Jane Seymour was King Henry VIII of England's third wife (also his distant cousin). She was one of King Henry VIII's more formal and reserved wives, and died after giving birth to the short lived monarch Edward VI.
Jane Seymour was born in either the year 1507, 1508 or 1509 (it is debated). Her birthday is the twenty fourth of October. She was a strict Roman Catholic. Jane Seymour became known to King Henry VIII while serving his previous two wives Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn as a one of their ladies in waiting. The day after Anne Boleyn was beheaded on charges of adultery and witchcraft King Henry VIII announced their engagement, marrying Jane Seymour ten days later.
During her time as the Queen, Jane Seymour was conservative and instituted strict rules for dressing requirements and conduct. She did not interfere in politics the way that Anne Boleyn did, after being reminded by the King to remember what happened to her predecessor. Despite this, King Henry VIII would later describe Jane Seymour as his favorite wife, and mourned her for two years after her death.
Jane Seymour became pregnant in early 1537 and gave birth to the future King Edward VI in October. Shortly after giving birth Jane Seymour fell ill with puerperal fever, a disease caused when bacteria enters the bloodstream while a woman is giving birth, due to the unsanitary conditions of medicine at the time (the cause of puerperal fever, and the fact that it could easily be prevented most of the time if the people assisting with the birth washed their hands correctly, was not known until the mid eighties). Jane Seymour died in late October of the year 1537. She was never crowned, which may be because King Henry VIII was waiting for a Queen who would produce a male heir first.