Lady Jane Grey Biography

Dromo's Den

GREY, Lady Jane (1537–54). The great-granddaughter of Henry VII and second cousin of Edward VI, daughter of Henry Grey and Lady Frances Brandon. Her teacher, Aylmer, afterward Bishop of London, taught her Greek, Latin, French, and Italian, in addition to something of the arts and sciences. At the age of nine she entered the household of Queen Catharine Parr, with whom she remained till the death of that lady two years later, when she appeared as the chief mourner. After Catharine's death she became the ward of Thomas Seymour, whom the Queen had married on the death of Henry VIII. Seymour planned to marry her to Edward VI; but in this he was thwarted by his brother, the Duke of Somerset, who wished Edward as the husband of his own daughter. This rivalry led to the death of her guardian. Her father, now Duke of Suffolk, after the fall of Somerset in 1549, allied himself with John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, perhaps the ablest man—certainly one of the most ambitious men—of his time. Northumberland was now Lord Protector to Edward VI and resolved to win the crown for his own family. To this end he arranged a marriage of Lady Jane with his fourth son, Guilford Dudley, and persuaded Edward to change the order of succession as established by Henry VIII, passing his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, thus leaving the crown to his cousin, Lady Jane. Lady Jane seems to have been kept in ignorance of the intent of her father and father-in-law until the death of Edward (July 6, 1553). Two days later the public announcement was made, and on the 9th she was taken before the Council for acknowledgment. At this meeting she is said to have swooned, and only after the most earnest persuasion was she prevailed upon to issue the proclamation of her accession to the throne. In 10 days the intrigue was ended; Mary was the acknowledged Queen of England. Mary recognized Lady Jane's innocence and for some months resisted the demands of the Spanish Minister and the radicals of Mary's party that she should be tried and beheaded. Her father weakly joined the Wyatt rebellion, thus losing his own life and bringing death upon his daughter, who with her husband was beheaded Feb. 12. 1554.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. X (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 373.