On 30th May 1553, Jehan Scheyfe reported to Charles V that King Edward VI was wasting away and was unlikely to recover. He also mentioned the three marriages (including Jane’s) that had taken place on 25th May. Scheyfe believes that Northumberland will not allow Princess Mary to succeed to the throne and could find some way of also excluding Princess Elizabeth. He repeats the rumour that Northumberland may make his eldest son divorce his wife, so the Earl of Warwick could marry Elizabeth. Or that Northumberland may get divorced to marry Elizabeth himself and claim the crown as a descendant of the House of Lancaster.
‘Sire: The King of England is wasting away daily, and there is no sign or likelihood of any improvement. Some are of opinion that he may last two months more, but he cannot possibly live beyond that time. He cannot rest except by means of medicines and external applications; and his body has begun to swell, especially his head and feet. His hair is to be shaved off and plasters are going to be put on his head. The illness is judged to be the same as that which killed the late Earl of Richmond.
On the 25th of this month were celebrated the weddings of my Lord Guilford, son of the Duke of Northumberland, to the eldest daughter of the Duke of Suffolk; of the Earl of Pembroke’s son to the second daughter; and of the Earl of Huntingdon’s son to the daughter of the Duke of Northumberland. The weddings were celebrated with great magnificence and feasting at the Duke of Northumberland’s house in town. The Order of the Garter was not called together on Whit Sunday; the meeting has only been postponed.
During the Whitsuntide holidays, M. de L’Aubespine, First Secretary to the King of France, who, as I hear, besides occupying this high position, enjoys the full confidence of the King and Constable, arrived here in a coach drawn by four horses. He went to Court with M. de Boisdauphin on the 28th. They were very honourably received and entertained; almost all the members of the Council were present, even to the Duke of Northumberland, who had been absent from Court for a few days. L’Aubespine’s mission is surrounded with the greatest mystery; so much so that the English ambassadors in France have written to say that he was believed to have gone towards Italy. All I can find out here is a report that the Queen of France has given birth to a daughter and that the commission was sent to ask the Lady Elizabeth to hold her at the font. Some say that M. de L’Aubespine has been sent to visit the King and take the same opportunity to offer the King of France’s services to the Duke of Northumberland in the event of the King’s death; so that the French may know what to look for and how to conduct themselves, and whether it would not be possible to make some close alliance with England by means of a marriage with the said Elizabeth. The Duke’s and his party’s designs to deprive the Lady Mary of the succession to the crown are only too plain. They are evidently resolved to resort to arms against her, with the excuse of religion, among others; it is believed that they would rather give up Ireland to the French, or at least hold out hopes of it, than allow the Princess to mount the throne. As to the said Elizabeth, they are not too particular about her, and reasons for excluding her from the succession might easily be found. It is said that if the Duke of Northumberland felt himself well supported, he would find means to marry his eldest son, the Earl of Warwick, to the Lady Elizabeth, after causing him to divorce his wife, daughter of the late Duke of Somerset; or else that he might find it expedient to get rid of his own wife and marry the said Elizabeth himself, and claim the crown for the house of Warwick as descendants of the House of Lancaster.
The said gentlemen, Boisdauphin and L’Aubespine, took their leave of the King and Council on the date mentioned, the 28th, and they are to go away in a day or two. They will cross, it is said, from Dover to Calais, under escort of four English pinnaces. Boisdauphin has received a present of 1,000l. and gold plate to a higher value. Courtpennick’s (fn. 37) son, twenty to twenty-two years old, arrived here recently. He is a gentleman of the Duke of Northumberland’s suite. It is affirmed here that the King of France is collecting men in great numbers to go to the assistance of Thérouanne.
London, 30 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 29 May 2015].
