives of Jane Seymour and her

son Edward and then reveal our Recreations of their appearances at the end so let's go ahead and get started to understand Jane's story we must first talk about the man who would become her husband King Henry VII is of course one of the most infamous monarchs in English history but in the early 1500s the legitimacy of his Reign was still somewhat uncertain the tutor Dynasty had begun just 6 years before Henry's birth when his father Henry iith defeated Richard III and ended the long and bloody wars of the Roses as a somewhat unexpected Victor Henry

viith would be crowned King of England but rebellions would keep him unsettled for the rest of his life when Henry iith died in 1509 the crown of England and the future of the tutor Dynasty passed to his son Henry VII because the tutor line was so short-lived a male Heir was essential to gain the confidence of the people and the nobility so England would Forge a powerful alliance with Spain Henry would marry Catherine of Aragon daughter of the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella in 1509 although Henry and Katherine are said to have been a happy

couple they would endure hardship after hardship throughout their marriage Katherine's pregnancies are said to have been particularly hard on her her first pregnancy wouldn't make it to term but her second did and gave them a baby boy who they would name Henry but their Joy would only last 52 days their infant son sadly passed away devastating Henry and Catherine though they would try again and again five out of six of Catherine's pregnancies would end tragically finally in 1516 they would have a healthy child a girl named Mary she would be loved but she was a

disappointment to Henry all the same a woman had never ruled England and many people would fight for it to remain that way after 15 years of trying and failing Henry and Katherine's marriage was crumbling under the pressure of an absent Heir and by the 1520s it was clear that the two would not have another child but this didn't change the fact that Henry needed this Heir Henry would begin to distance himself from his wife and by the end of the 1520s he had fallen in love love with another younger woman an bin he would divorce

Catherine and marry Anne in 1533 breaking Catherine's heart and disinheriting his only daughter Mary but even after all this effort Anne would also struggled just as hard to give Henry the heir he wanted although she would become pregnant three times over 3 years they would all end with disappointment with only another daughter named Elizabeth surviving infancy by 1535 Henry's anxiety over the matter must have been all consuming he absolutely had to have a male Heir no matter what he had to do Henry VII's psyche is marked by paranoia it was said he slept in a

different bed every night tossing and turning if only Henry had access to today's sponsor beam there's nothing worse than waking up feeling like I've slept horribly it affects my whole day from my mood to my productivity it's not dramatic for me to say that for me My Sleep Quality affects my whole outlook on life beam's dream is the Revolutionary night cap that's filled to the brim with all natural sleep promoting ingredients it helps me fall asleep and stay asleep with no feeling of grogginess in the morning when I'm ready for bed I just warm up

my Kettle and mix warm water with beam's chocolate peanut butter flavor my favorite it's nice not to worry about what's in it there's only 20 calories no added sugar and it's gluten and dairyfree never go without your dream you can also subscribe and save 20% each month with free shipping plus you can pause or cancel whenever you want if you're skeptical like I was that dream could change your sleep forever why don't you try it for yourself and see for a limited time you can get up to 35% off Beam with our code RNs when

you go to shop beam.com RNs or scan the QR code that's shop beam.com RNs in late 153 an became pregnant for the fourth time but even with the good news Henry and Anne were fighting constantly the queen would realize that this pregnancy was her last chance throughout the pregnancy all of the royal doctors agreed that she was having a boy giving her some confidence to hold on to but in early 1536 King Henry VI who had always been a handsome athletic man was seriously injured in a jousting accident not only had he fallen from his

horse but the fully armored horse had toppled him crushing him under the immense weight his doctors believed that the injury would be fatal when news reached Queen Anne it sent her into shock the whole realm could now be thrown into another civil war The Whispers of ambitious men began to fill the court as the news of Henry's injury began to spread but Henry would miraculously wake up after being unconscious for two full hours although his leg was seriously injured he was talking and it appeared that he would make a full recovery although he seemed fine

Scholars now believe that the accident may have been the cause of a serious change in Henry's future Behavior whether it was the physical accident or a sudden realization of his mortality King Henry began to spend more and more time away from his wife one day an would walk in to see Henry with a woman sitting on his lap she recognized her immediately her name was Jane Seymour Jane had been a ma of honor to Henry's first wife Catherine of Aragon and had watched the grief that Anne had caused Catherine she could not have been more

different than Anne where Anne was witty cultured confident and hot-tempered Jane was said to have been calm gentle and empathetic their obvious difference was seen as an insult to an almost like her faults were the sole cause of Henry's problems although misdirected Anne's anger towards Jane grew stronger by the day she began to lash out at the people close to her as her famous temper began to go off for nearly anything that inconvenienced her it became clear that the stress of it all Henry's accident Jane and the unrelenting pressure to deliver Henry and air had

finally made Anne reach her breaking point in late January of 1536 an would suffer a miscarriage the king and his advisers would soon devise a plan to get rid of Anne in late April 1536 the queen was accused of having adulterous affairs with five men at court including her own brother an bin was executed on May 19th 1536 just one day later Henry became engaged to Jane Seymour and they were married on May 30th for the tutor Court Jane was a rather puzzling candidate for Henry to choose as the next Queen although her family was

