Edward was born on 12th October 1537, the son of Jane Seymour and Henry VIII. When Henry died on the eighth of January 1547, Edward was crowned Edward VI on the twentieth of February, one month later. Since he was only nine years old, Edward Seymour, his uncle, ruled the country as Lord Protector for him.

Edward read a lot of books, and was very religious. Edward was strongly Protestant and in fact he brought the first prayer book to England. But he was cold hearted, and lacked sympathy. This was maybe because he never knew is mother, Jane. He was not very strong at all, and was ill frequently. He did not like sport even though he was taught archery and riding, but he did like learning Latin, Greek and French. He was only 15 when he caught a nasty disease called tuberculosis, where your lungs give up. He died on 6th July 1553, having been King for just six years.

Henry VIII had left a will, saying that Edward should rule, then Mary, then Elizabeth, since he realised that Edward might not live to have children of his own. In Edward’s minority, Henry had left a council of soldiers to run the country. But this did not work out. The council fought until John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, made himself the master of the Kingdom. He was also, like Edward, strongly Protestant. Northumberland realised that if Mary took over the throne from the dying King Edward, he would lose his power, since Mary was Catholic. So, the Duke married off one of his sons to Lady Jane Grey, Henry’s niece. He then forced Edward to make a will saying that his son would be King, and that Lady Jane would be Queen.

Lady Jane Grey had the shortest reign ever – nine days in 1553! But Northumberland's plan collapsed,when Mary, eldest daughter of Henry VIII and rightful heir to the throne, returned. Not only was the Duke executed but so was poor Lady Jane Grey.