May 14, 1536

May 14, 1536: "Sir Nicholas Carew was sent on the orders of King Henry VIII to fetch Jane Seymour and bring her to Chelsea in London, about a mile from Henry's own lodgings.

Chapuys reported that Jane was "most richly dressed", and "splendidly served by the King's cook and other officers".

Earlier that month, Henry had decided that Carew should move Jane out of London to Carew's country residence. Just a few days earlier Chapuys had reported that Henry had "been going about banqueting with ladies, sometimes remaining after midnight, and returning by the river".

Chapuys would later refer to Jane as "no great beauty, so fair that one would call her rather pale than otherwise". He also doubted her modesty, writing, I leave you to judge whether, being English and having long frequented the Court, “si elle ne tiendroit pas a conscience de navoir pourveu et prevenu de savoir que cest de faire nopces.”

He further commented that "The said Semel [Seymour] is not a woman of great wit, but she may have good understanding (un bel enigm, qu. engin?)."

He did however, note (understandably) that she was inclined to favour Mary." - The Anne Boleyn Society

The King's second wife, Queen Anne Boleyn, would be headless in five days. Henry VIII would marry Jane Seymour just eleven days later.

(Elly Condron as Jane Seymour in 'Six Wives With Lucy Worsley')