How did Lady Jane Grey become queen?

You may have seen Amazon Prime’s latest period drama, My Lady Jane, a fantastical take on the story of Lady Jane Grey, the nine day queen, based on the book of the same name. . If so, you might be wondering just how much of the series is based on history – obviously, we can’t prove that people can turn into animals on a whim, but we can prove that Jane was declared queen and that she was deposed by her cousin Mary, who went on to become Mary I.

For some, Lady Jane doesn’t count as one of England’s monarchs. After all, she was only on the throne for nine days and there is evidence to suggest that she was put there because of the machinations of powerful men who wanted to claim the throne for themselves. Whether you think that Jane should have been allowed to rule or you think Mary had the right to storm in and kill everyone, you might be wondering how Jane ended up as a contender for the throne in the first place.

Whichever side of the argument you find yourself, it isn’t disputed that King Edward, coerced or not, did name Jane Grey as his heir. It is also fact that she was a member of the royal family and grew up alongside her royal cousins.

So, let’s take a look at how she ended up as the heir.  

In order to answer this question, we have to go back to the reign of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. We all know about their famous son, Henry VIII, but they actually had several other children. The ones that survived infancy were Arthur, the Prince of Wales, Margaret, Henry and Mary.

Now, Arthur was married to Catherine of Aragon, but then died of the sweating sickness, paving the way for Henry to swoop in, marry (and then divorce) Catherine and become King. Margaret was married to the King of Scotland, she was queen for a bit, but then her husband was killed in a battle with the English (which must have been a bit awkward at family get togethers) and she remarried and was exiled. Her children did continue the Stuart dynasty in Scotland and later in England though, so swings and roundabouts.

For Lady Jane’s story though, we need to focus on the youngest of Henry VIII’s siblings, Mary.

Mary was married to the King of France, who was considerably older than she was. Luckily for Mary, he died shortly after, which made her the Dowager Queen of France – quite a title. She returned to England and got together with her brother’s best friend, Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk.

Mary died at the age of 37, but not before having four children, her oldest daughter, Frances, was a regular at court and as the King’s niece had all the luxuries one might expect, including an advantageous marriage to Henry Grey the Marquess of Dorset. This marriage produced three daughters, Lady Jane Grey, Lady Katherine Grey and Lady Mary Grey.

So, basically, Lady Jane Grey was the great niece of King Henry VIII and a cousin to his children, the princesses Mary and Elizabeth and the prince Edward.

As members of the extended royal family and children of the Marquess of Dorset, Jane and her sisters were raised as nobles and spent time at the court of their great uncle. Her mother, Frances, became good friends with Catherine Parr, aka wife number 6, and this secured places in the queen’s household for her children. Catherine Parr had a good relationship with the Princess Elizabeth, so Lady Jane spent a lot of time with her – the pair were educated together, providing Jane with an education that was considered to be above her station.

Catherine Parr is credited with reuniting Henry VIII with his children and talked him into increasing the succession to include his daughters. This change in the succession meant that Henry overlooked Frances, her siblings and the descendants of his sister Margaret, but did include Frances’ children. So, in the succession act passed by Henry VIII, Lady Jane was in line for the throne, after Mary and Elizabeth.

When Henry VIII died, his nine year old son Edward became king and Jane, along with Elizabeth followed Catherine Parr to her new residence, which included many of Edward’s inner circle. Catherine would go on to marry Thomas Seymour, Edward’s maternal uncle. Thomas Seymour and his brother Edward, liked to say that they had their nephew’s best interests at heart, but many would disagree. They both ended up being executed, but we’ll come back to that.

As Edward was still a child, he had a Regency Council appointed to him who would rule in his stead, this included his uncles. They of course wanted to ensure an heir, so one of their top priorities was finding Edward a wife. One potential candidate was the future Mary Queen of Scots but Thomas Seymour’s preferred candidate was Lady Jane Grey. Was this because she was under his care and therefore would be easy to manipulate? Who knows.

We do know that when his wife, Catherine Parr died, Thomas did attempt to marry Elizabeth, who was a literal child, and demanded that Jane stay in his care, even though she was returned to her parents.

Thomas Seymour was so intent on having access to the crown that he killed the king’s dog and attempted to abduct him. Initially, Jane’s family were implicated in his crimes, but were found innocent and Jane continued to receive the King’s favour.

So, Lady Jane Grey was the great niece of Henry VIII, second cousin to King Edward VI and in the care of the Dowager Queen of England. All making sense so far? Right, let’s continue then!

Following the downfall of the Seymour brothers, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland took over as Lord Protector and de facto ruler. This promotion made him the most powerful man in the country and some say, that like Thomas Seymour, this went to his head. He knew the King wasn’t long for this world, he also knew that Edward was wary about appointing his sister Mary as his heir – Mary was a Catholic and her becoming queen would undo years of securing Protestantism across England. Edward, being young, and already concerned about the potential fall out of Mary being next in line, could be influenced – so Dudley did some influencing.

