When a royal gravity was called for, you would think it was an old man you saw, but he was friendly and companionable, as became his years.
- G. Cardano, Italian physician attendant on the dying king.

Additional Information on
Edward VI (b. 1537 r.1547-1553)

Edward VI, the only son of Henry VIII, was only nine years of age when he ascended the throne in 1547. Because of this, the government was to be managed by a group of Lords called the Regency Council during Edward's six year reign, but in fact the Duke of Somerset, Edward's uncle, bribed the other council members to put him in charge under the title Lord Protector (from 1550 the Earl of Northumberland took over this role). Under their guidance the Reformation in England was consolidated - Catholic mass was declared illegal and a new book of common prayer was introduced.

Unfortunately, unlike his father, Edward was a small, pale child who suffered from extremely poor health for much of his life and in 1552 he caught tuberculosis, dying from it the following year.

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