François van der Delft (c. 1500 – 21 June 1550), was Imperial ambassador to the court of

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

from 1545 to 1547 and ambassador to the court of Edward VI of England from 1547 to 1550. Van der Delft came to England in 1545 to represent

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infa ...

. In the summer of 1545, after Chapuys' departure, he was officially introduced to King Henry aboard the

Henry Grace à Dieu ''Henry Grace à Dieu'' ("Henry, Thanks be to God"), also known as ''Great Harry'', was an English carrack or " great ship" of the King's Fleet in the 16th century, and in her day the largest warship in the world. Contemporary with '' Mary Ros ...

shortly before the Battle of the Solent. Under

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

, in 1550, as the Privy Council put pressure on Princess Mary to restrain the usage of her

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

, van der Delft suggested to her to flee England. He was recalled before anything came of this plan, and died shortly afterwards.Beer p. 105 He was replaced as ambassador by

Jean Scheyfve Jean or Jehan Scheyfve, (c.1515-13 July 1581), Lord of Sint-Agatha-Rode, was Chancellor of Brabant, head of the civilian administration of the Duchy of Brabant, from 1557 to 1579. He had earlier served as the ambassador of Charles V, Holy Roma ...

Notes

References

*Beer, B.L. (1973): ''Northumberland: The Political Career of John Dudley, Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland'' The Kent State University Press * Hutchinson, Robert (2006): ''The Last Days of Henry VIII: Conspiracy, Treason and Heresy at the Court of the dying Tyrant'' Phoenix People of the Tudor period Ambassadors to England 1500s births 1550 deaths Year of birth uncertain 16th-century diplomats Ambassadors of the Holy Roman Empire 16th-century people of the Holy Roman Empire {{germany-diplomat-stub