long established in the English nobility their wealth and influence had diminished in recent years as for her looks Jane herself was described as rather plain with Ambassador Eustace chap saying that she was of middling stature and no great Beauty we know very little of Jane's early life besides the fact that she was born at wola sometime between 15 4 and 1509 and was raised on the fringes of the tutor court but unlike previous Queens her education was primarily in running a household and Embroidery in fact she could barely read or write so she was not

as Brave or intelligent as Katherine of Aragon nor as witty as anbin so what was it the king saw in her most Scholars believed that it was in fact these differences from her predecessors that attracted the king to her some historians even belied that Jane was more cunning and adaptable than history has given her credit for even suggesting that Jane purposely cultivated this personality to attract the king now so much of Jane's life has been lost that we may never know for sure but we do know of her outward actions where Anne had celebrated the

death of Queen Catherine Jane is said to have shown sympathy for Anne after her death this sympathy and compassion also extended to the children of Catherine and an with Jane becoming especially close to Mary Henry's daughter with Catherine when Henry annuled his marriage to Catherine he had also annuled any rights that extended to their daughter Mary and as a result Mary spitefully refused to recognize Anne bin as Queen causing her relationship with her father to completely deteriorate but now that Jane was Queen Jane actively urged Henry to reconcile with his daughter and perhaps even restore

her rights it was things like this that may have really attracted Henry to Jane after years of drama and struggle he may have been ready for a quieter life Jane became pregnant in early 1537 and on October 12th of that year after nearly 50 hours of Labor she gave birth their first child was born and the baby was a boy throughout England the news of his son was greeted with joy and relief and for Henry all of his prayers had finally been answered he could breathe easily perhaps for the first time in his life with

the succession resolved even after her incredibly long labor Jane immediately started writing personal letters announcing and celebrating the birth of her son only resting when she was done the little boy Edward was christened on October 15th 1537 with both Mary and Elizabeth involved in their little brother's baptism it was only after Edward's Christening that Queen Jane began to feel ill and her condition grew worse and worse she was suffering from what the tutors called child bed fever it's what we now call postpartum complications maybe an infection just 9 days later on October 24th 1537 Jane

Seymour died her death hit Henry hard although he now had the son he always wanted a price had once again been paid for his Joy Henry would seclude himself in bed for nearly a week and were black for months and months after her death Henry's sadness would lead him to comfort eat which along with his recurring wound caused him to begin gaining a massive amount of weight his grief would continue on for nearly a year until Henry was finally seen smiling with his long awaited son he could often be seen dallying with him in his

arms and he showed him off to anyone that was around calling Edward this whole realm's most precious Jewel as Edward got older he would be given his own household and raised by a caretaker still Henry was understandably protective over his only son demanding extremely high standards for the security and cleanliness around Edward by order of the king the prince's rooms were scrubbed from floor to ceiling every day and everything the prince touched had to be washed first when Edward was 6 years old he began the Intensive intimidating education that was fit for a future king

which included the study of humanist philosophy mathematics and geometry and three languages French Spanish and Italian but according to his teachers Edward actually enjoyed his schooling and his quick grasp of the concepts he was being taught suggested to them that he would become a very intelligent man Henry's children were growing up to have a surprisingly close relationship and although he had grown up with Elizabeth it was his elder sister Mary who would end up becoming Edward's favorite in a letter to his half-sister he sweetly wrote that he loved her most the three siblings would spend

Christmases together with their father Henry and just like Jane Seymour had wanted he had restored his daughters to their place in his succession but these idilic moments didn't last Last by the end of the 1540s Henry's Health had deteriorated his leg wound from the jousting accident had been re-aggravated time and time again over the years causing him great pain and he continued to drink and eat like he had when he was younger eventually he weighed nearly 400 lb by January of 1547 King Henry VII was dead 9-year-old Edward would be woken up and taken to

his sister Elizabeth they would be told of their father's death together and side by side they read Henry's will the will named 16 men to act as a council and rule until Edward reached the age of 18 all 16 men were supposed to rule equally collectively and by majority decision but as things always go ambitious men can't help themselves and under a last minute change to Henry's will the executiv were given the power to freely distribute land to the themselves and to the court soon the king's uncle Edward Seymour was making deals with some of

the most powerful men in England and within days of Henry's death Edward v 6 Council unanimously agreed to give the king's uncle near absolute power over England but even with the full Trust of his 9-year-old nephew and the entire Council behind him Seymour would rule for only the next 2 years family infighting rebellions in England and a costly war with Scotland would cause Edward Seymour to lose nearly all of his influence in late 1549 Edward Seamore was warned that the council were going to arrest him he immediately fled London but not before forcing King Edward

to come with him after days bunkered inside Windsor Castle an 11-year-old King Edward would write me thinks I am in prison Edward Seymour would eventually be arrested and replaced on the council with John dley the Earl of wari after Seymour's Fall From Grace Dudley would take a more passive role than Seymour did and allow the young king who was quickly becoming a man to gain experience in the world of politics that would become his life's work Edward would begin having weekly meetings with the council where he would listen to the Council debate the things of

