Wolf Hall: how soon did Jane Seymour die after childbirth?
In Wolf Hall season two episode four, King Henry VIII is finally given everything that he has been hoping for after his third wife, Jane Seymour, gives birth to a baby boy.
Henry's obsession with a male heir led to him divorcing his first wife, creating the Church of England and beheading his second wife, Anne Boleyn, but his happiness is short-lived following the death of his wife.
The show depicts a heartbreaking, drawn-out end for Jane after she gives birth, watching the country celebrate the arrival of her son, Prince Edward, while dying. The show depicts Thomas realising that Jane hasn't recovered from childbirth, only to walk in to see her vomiting.
While ill, she climbs out of bed to see her son's procession, watching her baby being cradled by her husband while Thomas fetches a blanket to keep her warm. She said: "The King and I may not attend the Christening, it is tradition. Will you go for me?" Thomas promises her that he will before helping her back into bed.
King Henry then sits by her side, telling Cromwell that he would walk to Jerusalem to save her while the Archbishop performed the last rites. She dies shortly afterwards.
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Thomas has a rare moment of grief where he shouts about the way she was treated after she gave birth, wishing out loud that he had married her as he would have managed it better and that she would be alive. While season one depicts Thomas harbouring affection for Jane - this is the first time that he says anything to that effect out loud, to the alarm of the King's other advisors.
But what really happened?
Jane had a terrible labour which lasted for three nights. After she gave birth, she was seriously ill, with conflicting reports over her cause of death including an infection from a retained placenta or a puerperal fever following a bacterial infection. It is also thought that she could have died as the result of a pulmonary embolism.
She died 12 days after the birth of her son, Prince Edward, on 24 October 1537. She was 29-years-old. Jane's stepdaughter Mary was the chief mourner at her funeral, and Henry mourned her by wearing black for three months after her death and was ultimately buried next to her.
However, Thomas' personal grief at Jane's death is largely fabricated for the plot, as there is no evidence that the pair of them had a close relationship.
