Nine or Thirteen days Queen? -The Queenship of Lady Jane Grey

Written by Emma Holbrook and Amber Rose

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche, 1833 in the National Portrait Gallery.

Family tree of Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, and Charles Brandon

Introduction to Lady Jane Grey, The Nine Days Queen, by Amber Rose

Lady Jane Grey was born sometime in the fall of 1537. She was the eldest daughter out of three; her younger sisters being Katherine and Mary Grey. Jane was not royalty, but came from a family of high status. Both of her parents attended court frequently. Her grandmother was Mary Tudor, Queen of France through her mother. Jane’s father was a committed, well-grounded Protestant of the earlier generation. She was fluent in French, Italian, Latin and Greek as well as reading Hebrew. She preferred to read Plato than play sports or hunt.

Through her father she was exposed to Protestantism. She spent time living with Catherine Parr and Thomas Seymour. It was common for aristocratic children to be raised away from home. Catherine herself was a well-educated Protestant woman. When Catherine unfortunately passed away from childbirth complications Jane was sent home. Thomas Seymour, also wanting to promote his own interests, wanted to use Jane as a kind of bargaining chip to get closer to the king.

In January 1553 Edward VI became very sick with a cough that would get better and then worse again. The first version of his devise was written before he realized he was dying and Jane was not singled out as heir. Edward wanted his successor to be a male Protestant. Since he was dying before any of his cousins had children, he favoured Jane. If Jane remained queen the crown would only pass on to any sons she had. If she had no sons, it would pass on to a son of one of her sisters.

Jane married Guilford Dudley on May 25th, 1553. She was sixteen and he was approximately eighteen. She was essentially forced into this marriage by Guilford’s father who was the Duke of Northumberland to advance his own interests. After the king the Duke of Northumberland was the most powerful man in England. John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland had been the key “handler” of King Edward.

The events of proclaiming a new monarch seemed to go smoothly. When Jane was asked to wear the crown, she refused and recalled being told she ‘could take it without fear and that another also should be made, to crown my husband. Which thing I, for my part, heard truly with a troubled mind, and with ill will, even with infinite grief and displeasure of heart.’ [1]. Guilford wanted to be proclaimed king but Jane refused naming him Duke of Clarence, angering her mother-in-law.

Unfortunately, Jane’s circumstances changed quickly for the worse. When the Duke of Northumberland’s mediocre army mustered up to defend Queen Jane fled overnight, and Henry Grey’s forces disintegrated, the whole country agreed that Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon was the legal queen.

Mary kept Jane and Guilford in the Tower. They might have been released if Jane’s father, who was released, did not join Wyatt’s conspiracy to overthrow Mary. When the Protestant chaplain to her father turned Catholic with the accession of Mary, she sent him a remonstrance replete with the imagery of the apocalypse and reverberations of Demosthenes.

Jane and Guilford were both condemned to die for treason. They held out in vain for a pardon from Queen Mary. When Jane was sentenced Judge Morgan began raving that she be taken from his sight. Mary herself would have found it hard to clear Jane in any case because of Jane’s intense commitment to the Reformed Religion. Everyone knew John Dudley was the mastermind of the plot to overthrow Mary. He had the king in his direct care.

Jane made a statement on the morning of her execution which occurred on February 12th, 1554. She knew she had been used and acknowledged her wrongdoings in giving into pressure, but affirmed it was not her idea.

“The act against the queen’s highness was unlawful, and the consenting thereunto by me; but touching the procurement and desire thereof by me, or on my behalf, I do wash my hands thereof in innocency before God, and the face of you good Christian people this day.” [2].

Guilford was executed first. Jane watched as he was led to the block and as the cart returned with his body. At her execution Jane called on the crowd to “assist me with your prayers while I am still alive.” She questioned the executioners and her ladies asking “what shall I do?” “Where is the block?” [2]. When facing the block, she asked the chaplain if she should recite the fifty-first psalm. Upon his instruction she recited “have mercy on me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness.” [2].

Jane is considered a Protestant martyr as Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic, known for having many Protestants executed during her reign. Zahl refers to Jane as “a victim of prideful intrigue on the part of Northumberland and her own mother, a reluctant bride who then fell in love with her equally victimized teenaged husband, the martyred Nine Days Queen: a brilliant, bookish child prodigy turned Reformation legend.” She was virtually canonized by Protestants. They called her in the words of prophet Isaiah “a lamb that is led to the slaughter.”

The Nine or Thirteen Days Queen? by Emma Holbrook

Known as ‘The Nine Days Queen,’ Lady Jane Grey’s tragic life and execution continuously inspire and fascinates the historians of today. Her bravery and her dedication to her faith even to the last moment of her life, kneeling upon the scaffold blindfolded, still gathers sympathy as she was not a power-hungry or ambitious person but simply a young lady dragged into a deadly game of politics that ultimately cost her life. However, there are many aspects of Lady Jane Grey’s life, short reign and execution that remains open for debate; two of them being whether she ought to be known as England’s first Queen Regnant rather than her cousin and successor Mary I and whether her title of ‘The Nine Days Queen’ should rather be ‘The Thirteen Days Queen’—although it does not sound quite as catchy.

Interestingly, prior to King Edward VI’s death, it was proposed (or at least considered) that a betrothal between King Edward and Lady Jane Grey would take place once they were a bit older. This was not the only relation that the young king was potentially to marry as his father considered allying with Scotland by marrying his newborn son to Mary, Queen of Scots who herself was an infant. However, as you can understand, he was hopeful that a better match, one that would prevent a Stuart queen from sitting beside his son on the throne of England, would come around. Unfortunately for him, his beloved son’s ill-health was always against him and prevented what could have possibly been Henry VIII 2.0 in Edward VI had he lived longer.

