Edward VI (1547). Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. Hans Holbein the Younger's painting, The Triumph of Riches and the Triumph of Poverty, features Edward VI as a young prince, surrounded by allegorical figures representing virtues and vices. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, and England's first monarch to be raised as a Protestant. During his reign, the realm was governed by a regency council because he never reached maturity. The council was first led by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, and then by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick, who from 1551 was Duke of Northumberland. Edward's reign was marked by economic problems and social unrest that in 1549 erupted into riot and rebellion. An expensive war with Scotland, at first successful, ended with military withdrawal from Scotland and Boulogne-sur-Mer in exchange for peace. The transformation of the Church of England into a recognisably Protestant body also occurred under Edward, who took great interest in religious matters. Although his father, HenryVIII, had severed the link between the Church and Rome, HenryVIII had never permitted the renunciation of Catholic doctrine or ceremony. It was during Edward's reign that Protestantism was established for the first time in England with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the Mass, and the imposition of compulsory services in English. In February 1553, at age 15, Edward fell ill. When his sickness was discovered to be terminal, he and his Council drew up a Devise for the Succession, to prevent the country's return to Catholicism. Edward named his first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir, excluding his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. This decision was disputed following Edward's death, and Jane was deposed by Mary nine days after becoming queen. During her reign, Mary reversed Edward's Protestant reforms, which nonetheless became the basis of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement of 1559. Edward was born on 12 October 1537 in his mother's room inside Hampton Court Palace, in Middlesex. He was the son of King Henry VIII by his third wife, Jane Seymour. Throughout the realm, the people greeted the birth of a male heir, whom we hungered for so long, with joy and relief. Te Deums were sung in churches, bonfires lit, and their was shott at the Tower that night above two thousand gonnes. Queen Jane, appearing to recover quickly from the birth, sent out personally signed letters announcing the birth of a Prince, conceived in most lawful matrimony between my Lord the King's Majesty and us. Edward was christened on 15 October, with his half-sisters, the 21-year-old Lady Mary as godmother and the 4-year-old Lady Elizabeth carrying the chrisom; and the Garter King of Arms proclaimed him as Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester. The Queen, however, fell ill on 23 October from presumed postnatal complications, and died the following night. Henry VIII wrote to Francis I of France that Divine Providence. hath mingled my joy with bitterness of the death of her who brought me this happiness. Edward was a healthy baby who suckled strongly from the outset. His father was delighted with him; in May 1538, Henry was observed dallying with him in his arms. and so holding him in a window to the sight and great comfort of the people. That September, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Audley, reported Edward's rapid growth and vigour; and other accounts describe him as a tall and merry child. The tradition that Edward VI was a sickly boy has been challenged by more recent historians. At the age of four, he fell ill with a life-threatening quartan fever, but, despite occasional illnesses and poor eyesight, he enjoyed generally good health until the last six months of his life. Edward was initially placed in the care of Margaret Bryan, lady mistress of the prince's household. She was succeeded by Blanche Herbert, Lady Troy. Until the age of six, Edward was brought up, as he put it later in his Chronicle, among the women. The formal royal household established around Edward was, at first, under Sir William Sidney, and later Sir Richard Page, stepfather of Edward Seymour's wife, Anne Stanhope. Henry demanded exacting standards of security and cleanliness in his son's household, stressing that Edward was this whole realm's most precious jewel.