most importance now historians have argued whether or not Edward was actually involved in the decision-making process here with some believing that these meetings done for nothing more than to appease the young king While others believed that Edward had matured Beyond his years becoming an ironwill and intelligent King he was the son of King Henry VII after all we can see this sight of Edward from different accounts from his own time and most importantly when it came to religion as England's first Protestant King Edward is said to have been a passionately religious man he grew very

close to the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cran who would become the Father Figure in his life calling the king my dearest son in Christ as he Grew Older Edward's Faith only grew more and more important to him he would begin spending several hours a day in private devotion and made it his mission to make England a Protestant country he would ban a number of old Catholic rituals such as the use of rosaries the casting of the holy water the undertaking of pilgrimage and he would change the language of religion from Latin to English this along

with other changes showed how willing the young king was to openly rebel against Rome for his faith but this open rebellion was also against someone who was much closer to home for Edward by 1552 his favorite eldest sister Mary who he had once told he loved the most was his enemy England was poised for a Protestant Revolution under King Edward V 6th rule unfortunately for Edward fate would have other plans in April of 1552 he contracted measles and although he would recover his immune system was fatally weakened by that winter King Edward fell ill once

again only this time it was far more serious he would battle a never-ending hacking cough getting better and then relapsing Multiple times before the doctors realized that the illness was most likely f fatal Edward soon realized this himself not wanting his Catholic Sister Mary to take the throne after him he would devise his own plan for the succession he would deny his own sisters calling them bastards and instead chose his Protestant cousin Lady Jane gray to be the queen after his death by June of 1553 the king's Health had deteriorated so much that he no

longer had the energy to walk I am glad to die he would whisper to his tutor John Chek on the 6th of July 1553 King Edward v 6 died at only the age of 15 his successor the Protestant Lady Jane gray was shocked to be chosen for the crown and within 9 days Henry's eldest daughter Mary gained support and would lead an uprising to overthrow Jane Mary Henry's very first child would become the first queen of England after all the story of Jane Seymour and Edward v 6 is one of Henry's anxiety and control King

Henry would become infamous for his failed attempts to have an heir but would die thinking that his beloved Jane had finally solved his ultimate issue unfortunately Edward without a father would fall prey to the will of ambitious men turning him against the only family he had left but like his father he too would fail in stopping them from ruling ultimately Edward I 6 would Reign for only 6 years and his sister Mary the would Reign for only five after all of the Power struggles and the infighting the rise and fall of ambitious men it would

be the daughter of anolin Elizabeth that would gloriously Reign Over England for 45 years in the ultim irony Henry's need for a male Heir would cause him to neglect Elizabeth Henry's treatment of her mother Anne and Edward's betrayal at the end would cause her to have a deep and Lasting distrust of men for the rest of her life in 16003 Elizabeth would die unmarried with no children ending the tutor Dynasty forever so let's talk about what Jane and Edward really looked like and then reveal the Recreations as we mentioned throughout the story Henry's choice of

Jane Seymour as his next Queen puzzled the court one reason for this is that Jane was quite plain even for the standards of the time she was 27 when she married the king old by tutor standards with very fair skin dark blue or gray eyes and was a medium height it's believed that she had blonde hair but we actually don't know this for sure every single portrait of her shows her hair completely covered Ambassador chapis wrote that she was of no great Beauty and Sir John Russell remarked that she needed a lot of adornment like

Fine Fabrics and jewelry to shine whereas her predecessor anbin needed very little her unassuming appearance and demeanor helped her greatly in her marriage to the king in terms of portraiture we have a stunning life portrait of Jane by Hans Hine and very little else her time as Queen was so short that there simply wasn't time to make multiple portraits this detailed image shows her clothing beautifully apparently Jane had an enormous wardrobe she especially loved embroidery we can see her sleeves beautifully embroidered in the style called blackw originally introduced to England by Katherine of Aragon Jane

would also wear only the Gable Hood this style of headdress which is frankly not very flattering however this was more of a political statement than a fashion one it was meant to be a departure from Anne Bolin and her love of the admittedly prettier French Hood despite being quite Young when he died we have a lot of portraits of the young Edward we can sense his importance from a young age as the only male heir of the king even though Edward is young in these famous portraits just 10 and 13 in these versions great effort

has been made for him to look mature his expensive outfit with really wide shoulders is part of this effort we know Edward has the red gold hair famous in the tutor Dynasty and the same dark blue eyes is his mother Jane I'm using this famous Portrait by William grz to bring Edward to life so let's take a look at my Recreations of Jane Seymour and King Edward v 6 now [Music] all [Music] h [Music] I also wanted to make an aged up version of Edward so we could see what he would have looked like had

he lived longer as the king of England as he ages we can see more resemblance to his Seymour side his uncles Thomas and Edward and of course some resemblance to Henry VII now let's imagine Edward and Shane in the modern day [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music]