The debate for the first argument of Lady Jane Grey being recognized as Queen Jane I is one that historians have long gone back and forth over. One might argue Lady Jane Grey was indeed Queen of England in her own right, not as a Queen Consort to a husband or Queen Regent for an underage son, and so deserves to be remembered as Queen Jane I, the first Queen Regnant of England. If this were to ever happen, it would make her cousins and successors, Mary I and Elizabeth I, the second and third Queen Regnant of England rather than the first and second. However, it must be pointed out that Lady Jane Grey should have never been Queen, even though she did hold a small claim to the throne. In fact, she was only made Queen through her cousin King Edward VI’s refusal to abide by his father’s Act of Succession which stated that, should Edward die without issue, the throne would pass naturally to his first half-sister Mary, a staunch Catholic, and then onto Elizabeth, a fellow Protestant but the disgraced daughter of Anne Boleyn, should Mary die childless also.

Wishing to prevent England from falling back into Catholicism, Edward turned his back on his sisters as he also refused to acknowledge Elizabeth’s claim in the Act of Succession, he declared upon his deathbed that the throne would pass to his cousin Lady Jane Grey. His hope was that Jane would produce heirs of her own to prevent his sisters from ever sitting upon the English throne, though sadly he underestimated his sisters’ determination to claim their birthright as we see above. Historians argue that, since Edward refused to abide by the Act of Succession, Lady Jane Grey had prevented the legal heir of the throne from ascending to the throne and thus has no right to the title of Queen Jane I or England’s First Queen Regnant as Mary I properly deserves that title. Whilst both sides have compelling supporting evidence, it is clear that Lady Jane Grey will still be remembered as ‘The Nine Days Queen,’ bringing us to the second debate.

Now, the debate for the second and most popular argument is a little more complicated. The argument is this: as Lady Jane Grey was declared the new heir upon Edward VI’s deathbed on Thursday 6^th July 1553 at approximately eight o’clock in the morning. However, she was not informed of the King’s death nor her ascension as Queen of England by the Privy Council until three days later on Sunday 9^th July 1553. Her traditional date of ascension alongside the public announcement of the King’s death was made the following day on 10^th July and, as the Privy Council later changed alliance to Mary Tudor and proclaimed her Queen on 19^th July 1553, her rather short reign ended on the 19^th July 1553 when both Lady Jane Grey and her husband Lord Guildford Dudley were escorted to the Tower of London on Queen Mary I’s orders.

As was common of the times, the monarch’s death was kept all hush hush until a smooth transition of power to the heir could be established i.e. the new King would be informed and preparations for both the public announcement and coronation would occur within a matter of days. This was to allow the former King’s Privy Council to prepare everything for the funeral and ascension of the new King so he could focus on becoming king rather than sorting out his predecessor’s funeral and burial.

We see this with both Henry VIII’s and Edward VI’s own ascension to the throne; in Henry VIII’s case, his father Henry VII’s death is traditionally listed as 22^nd April 1509 however some sources believe it occurred a day earlier on 21^st April with Henry VIII informed on 23^rd April alongside his date of ascension. Therefore, although his ascension was proclaimed on 23^rd April, the first day of his reign would have begun on 22^nd April at the time his father drew his last breath. This is the same with Edward VI; his father died on 28^th January 1547 in Whitehall Palace in Westminster but his heir resided around thirty miles away in Hertford. We know from Edward’s Chronicle that, on the 30^th January 1547, he is informed of his father’s death, two days after it actually occurred. The delay might be for several reasons; one: the new King was very young and possibly unprepared to rule even with the expensive education his father arranged and two: the Privy Council wished to prepare themselves ahead of the new king’s coronation as they had lived under fear during the later years of Henry VIII’s reign. Henry VIII’s death and Edward VI’s ascension was publicly proclaimed on 31^st January; again, his ascension would have truly begun on 28^th January on the day of his father’s death. The belief is that, once an heir has been established and the monarch draws their last breath, their heir is officially the new monarch regardless of whether they are informed or proclaimed.

Therefore, in the case of Lady Jane Grey, her nine-day reign was in fact thirteen days since she would have been queen officially from the moment Edward VI drew his last breath. Historians have varying opinions on this but, regardless of them, the sources seem to tell us what the correct answer is: that Lady Jane Grey was queen for thirteen days, not nine. However, the argument of whether she should be known as Queen Jane I rather than Lady Jane Grey is still open for debate.

One must remember that Lady Jane Grey, despite her popularity as a historical figure, was a mere teenager thrust into a dangerous, and ultimately fatal, game of politics by ambitious and power-hungry players who used her as a pawn and betrayed her when it suited them. Had she not been involved in this deadly game and the true heir Mary Tudor ascended instead of her, it is entirely possible that Lady Jane Grey and her husband Guildford Dudley would have lived long and happy lives although their religious beliefs still might have landed them in trouble with the new Catholic queen but most definitely not enough to land them on the executioner’s block.

Sources:

1. Bainton, Roland H. Women of the Reformation in France and England. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007.

2. https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/lady-jane-grey/

3. https://somegreymatter.com/was-jane-grey-dudley-really-a-nine-days-queen/

4. Zahl, Paul F. M. Five Women of the English Reformation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005.