Book Alert / Edward VI -- The Lost King of England

Edward VI -- The Lost King of England by Chris Skidmore, St. Martin's Press '07, $27.95, 346 pages, ISBN #0-312-35142-9. Index, select bibliography, source notes, grouping of b&w glossy images.

Cautionary note to future world leaders: If you contemplate a monarchy, consider appointing an adult to head it. Not that adults are all they're cracked up to be, come to think of it. Take Britain's King Henry VIII, for example. During his reign, as author Chris Skidmore writes, "little had remained untouched: the monasteries and friaries had been ripped down, the pope's authority discarded, and new authoritarian laws had been introduced that placed his subjects under constant fear of death."

So understandably, not a few breathed a deep sigh on Henry's passing and hoped life under nine-year-old Edward VI would be better. But, as this Oxford honors graduate tells us, "True power lay in the hands of the boy's uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, and his Protestant sympathizers. Somerset's authority was challenged by his own brother, Thomas Seymour, who seduced and married Queen Katherine Parr, pursued Princess Elizabeth and was later accused of having kidnapped Edward at gunpoint." Both competitors for power lost their heads in the struggle.

On a policy level, Edward VI's reign is noted mainly for religious reforms, "how the Church moved so far along Protestant lines that Mary (Edward's sister) would be unable to turn the clock back." Through it all, the King showed himself to be a child prodigy, offering hope of a long, productive reign. Though its cause was illness, not the sword, Edward's untimely death at age 15 was a grievous loss for the nation.