Edward VI became king of England and Ireland in 1547 at the age of nine. Government initially lay with a council dominated by his uncle Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, who assumed the title lord protector. Somerset continued war against Scotland, winning at Pinkie in 1547 but failing to secure the intended marriage alliance with Mary, Queen of Scots. War costs and social tensions strained the regime.

Edward's reign accelerated the Protestant Reformation. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and the government introduced worship in English, removed traditional images, and permitted clerical marriage. The Book of Common Prayer of 1549 and its more explicitly Protestant revision in 1552 transformed parish religious practice. Edward took an active interest in doctrine and opposed the Catholic observances maintained by his half-sister Mary, although his political independence remained limited.

Rebellions in 1549 challenged both religious change and local social conditions. The western rising opposed the new service book, while Kett's Rebellion in Norfolk concerned enclosure and abuses of authority. Somerset lost power to a coalition led by John Dudley, later duke of Northumberland. The new government ended the wars, pursued financial stability, and continued Protestant reform. Somerset was eventually executed in 1552 after renewed political conflict.

As Edward became seriously ill in 1553, he attempted to redirect the succession away from his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth to Lady Jane Grey. Religious conviction and Northumberland's dynastic interests both shaped this plan, which conflicted with the existing statutory succession. Edward died on July 6, and Jane was proclaimed queen, but support rapidly gathered around Mary. The council abandoned Jane, and Mary's accession reversed the immediate settlement. Edward's reign established religious changes that influenced later English Protestantism. His role combined religious conviction with dependence on powerful councillors.