From The Mind of Merc - The Tudor Dynasty Portrait

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about the Dynasty or Succession portrait of Henry VIII which was painted c.1545.

In it, Henry is shown seated between his son, Edward, and his third wife, Jane Seymour, with his two other daughters – Mary and Elizabeth – depicted either side of the painting.

What is perhaps odd about this is that, at the time, Henry was actually married to Catherine Parr – his sixth wife. Although the replacement can be understandable given that Jane was the mother of Edward – his one son and heir – what intrigued me was Jane’s clothing.

The most well-known image of Jane Seymour is the ornate and detailed portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger which shows her attired in a rich red velvet gown whereas in the dynasty portrait she wears what is presumably a cloth of gold gown.

While there is a secondary posthumous image of Jane dressed in a gold gown, there is also a portrait of Catherine Parr (previously misidentified as Lady Jane Grey) in which she wears clothing which bears a striking resemblance to that worn by Jane Seymour in the dynasty painting – gold gown with ermine(?) sleeves and a red kirtle and foresleeves – even the pendant is identical (although this is likely due to it probably being a piece from the queen’s jewellery). 

Given the date of this portrait is also c.1545, it suggests that it is Catherine who is being depicted in – and presumably who sat for – the image and Jane’s head was superimposed at Henry’s instruction(?) – i.e. if the gold gown was not a hand-me-down to Catherine from a previous queen, then it is an item that belonged to, and was worn, by her and not Jane.

Associated with this is the fact that Jane and Catherine share several striking similarities:-
1.       Both women married Henry VIII (obviously) after his previous wife was executed:
       -      Jane’s marriage was on 30^th May 1536 – 11 days after Anne Boleyn’s execution)
       -      Catherine’s marriage was on 12^th July 1543 – 5 months after Catherine Howard’s execution)

2.       They both faced uncertainty and danger during their time as queen (and both ‘learned their lesson’):
       -      Jane attempted to speak up for the rebels of the Pilgrimage of Grace and was told to “Remember Anne” – she did and refrained from repeating her ‘error’
       -      Catherine had an arrest warrant issued for her following an argument – fortunately she learned of this and was able to dissuade the king from enacting it

3.       Both had only 1 child:

       -      Jane’s son, Edward, was born 12^th October 1537
       -      Catherine’s daughter, Mary, was born 30^th August 1548

4.       They both died shortly after the birth of their only child – presumably of ‘childbed’ or puerperal fever:

       -      Jane died 12 days after the birth of her son on 24^th October 1537
       -      Catherine died 6 days after the birth of her daughter on 5^th September 1548

5.       Both of their children died young:

       -      Edward died aged 15 on 6^th July 1553
       -      Mary is believed to have died around the age of 2 as no record of her exists after this time

6.       And, finally, they effectively ended up being related given Catherine’s last husband was Thomas Seymour – Jane’s brother.