Hans Holbein the Younger - Charles Brandon (Royal Collection)

Charles Brandon, 3rd Duke of Suffolk (12 October 1537 – 14 July 1551), known as Lord Charles Brandon until shortly before his death, was the son of the 1st Duke of Suffolk and the ''suo jure'' 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. His father had previously been married to Mary Tudor, sister of

King Henry VIII 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 ...

. Following Mary's death, he had married Lady Willoughby de Eresby, who had been originally intended as the bride of his son Henry. In 1541, Lord Charles Brandon and his older brother Lord Henry Brandon had their miniatures painted by

Hans Holbein the Younger Hans Holbein the Younger ( , ; german: Hans Holbein der Jüngere; – between 7 October and 29 November 1543) was a German-Swiss painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered one of the greatest por ...

. He died of the

sweating sickness Sweating sickness, also known as the sweats, English sweating sickness, English sweat or ''sudor anglicus'' in Latin, was a mysterious and contagious disease that struck England and later continental Europe in a series of epidemics beginning ...

one hour after the same disease claimed his elder brother Henry (who had succeeded their father as 2nd Duke of Suffolk in 1545), and because of this holds the record for the shortest tenure of a British peerage. (The 2nd Baron Stamp may claim a shorter tenure, but merely through a

legal fiction A legal fiction is a fact assumed or created by courts, which is then used in order to help reach a decision or to apply a legal rule. The concept is used almost exclusively in common law jurisdictions, particularly in England and Wales. Deve ...

.) Suffolk died without issue and his title became extinct. They died at the Bishop of Lincoln's Palace, Buckden, in the village of Buckden near

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cr ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

, where they had fled in an attempt to escape the epidemic. A solemn celebration of the funerals of the two Dukes, called a '

Month's Mind A month's mind is a requiem mass celebrated about one month after a person's death, in memory of the deceased.mon ...

', was held on 22 September 1551 with all the funeral equipment in duplicate.Strype, John, ''Ecclesiastical Memoirs'', vol. 2 part 1, Oxford (1822), 496. The

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

intellectuals Thomas Wilson and Walter Haddon wrote a life of Suffolk and his older brother shortly after their death.

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