The Lady Jane Grey, or the Nine Days Queen, was proclaimed Queen of England July 10, 1553 and was deposed July 19, 1553. She was executed February of the following year. She was the innocent pawn not only of her own father but of the Duke of Northumberland, John Dudley, who had been plotting for quite a while on how he could make his own son king.
Jane Grey was born in 1537 in Leicestershire, England. She was the granddaughter of Princess Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's sister. All primary source accounts of Jane relating from early childhood through her teen years represent her as beautiful, intelligent and gentle.She was also a devout Protestant. She was content to read and study. She corresponded with many of the learned men of Europe; sometimes in Greek, Latin and even Hebrew. She was a very docile and obedient daughter and thus was easily deceived and mislead by the men she trusted the most.
Grandniece to King Henry VIII and cousin to King Edward VI, who was around the same age as Jane and very fond of her, Jane was often at court, and there are some historians who believe Edward wanted to marry her. This was not to be however, and Jane was married to the Duke of Northumberland's son, Guilford Dudley. John Dudley, who was the king's advisor, convinced Edward to alter Henry VIII's will of succession and name Jane Grey the next heir over his Catholic sister Mary. It was very important to Edward that Mary did not come to the thrown. He wanted to make sure England remained a Protestant country.
Edward, who had always been a sickly boy, died on July 6, 1553. Four days later, much to her confusion, Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen of England. Jane insisted that she was not worthy of the crown and did not want the heavy burden it came with. Even though she protested, there really wasn't much she could have done to prevent the conclusion to Dudley's years long plot to gain access to the crown. The people of England were just as confused as Jane had been. They had literally just learned of King Edward's death because Dudley had kept his death from the people. When the announcement of her accession to the throne was announced in the streets of London it was met with silence. As David Vandewater Golden Bartlett (sheesh what a name) says in his The Life of Lady Jane Grey
"Lady Jane was beloved, and Protestantism was beloved by the English, but they loved dearer yet the right of succession, and could not see that law of right broken. Besides this, the people hated intensely the Duke of Northumberland, and were fully aware that Lady Jane was his victim."
Meanwhile, Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and next in line for the throne after Edward, was gathering help to depose Jane and take the throne. Dudley had been sent away by Jane's council to put down Mary's rebellion and they themselves fled to the envoy of Charles V (Mary's protector/defender) and declared Mary the queen. Jane was locked in the Tower and Mary made her way to London to be crowned.
Mary tried to convert her cousin Jane to the Catholic faith but the girl stood fast to Protestantism. Mary was eventually convinced that she had no choice but to execute Lady Jane. Supporters for Jane could one day mount a rebellion and try to claim her as the rightful Queen and so she had to go. Jane was tried and plead guilty to high treason and was finally beheaded in a private execution at the age of 16. She was buried at St Peter ad Vincula and was later celebrated as a martyr for the Protestant faith by Queen Elizabeth I.
I ask you dear readers this question. What would you do if you were queen/king for a week? I must admit that my first thoughts were to quickly purchase a new wardrobe and hope the government didn't make me pay for it after my time as queen was up. Lady Jane did not do much either. And really what can you do in 9 days. Government bureaucracy being what it is, it takes longer than that to get any kind of bill passed. Even a proclamation to make yourself ruler for life (as suggested by my husband) would take longer than nine days to pass through your council. Jane did not want to be Queen of England and she gladly gave up the crown when told she had been deposed. I believe that Lady Jane hoped to bring about more Protestant reforms because she felt that Protestantism was the true religion and what was right for England. She saw the good she could do as Queen if given a chance. Lady Jane's only show of authority was to appoint her household. Any other proclamations were written by the Duke of Northumberland and without the knowledge of Lady Jane.
"I am prepared to receive patiently my death, in any manner it may please the queen to appoint. True it is, my flesh shudders, as is natural to frail mortality, but my spirit will spring rejoicingly into eternal light, where I hope the mercy of God will receive it!" - Lady Jane Grey
For more information on Lady Jane Grey including primary documents/letters or Tudor history you can check out http://tudorhistory.org/. There are also several great biographies written about The Nine Days Queen and her tragic end.
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