July first was his last public appearance, when he showed himself in his window at Greenwich Palace, shocking those below with his gaunt, sickly appearance. Finally, on 6 July 1553, after roughly seven months of suffering, the boy King died at Greenwich, reportedly muttering, "I am faint; Lord have mercy upon me, and take my spirit."
The fact that Edward died when he was only fifteen years old leads some people to believe that he was a sickly child. This is similar to the Arthur Tudor debate - Was he really a sick boy, or did he simply fall ill and die young? It's certainly not a surprising event for a child to die during the Tudor Dynasty. Diseases ran rampant in the 16th-century, and medical care was mediocre at best. Children and adolescents died all the time, so I don't think it is necessary to jump to the "sickly child" theory right off the bat. Like Arthur Tudor, there were no reports of Edward being a weak or unhealthy child. In fact, quite the opposite was stated. He was reported to be a healthy child who "suckled regularly." No mention was given of him being weak or otherwise affected by illness. Therefore, I think it is safe to say that he quite unfortunately fell ill at this time in his life without any proper remedy to save his life.
This death was a big deal for England. Not only did they lose their Protestant King, but they were faced with the somewhat nerve-wrecking prospect of having his older sister, Mary Tudor ascend the throne and attempt to turn the country back to Catholicism. Of course, Edward had other plans and instead named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his heir (a fellow Protestant), but this would only last nine days, until Mary would swarm England with her retinue of supporters and kick Jane off the throne. Although it was a good effort on Edward's part, his death would still lead to the somewhat scary reign of Mary Tudor.
Certainly a sad day in Tudor history - I'm only glad King Henry VIII wasn't around to see his only legitimate son, his precious boy, die as he did.
Rest in Peace, Edward!