Queens of England burial places: Jane Seymour

She was the wife that Henry VIII wanted everyone to remember because she was the wife that gave him the son he hoped would rule and strengthen his kingdom.  And because of that, Jane Seymour was given pride of place beside the much married monarch in his funeral plans.  Queen Jane, consort of England for just 15 months, was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor in November 1537 and joined there by Henry less than ten years later, in January 1547.  Their graves lie in the best position in the chapel, right in front of the altar.  And yet now, among the tourist rush, it is easy to walk by the stone which remembers Henry VIII and his third wife.

Jane Seymour, Queen of England 1536 - 1537

Queen Jane's death was unexpected and sudden and shocking.  On October 9th 1537, she had gone into labour in her rooms at Hampton Court Palace but the birth of her child would take three days and leave her exhausted and very ill.  Although some reports show her in good humour in the hours immediately after the delivery of her son, Henry's longed for heir, on October 12th 1537 others tell us that the queen was already fragile by the time Edward made his appearance.  Queen Jane was present at her son's christening, on October 15th 1537, but began to deteriorate very soon after that.  She died just twelve days after giving Henry his longed for son and her body was taken to Windsor.  She was given a queen's funeral, the only one of Henry's wives to receive that honour, and she was laid to rest in the grand tomb in front of the altar in St George's Chapel that her husband had been planning for himself.

Jane Seymour is given pride of place in the Remgius portrait commissioned to show the splendour of the Tudor dynasty.  As mother of its third king she stands in the front of the picture 

Today, its central position in this ancient royal home is sometimes easy to miss as hundreds throng St George's Chapel to take in centuries of regal history.  The stone that marks the resting place of Jane is simple, a plain black stone with gold engraving that notes that the queen was buried in a vault beneath.  The same stone commemorates Henry as well as Charles I whose body was brought to WIndsor and placed in the same grave on the orders of Queen Victoria.  Also buried there is an infant child of Queen Anne.

Jane Seymour's grave in St George's Chapel, Windsor

Queen Jane is very much a mysterious figure in British history.  She is known as the wife who gave Henry VIII the son he so desperately wanted but her reign was so short that her legacy is limited.  In many ways, her death became the most documented part of her queenship.  We know that after she had died, mourning took place at Hampton Court Palace with black cloths hung around her coffin before it was taken to the chapel there where her ladies kept a vigil by their queen through the day and religious men kept watch by night.  On November 12th 2014, the queen's body was taken to Windsor for her funeral with Henry's eldest child, the Lady Mary, as chief mourner.  Henry, as was usual at the time, did not attend the short ceremony - the first funeral for a queen of England for thirty five years.  In the months after Jane Seymour's funeral her reputation as the mother of the new Tudor dynasty began to take shape.  Her son, soon Prince of Wales, was the hope of his royal house and his country and Jane's reputation was based on that.  It could be based on little else as her queenship had lasted less than eighteen months.  But by giving Henry VIII his much longed for son, she secured a place in history.  And it is perhaps one of the main reasons she is buried alongside her king at the very heart of Britain's royal history.