The Imperial ambassador to England, Francis Van der Delft, was at Calais in January 1549, as he waited for a break in the stormy weather to continue his journey back to his post. On 27 January, he fell into conversation with two English messengers, both trying to make their own way across the Channel. They told him quite a tale, which he duly set down in a report to his master, Emperor Charles V.

On the night of 16 January 1549, the quiet of Westminster Palace had been broken by frantic barking outside the kings chamber. On being woken, Sir Michael Stanhope, who slept in the kings chamber, groped for a light before rushing to the door. There, he found the dog stone dead and immediately cried out Help! Murder! as everyone in the vicinity came running. Whoever had killed the dog had fled in the commotion. Yet, there were those at court who had seen Thomas Seymour  uncle to the king and brother of the Lord Protector - lurking there that night, while the guards testified that he had scattered their watch by giving them various errands to run on his behalf.

Further details also later emerged. With a key given to him by one of the kings chamberlains, Thomas had been able to open the door to the room adjoining the kings bedchamber, which he entered in the dead of night, accompanied by unnamed accomplices. There he disturbed a little dog, who usually slept in the kings bedroom and was his most faithful guardian. The animal had been accidentally left outside the door that night and, on hearing Seymour, he rushed at him barking, only for the Admiral to run him through with his dagger. At once, a guard entered and challenged the intruder, who said, visibly trembling, that he wished to know whether the prince was safely guarded before fleeing home.

The council tried at once to hush this up but word leaked out. It was quickly all over Calais that Thomas had tried to take the king away secretly from the guardianship of the Protector. Independently, the Emperor in Brussels received word that Thomas had entered the kings chamber by night (at an undue hour), accompanied by a party of armed men. Even the powerful councillor Sir William Paget confirmed the story, later telling Van der Delft that the final straw for the Protector had come when his brother had been discovered in the palace late at night, with a large company of men, while the dog that kept watch at the kings door was found dead. It was the rash move of a man who knew his earlier plotting was soon to be uncovered. His contemporaries were adamant, that he had intended to take the king into his custody, before murdering both the boy and his eldest sister, Princess Mary, before claiming the throne as Princess Elizabeths husband.

There was no evidence that Thomas meant to murder the king but, he almost certainly tried to take the boy that night. Later, he would be accused of trying to instil into his graces head the idea that he should take upon himself the government and managing of his own affairs. In his multiple evening visits to court the week before, did he meet with the king and plan his abduction with him? It would seem plausible that the bedchamber key had been given to him at Edwards command, since none of his attendants (including Seymours friend, John Fowler, who would be the most likely suspect) were ever accused of this.

Only a few weeks later Seymour, while at his lowest ebb, wrote the verse forgetting God to love a king hath been my rod, or else nothing. By 7 February Thomass vigorous protests of innocence were all based on the claim that he had the kings confidence and approval in everything he had planned. It was not treason to do as the king asked. He probably hoped to collect Elizabeth at Hatfield on the way out of London, before taking both the king and the princess to Holt Castle or Bewdley, where he had laid provisions, to weather the resulting storm. Unfortunately, for him, by leaving his dog in the chamber outside his bedroom, the boy botched his escape attempt.