The first part of his scheme was to plant the seed about changing the line of succession to include Lady Jane Grey. Then he arranged a marriage between her and his son, Guildford Dudley. Jane was 16, Guildford was 18. To some, this looked like your average marriage between aristocrats and was politically important, it brought together two prominent protestant families. However, any children from the marriage would be part of the royal family AND Dudley’s grandchildren. With Jane next in line for the throne, Dudley could guarantee that his grandson be the next king of England. (He almost got his wish twice, his youngest son, Robert Dudley was Elizabeth’s childhood best friend and went on to have a long term relationship with her. If Elizabeth hadn’t been assaulted by Thomas Seymour in her youth and Robert wasn’t implicated in his wife’s death, could he have been married to the queen and produced a Dudley heir? We’ll never know.)

So, Jane and Guildford were married. It is said that Jane had to be literally beaten into agreeing to the marriage, we know that she was intelligent, so probably didn’t fancy having to submit to a husband she barely knew, but whether her parents actually beat her into submission, is lost to history. If not choosing your own husband wasn’t insult enough, she had to share her wedding day, venue, priest, guests, all of it with two other people. Her younger sister Katherine and Guildford’s sister, also called Katherine.

King Edward was seriously ill by this time and now Dudley had a royal daughter in law. So, you can guess what happened next. Edward, aware that the issue of succession was becoming more and more urgent, sought the advice of his council and then drafted the Devise for the Succession. This document passed over both his sisters and his aunt Frances, who was technically, his next closest relative. Instead, he chose Jane and her male heirs. His aunt Frances was outraged to have been passed over for the second time – however, after a private meeting with the King, she began to favour Jane.

How did Jane feel about this?
Well, about the same as she felt about being married.

Four days after the death of Edward, the announcement was made and Jane Grey was named queen on 10^th July 1553. Reports from the time say that she was reluctant and had to be “convinced by her mother” to accept the title. How this convincing was done, we couldn’t say.

So, was everyone happy now?
Nope.

Though she had accepted that Edward wanted her to be queen, Jane refused to name her husband Guildford king. Naturally, the Dudleys were a little upset by this, but Edward’s sister Mary had the biggest bone to pick. She rallied the nobility and massed an army, riding to London to claim the throne as her own.

Just nine days after being given the crown, Jane had it taken from her by the force of Mary’s army, she was officially deposed on 19^th July.

So that’s that then?
Well, no, she may have only been queen for nine days, but she wasn’t immediately executed by her dear cousin. Mary did have the entire Grey family arrested, Frances requested an audience, in which she accused the Dudleys of engineering the whole plot, even going so far as to claim that John Dudley had been poisoning Jane, in the hope that she would die early and Guildford would be king in his own right. Mary saw that Jane was a pawn and promised to pardon her after the coronation. She released the rest of the family but then Henry Grey, Jane’s father ended up being part of a revolt that aimed to put Elizabeth on the throne, which rather hampered Mary’s generosity.

Jane ended up being imprisoned at the Tower of London in the Gentleman Gaoler’s Apartments, her husband Guildford Dudley was put in the Bell Tower. Guildford’s brothers and father, along with Jane’s father were also arrested and held in the other towers.

Around six months into her reign, Mary had John Dudley and Henry Grey executed for treason. The following year on 12^th February 1554, Jane and Guildford, along with Thomas Cranmer, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII and Edward VI, were all tried and executed for treason.

After the trial, Jane was sentenced to either being burned alive on Tower Hill or beheaded as the queen pleases. It is said that Mary was troubled by executing her cousin, but as she is known as Bloody Mary, we’re not sure just how true that actually is.

The day before their execution, Guildford asked to speak to Jane for one last time but she refused. They did see each other again however, he was taken down to be executed first. His body was transported back to the Tower and passed Jane on her way down to Tower Green. She was said to have cried his name when she saw him. The pair were buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula on the north side of Tower Green, no memorial stone was erected to mark their final resting place.

That isn’t where the story of the Greys and the line of succession ends, however. Mary took pity on her aunt Frances and her remaining children. They lived in poverty but were kept as part of Mary’s household, with Frances going on to marry Adrian Stokes, her Master of the Horse.

The family remained part of the royal court following Mary’s death and the ascension of Elizabeth. And, like her siblings, as Elizabeth didn’t have an heir, both the youngest Grey sisters and their offspring were considered to be prospective heirs. As we know though, this didn’t happen and Elizabeth instead named a different cousin, James Stuart, the King of Scotland.

It could have all been different however.

Katherine Grey had two sons, the last Tudor boys, either of which could have been named as heir, if only Katherine hadn’t upset Elizabeth by secretly marrying Edward Seymour – the son of the afore mentioned Edward Seymour that lost his head while looking after Elizabeth’s brother.

Katherine and Edward jnr made the mistake of not having more than one witness at their wedding, which threw the legitimacy of their children into question. Also, not inviting Elizabeth to the wedding. She had them both imprisoned in the Tower of London and Katherine would die before the age of 30 of consumption.

The youngest Grey sister, Mary served as one of Elizabeth’s maids of honour and didn’t learn from Katherine’s mistakes. She also married without permission and had the audacity to choose someone that the court found wholly unsuitable. Elizabeth confined Mary to house arrest and her husband was sent to Fleet prison, they never saw each other again. Mary did return to the queen’s favour eventually though, if her lavish funeral was anything to go by.

So, there you have it, how Lady Jane Grey ended up in line for the throne.

You can learn more about Lady Jane Grey here