Edward VI (1537-1553) was the son of Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour. His mother died twelve days after he was born. Edward became king at age nine, upon the death of his father on January 28, 1547. Edward seems to have been especially close to his older sister Elizabeth. The business of government was largely conducted on his behalf by his mother's eldest brother, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, and then by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, the father of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Edward died on July 6, 1553, three months before his sixteenth birthday.