Lady+Jane+Grey

=**//__Lady Jane Grey __//**= = =

Lady Jane Grey was born in Leicestershire in 1537. She was the daughter of Henry Grey, who was later Duke of Suffolk. Her mother, Lady Frances Brandon, was also born of a royal family. There has been some debate on whether or not Jane should be included as a "Tudor Monarch" but there is no denying her story is intriguing enough to tell.

Early Life Lady Jane Grey was a very educated woman. She spent her childhood life living at home with her parents and learning many different languages such as Greek, Latin, French, and also Hebrew from many different tutors. In her family education was started at a very early age and he was brought up as a Protestant and in her family it was very strict.

At the age of nine Jane was sent to her aunt, Katherine Parr for proper social etiquette classes. Katherine was very much like a motherly figure to Jane. When Katherina died, Jane was the chief mourner at her funeral. After Katherine died, Seymour who was Katherine's last husband promised Jane's parents that he would ensure Jane's marriage to Kind Edward VI who was only nine at the time but then got executed for treason.

Marriage After the death of Seymour, Jane fell under the influence of John Dudley who was the Duke of Northumberland. Dudley was Edwards chief advisor at the time. In 1553 Jane married Dudley's son, Lord Guilford Dudley. Jane marrying Dudley's son was only part of a plan so that she could get the throne to the Dudley family.



Northumberland managed to change Edward VI to change the order of succession so that Jane would be the next to get the throne. His argument was that Jane was Protestant and if Mary received the throne then everything would change back to Catholicism would be disastrous for England. Dudley figured that if his daughter-in-law was queen and his son was king then his influence on royal policy would be strong and he could enhance the power he already had.


 * Claiming The Throne **

Lady Jane Grey succeeded to the throne at the age 15, when Edward died on July 6th 1553. It wasn't till July 10th that they read the proclamation. Her reign only lasted nine days. Mary, her cousin, was very against her being queen and she would do anything to change it. The people of England rallied around Mary Tudor, they had became so used to having someone of the family as queen. Because of her name everyone wanted her to be queen so she gained the support of the majority.

**Trial and Execution** On July 19th Mary Tudor became queen and ordered Jane to be sent to the Tower of London. Dudley's plan to be powerful back fired as his army fled and left him all alone. His army feared a Tudor backlash and knew they would not be successful. To make things worse for Jane her father joined the failed rebellion that was led by Sir Thomas Wyatt in 1554. If her father wouldn't have joined the rebellion Mary would have probably spared the life of the fifteen year old. But she felt that as long as Jane was still alive she remained a threat to her and had her killed. She also feared that if Jane had the option to change to Catholic she would refuse to.



Death

Lady Jane and her husband were then beheaded on February 12th 1554, after being found guilty of treason. Her husband was first to be executed followed by Jane. Right before being executed Jane said she had never wanted the throne of England and she would die a "true Christian woman".

Sources Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey