Jane Seymour

* Current West End portrayal
* Current Broadway portrayal
* Historical

**Jane Seymour** (or **Jane Semel**) was the third wife of Henry VIII and the one who died during the marriage. She is widely believed to be the woman Henry VIII actually loved out of his six wives, and didn't pursue for alliances or simply because of her beauty. Her solo in the musical is *Heart of Stone*, where she sings about how she will always love Henry even through hard times.

## Appearance

### Main

Jane's main outfit consists of a dress with a white-and-black bodice and a black skirt and sleeves. She wears tights, black shoes, and a crown of very small spikes with her hair half-pulled back. Her nails are painted black.

### Swings

When portrayed by a swing or alternate, Jane wears that actress's respective performing costume, with her hair half-pulled back and a crown of very small spikes.

### History

* *"a woman of the utmost charm in both character and appearance"*
* *"the fairest of all the King's wives"*
* *"of middling stature and very pale"* (from Wikipedia)

## In History

Jane was born around 1508. She went on to serve Queen Catherine and Queen Anne, and Henry first became interested in her some time before Anne's beheading. It is believed that Henry started courting her while still married to Anne, and made up reasons to divorce and kill Anne so he could publicly court Jane. Jane and Henry became betrothed the day after Anne's beheading, and married on May 30th, 1536. However, she was never formally crowned queen due to the plague in London and perhaps some hesitation on Henry's part. She didn't do much in ways of political affairs, but was popular with the public because of her kind and compassionate nature.

Jane became pregnant around Christmastime of 1536, but lost the child. In January of the next year, she became pregnant again, and had the child in October of that year after a month of confinement. Her son, Edward, was Henry's only legitimate son to survive. The pregnancy was very difficult, however, and Jane died soon after, due to many possible reasons. She may have gotten sick from an infection that developed during pregnancy, or due to problems with the placenta. Jane was the only queen to get a queen's funeral and be buried next to Henry VIII.

## In SIX

Jane is portrayed to be maternal and caring, but also soft-spoken and gentle. She touches on the fact that she is thought to be the only queen Henry loved in her solo *Heart of Stone*, which explains that even through struggles, she will always love Henry. Her ideal ending, explained in *Six*, is to have stayed alive with her family and get to see her son grow up, and start a band with them. She reprises *Heart of Stone* in *Megasix*.

### Portrayal history

**Original Edinburgh and Cambridge production**

* Holly Musgrave

**Original Off-West End production**

* Natalie Paris

**West End productions**

* Natalie Paris (First and second West End productions)
* Claudia Kariuki (Third and fourth West End productions)

**UK tours**

* Natalie Paris (First UK tour)
* Lauren Byrne (Second UK tour)
* Carly Dyer (Second UK tour)
* Caitlin Tipping (Third UK tour)
* Casey Al-Shaqsy (Fourth UK tour)

**Broadway productions**

* Abby Mueller (First Broadway production)
* Keri Fuller (First Broadway production)
* Bella Coppola (Second Broadway production)

**North American tours**

* Abby Mueller (First North American tour)
* Jasmine Forberg (North American Aragon tour)
* Amina Faye (North American Boleyn tour)

**Bliss Cruise productions**

* Caitlin Tipping (First Bliss Cruise production)
* Gabriella Stylianou-Burns (Second Bliss Cruise production)
* Wesley Carpenter (Third Bliss Cruise production)
* Ellie Wyman (Fourth Bliss Cruise production)
* Kathryn Kilger (Fifth Bliss Cruise production)

**Breakaway Cruise productions**

* Amy Bridges (First Breakaway Cruise production)
* Elizabeth Walker (Second Breakaway Cruise production)
* Shelby Griswold (Third Breakaway Cruise production)
* Jasmine Hackett (Fourth Breakaway Cruise production)

**Australia/New Zealand tours**

* Loren Hunter (First and second AUSNZ tours)

**South Korean productions**

* Park Hye-na (First South Korean production)
* Park Ga-ram (First South Korean production)
* Casey Al-Shaqsy (First South Korean production)

## Trivia

* In the musical, Jane's 'queenspirations' were Adele and Sia.
* In an Instagram story, Toby Marlow stated that if Six were to be made into a movie, he would like either Demi Lovato or Lady Gaga to play Jane.
* Jane references the Rolling Stones, most likely because of their song about her, or because of their song *Heart of Stone*, which shares its name with her solo in the show.
* Jane was Anne Boleyn's and Catherine Howard's second cousin.