On the 5th May 1553, Jehan Scheyfve reported to the Bishop of Arras that King Edward VI’s illness was being talked about and dismisses a rumour that the eldest son of the Duke of Northumberland would marry Princess Elizabeth.
‘My Lord: I will add a line to my letters to the Emperor, to let you know that the people are beginning to talk of the King’s illness, and that it is variously discussed. Some say that the Lady Elizabeth, sister to the King, is to come to town shortly; and that the Earl of Warwick, the Duke of Northumberland’s eldest son, wishes to put away his wife, daughter of the late Duke of Somerset, and marry the said Elizabeth. This does not seem likely, at least for some time, as it might cause suspicions and friction between the Dukes of Northumberland and Suffolk, over the recent betrothal (of Lady Jane Grey and Lord Guilford Dudley). Nevertheless the possibility of this divorce was spoken of already a year ago. I beseech your Reverence to favour my recall, and commend myself most humbly to you.
My Lord, I have arranged with the courier, bearer of these letters, that he shall carry them for twelve crowns.
London, 5 May, 1553.’
‘Spain: May 1553’, in Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 11, 1553, ed. Royall Tyler (London, 1916), pp. 37-48 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/spain/vol11/pp37-48 [accessed 8 May 2015].
