Death of Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell

Death of Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell

Elizabeth Seymour was the daughter of Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth.
She is best known as the sister of Queen Jane Seymour, third wife to King Henry VIII.
Elizabeth was also aunt to King Edward VI.

Two of Elizabeth’s brothers, Thomas Seymour and Edward Seymour, were ex3cuted for treason during the reign of Edward VI.

One of ten children, born at Wolf Hall in Wiltshire, Elizabeth was born in 1518.

Jane and Elizabeth Seymour served as maids of honour to Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn.

Elizabeth was fond of Queen Anne, and was an attendant at the birth of Princess Elizabeth.

Elizabeth married her first husband, Sir Anthony Ughtred – Governor of Jersey, in 1530 at Wolf Hall.
The couple had two children, Sir Henry Ughtred, and
Margery Ughtred.

Sir Anthony died on 20th December 1534, leaving Elizabeth a widow.

When King Henry began to tire of Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was somewhat disappointed.
She had become quite close to the queen.

However, she was delighted that the King had taken interest in her sister Jane.
The whole Seymour family gained wealth and power, as Henry’s attentions turned to Jane.

While Elizabeth’s mistress prepared for her ex3cution, her sister Jane was planning her wedding.

On 30th May 1536, eleven days after Anne Boleyn’s ex3cution, Henry and Jane were married.

Elizabeth became chief lady-in-waiting to her sister, Queen Jane.

Being the sister of the queen consort of England, Elizabeth was well-connected and a great prospect for a wife.
Thomas Cromwell, Henry’s chief minister, was interested in the match for his son Gregory.

In August 1537, Elizabeth became Lady Cromwell, when she married Gregory Cromwell.
They went on to have five children together.

Henry Cromwell.

Katherine Cromwell.

Frances Cromwell.

Thomas Cromwell, Esq.

Edward Cromwell.

On 12th November, three months after their wedding, Elizabeth and Gregory took part in her sister’s funeral procession.

Queen Jane’s death on 24th October 1537, after being delivered of the king’s longed-for son, came as a blow to the Seymour family.

The death of the queen would have disastrous consequences for Thomas Cromwell.

Gregory Cromwell appears to have been devoted to Elizabeth and their children.

In December 1539, while in Calais waiting to welcome Henry VIII’s new bride, Anne of Cleves, he wrote to his wife at Leeds Castle – addressing her as his “loving bedfellow”

Elizabeth was part of the official welcoming party for Anne of Cleves, when she arrived from Germany.

After Henry and Anne’s marriage was annulled, Elizabeth became lady-in-waiting to his fifth wife – Catherine Howard.

With Thomas Cromwell’s ex3cution in 1540 for orchestrating the Kings disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleves, there was a brief decline in the Cromwell family’s fortunes.

Elizabeth wrote a letter to Henry VIII, thanking him for sparing her family, during the downfall of her father-in-law.

After Catherine Howard’s ex3cution, Elizabeth then served as lady-in-waiting to Henry’s sixth and final wife, Katherine Parr.

After Henry VIII’s death in 1547, Elizabeth’s brother Thomas secretly married Katherine Parr, who died a few days after giving birth to her only child, Lady Mary Seymour.

Elizabeth became a widow again in 1551, when Gregory Cromwell died suddenly of the sweating sickness.
Elizabeth also fell ill at the same time, but survived her illness.

Around 1st April 1554, she married John Paulet, Lord St. John.
Elizabeth’s two eldest sons married John Paulet’s daughters.

Elizabeth Seymour died on 19th March 1568, aged 49/50.
She was buried in St. Mary’s Church in Hampshire.

The Hans Holbein portrait below, has long been associated with King Henry’s tragic young Queen Catherine Howard.

However, historian Antonia Fraser has argued that this image is far more likely to be Elizabeth Seymour.

The sitter is wearing widow’s apparel.
Catherine Howard would have had no reason to be dressed as a widow, but Elizabeth Seymour would.

The National Portrait Gallery, which exhibits the painting at Montacute House in Somerset, remains undecided about the sitter’s identity – The NPG’s professional curators, are still examining the portrait.

? Portrait once thought to be Queen Catherine Howard; possibly Elizabeth Seymour, sister of Queen Jane.
Hans Holbein the Younger c.1535–1540