Gilt Blog Tour: Tudor Tuesday - Jane Seymour

Welcome to the third stop for the Tudor Tuesdays Blog Tour! Read on to find out about, Jane Seymour, who was known as Henry’s most beloved wife, an amazing teaser from Gilt and a giveaway! Make sure you grab the highlighted word as you'll need that to enter the giveaway at the end of alll the posts! Have fun and good luck!

Bio:

Jane Seymour, the third consort of Henry the Eighth, was born about the year 1504.

For six years Jane Seymour had been the lady in waiting to Anne Boleyn. Though Henry was interested in Jane, she was not willing while he was married. Jane's sweet and charming demeanour captured Henry's heart and they married just days after Anne was beheaded. Jane Seymour was the only one of Henry's wives to fulfil a Tudor queen's ultimate role -- the birth of a legitimate son. For this, she would be regarded as Henry the VIII's best wife.

But, ironically, unlike her predecessors, Jane Seymour was never crowned queen. Rumour had it that the king had postponed Jane's coronation until she proved herself capable of bearing heirs. The real reason though was that there weren’t enough funds to host the ceremony. The date was slotted for October 1536 -- within ten months of their wedding. But when October came, an outbreak of the plague and a series of uprisings in England's North prevented the ceremony from taking place. To pacify the rebels, Henry agreed to their demands that when the queen was crowned it would take place in the North, at York -- a promise that went unfulfilled.

Days later after giving birth, Jane fell ill from puerperal fever, a common cause of death for women after childbirth during that time. The queen made a slight recovery, but on October 23 Henry was summoned to his wife's bedside. Hours later, Jane died quietly in her sleep. She was 28 years old and had been queen for just 18 months. In his later years, Henry would remember his time with Jane as the happiest in his life. When Henry died in 1547, he left instructions to be buried with Jane, his most beloved of all his wives.

Teaser:

Kitty!” A girlish cry nearly dropped me to my knees. “Joan! Alice! I’m so glad you’re here!”

We turned to see Cat scampering the length of the great hall, dukes, duchesses, and courtiers scattering, bowing, and curtseying in her wake. Everyone watched her progress to see whom the queen considered important enough to greet with such ecstasy. The sleeves of her crimson gown billowed, tucked in at the wrists by gold-embroidered cuffs. A series of pearl-and-ruby ropes hung around her neck, anchored by a gold pendant enameled with a brilliant crowned rose.

Jane pinched my sleeve and I followed her into a curtsey of my own. It felt so strange making obeisance to my best friend.

“Oh, stand up for pity’s sake,” she cried, and threw her arms around me.

“Kitty,” she said, and then whispered in my ear, “finally, someone I can talk to!”

Giveaway - The Low Down:

Make sure you grab the highlighted word from my post and all the rest to enter to win one of 3 GILT prize packs. 3 people will receive a finished copy of the book, and some GILT bookmarks.

To enter fill in the Rafflecopter below once you have the words to complete this sentence

In the ____ of King ____ VIII, who you ____ can get you in, but ___ you ____ can get you ______

-     Contest is open to residents of the US only

-          Entrants must be 13 years of age or older

-          The winners have 72 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen

-          Please do not put your email address in the comment

a Rafflecopter giveaway