Henry's VIII's most mysterious wife

Jane Seymour, Queen of England and only the second to die from complications of childbirth

Today is the anniversary of the death of Jane Seymour, that most elusive and mysterious of all the women who married Henry VIII - and she had some competition.  The third queen of the eighth Henry died twelve days after the birth of her only child, the legitimate son that Henry longed for to secure his kingdom and his throne.  While little Prince Edward was being tended in his nursery, his mother died of the complications of childbirth - most likely a puerperal fever that came about from an infection not treated properly after the delivery of her baby. 

It was a common enough cause of death among women at the time but not that common among queens of England.  And yet rumours have always persisted that Jane died for another reason.  Her labour was long and difficult and in the years after her death, a story arose that doctors had performed a caesarean section on the Queen of England and she had died as a result.  But most historians agree that this is highly unlikely - mostly because the queen received christening guests three days after the birth of her son and death following a surgical delivery in the 16th century would have been almost immediate.  But it shows how mysterious Jane really was that such a story could come about and stay about for so long.  The brevity of her relationship with Henry VIII - she died just seventeen months after their marriage - and the fact that she didn't have time to do anything to really annoy him means that she was painted as a picture of perfection from the very moment of her death.  Queen Jane is rather plain compared to her predecessor as consort but she remains even more mysterious.