Edward VI of England half-sister Mary would jeopardise the English Reformation, and Edward's Council and officers had many reasons to fear it. Edward himself opposed Mary's succession, not only on religious grounds but also on those of legitimacy and male inheritance, which also applied to Elizabeth. He composed a draft document, headed "My devise for the succession", in which he undertook to change the succession, most probably inspired by his father Henry VIII's precedent. He passed over the claims of his half-sisters and, at last, settled the Crown on his first cousin once removed, the 16-year-old Lady Jane Grey, who on 25 May 1553
Cultural depictions of Edward VI of England following actors, again mainly in versions of "The Prince and the Pauper": Sue Parrill and William B. Robison, "The Tudors on Film and Television" (McFarland, 2013). . Cultural depictions of Edward VI of England Edward VI of England has been depicted in popular culture a number of times. Edward VI is a central character in Mark Twain's novel "The Prince and the Pauper", in which the young prince and a pauper boy named Tom Canty, who bears a strikingly uncanny resemblance to Edward, deliberately exchange places. This ultimately leads to the eventual alarm and discomfort of both. Ultimately, both are