Which of Henry VIII's wives was a direct descendant of Edward III?

Jane Seymour (c. 1508 – 24 October 1537) was Queen of England from 1536 to 1537 as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, a son who reigned as King Edward VI.

Jane Seymour was likely born at Wulfhall, Savernake Forest, Wiltshire, the daughter of Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth. Through her maternal grandfather, she was a descendant of King Edward III's son Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence. Because of this, she and King Henry VIII were fifth cousins. She shared a great-grandmother, Elizabeth Cheney, with his second and fifth wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

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27 Comments

Lydia Coutts

Glad you find it interesting! A couple of points though... When Elizabeth I (Henry VIII's daughter) died without an heir, King James VI of Scotland inherited the English crown. This inheritance merged the crowns of Scotland and England - known as the Union of the Crowns - and united the countries of Scotland and England, creating a brand new nation: Great Britain. Huzzah! You are probably wondering why I am mentioning this. Well, prior to James there was no such thing as a British royal family. Henry VIII, a Tudor, held only the English crown, and north of the border the Stewart dynasty held the Scottish crown. It was the Union of the Crowns that created a "British royal family". So, Pre-James I (of Great Britain) = English royal family & Scottish royal family. James I and onwards = British royal family. This is why people should not refer to the current Queen, Elizabeth II, as Queen of England. Her proper title is Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (they joined the party a lot later!). Hope you find this interesting too! :-)

Mark Yakabuski

Catherine Parr, Jane Seymour and quite possibly Anne Boleyn were all descended from Edward III.

Karen Mulhollem

sharirenee, because her/his comments are 'robotic' in nature, so we are pretty sure we are playing with a computer!

Karen Mulhollem

I am confused!

Marcella Kosse

Got it.

Leanna Greenbush

Got it right.

robert karel

🎶 I’m Henery the eighth I am 🎶 Henery the eighth 🎶 I am I am...🎶

Gail Mckerrow

Lydia Did you know that Eliz II is not actually Queen of Scotland but Queen of Scots? The Scottish people are also not her subjects. In England the monarch was sovereign (since passed to parliament) and she “ruled” her subjects. The Scottish people have always been sovereign and their monarch and parliament served them and could be replaced if they were deemed to be falling down on the job . It will be interesting to see what happens to the monarchy once Scotland regains her independence