Lady Jane Grey

July 10th 1553 Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen by her father in law the Duke of Northumberland in the Long gallery at Syon House. We will be going to Syon house next week on our Tudor Women tour so I'll talk about the place when we get there. Lady Jane Grey, the nine days Queen, a teenage pawn in the great survival game of powerful Tudor families. She had married Guidford Dudley only a couple of months ago but had not become pregnant yet. She didn't want the title believing that the Lady Mary was the rightful heir to Henry VIII after King Edward VI died in his teens. Edward had resolved that the Lady Jane was to be the heir and inherit the title so had the Act of Succession changed as he believed that Jane would be a good protestant Queen whereas Mary was a catholic and Edward didn't want the kingdom to revert to Rome. The Lady Mary, unsure of exactly what to do but gathering her forces at Framlingham in Suffolk and eventually marched on London. Support for Lady Jane fell away and she was arrested, held in the Tower of London and eventually executed some 10 months later. There are a couple of good films about Lady Jane Grey, one is with Helena Bonham Carter (Belatrix la Strange in Harry Potter)and Patrick Stewart. She appeared in a many films as sombody's daughter in costume epics.