Editing Edward VI (section)

===Illness and death===
Edward had become ill in January 1553 with a fever and cough that gradually worsened. The [[List of ambassadors of the Holy Roman Empire to England|imperial ambassador]], [[Jean Scheyfve]], reported, "he suffers a good deal when the fever is upon him, especially from a difficulty in drawing his breath, which is due to the compression of the organs on the right side".{{Sfn|Skidmore|2007|pp=244–245}}

Edward felt well enough in early April to take the air in the park at Westminster and to move to Greenwich, but by the end of the month he had weakened again. By 7 May he was "much amended", and the royal doctors had no doubt of his recovery. A few days later the king was watching the ships on the Thames, sitting at his window.{{Sfn|Loades|1996|p=238}} But he relapsed, and on 11 June, Scheyfve, who had an informant in the king's household, reported, "the matter he ejects from his mouth is sometimes coloured a greenish yellow and black, sometimes pink, like the colour of blood".{{Sfn|Loach|1999|p=159}} Now his doctors believed he was suffering from "a suppurating tumour" of the lung and that his life was beyond recovery.<ref>{{Harvnb|Loach|1999|p=160}}; {{Harvnb|Skidmore|2007|p=254}}.</ref> Soon, his legs became so swollen that he had to lie on his back, and he lost the strength to resist the disease. To his tutor John Cheke he whispered, "I am glad to die".{{Sfn|Skidmore|2007|p=254}}

Edward made his final appearance in public on 1 July, when he showed himself at his window in Greenwich Palace, horrifying those who saw him by his "thin and wasted" condition. During the next two days, large crowds arrived hoping to see the king again, but on 3 July, they were told that the weather was too chilly for him to appear. Edward died at the age of 15 at [[Greenwich Palace]] at 8&nbsp;pm on 6 July 1553. According to [[John Foxe]]'s account of his death, his last words were: "I am faint; Lord have mercy upon me, and take my spirit".<ref>{{Harvnb|Skidmore|2007|p=258}}; {{Harvnb|Loach|1999|p=167}}. See Foxe's ''Acts and monuments,'' VI, 352.</ref>

Edward was buried on 8 August 1553 immediately to the west of his grandfather Henry VII's tomb in the [[Henry VII Lady Chapel|Lady Chapel]] at Westminster Abbey, right under the Chapel's original altar, with reformed rites performed by Thomas Cranmer. The procession was led by "a grett company of chylderyn in ther surples" and watched by Londoners "wepyng and lamenting"; the funeral chariot, draped in cloth of gold, was topped by an effigy of Edward, with crown, sceptre, and garter.{{Sfn|Loach|1999|pp=167–169}} A monument was designed but not realised, leaving Edward's burial place unmarked until 1966, when an inscribed stone was laid in the chapel floor by [[Christ's Hospital]] school to commemorate its founder. The inscription reads: "In Memory Of King Edward VI Buried In This Chapel This Stone Was Placed Here By Christ's Hospital In Thanksgiving For Their Founder 7 October 1966".<ref>{{cite web |title=Edward Vi |website=Westminster Abbey |url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/edward-vi |access-date=23 September 2019 |archive-date=2 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402091552/https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/edward-vi |url-status=live }}</ref>

The cause of Edward VI's death is not certain. As with many royal deaths in the 16th century, rumours of poisoning abounded, but no evidence has been found to support them.<ref>{{Harvnb|Loach|1999|p=160}}; {{Harvnb|Jordan|1970|p=520''n''1}}</ref> The Duke of Northumberland, whose unpopularity was underlined by the events that followed Edward's death, was widely believed to have ordered the imagined poisoning.{{Sfn|Dickens|1967|p=352}} Another theory held that Edward had been poisoned by Catholics seeking to bring Mary to the throne.{{Sfn|Skidmore|2007|pp=258–259}} The surgeon who opened Edward's chest after his death found that "the disease whereof his majesty died was the disease of the lungs".<ref name = Sk260>{{Harvnb|Skidmore|2007|p=260}}.</ref> The Venetian ambassador reported that Edward had died of consumption—in other words, [[tuberculosis]]—a diagnosis many historians accept.{{Sfn|Loach|1999|p=161}} Skidmore believes that Edward contracted tuberculosis after a bout of [[measles]] and [[smallpox]] in 1552 that suppressed his natural immunity to the disease.<ref name="Sk260"/> Loach suggests instead that his symptoms were typical of acute [[bronchopneumonia]], leading to a "suppurating pulmonary infection" or [[lung abscess]], [[septicaemia]] and [[kidney failure]].<ref name =Ldeath>{{Harvnb|Loach|1999|pp=159–162}}.</ref>