Copy Book Archive

The Nine-Day Queen Lady Jane Grey’s accession was almost instantly overturned.
1553
Edward VI 1547-1553 to Mary I 1553-1558
Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams

From Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image. Source

About this picture …

‘Lady Jane Grey prevailed on to accept the Crown’, by Charles Robert Leslie. The painting, which was first exhibited in 1827, shows Jane with her husband Lord Guildford Dudley.

The Nine-Day Queen
King Edward VI died when he was just fifteen. On his deathbed, he named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his successor, but his decision was annulled just days later.

JUST before the young King Edward VI, son of Henry VIII, died in 1553, he unexpectedly named Lady Jane Grey as his successor, passing over his half-sisters Elizabeth and Mary.

Jane was Edward’s cousin once removed: Edward’s grandfather King Henry VII was her great-grandfather.

And for nine days after Edward’s death, it seemed as if Jane would be confirmed as England’s first Queen Regnant.

But the Privy Council chose instead to proclaim Mary as Queen of England. She was duly crowned on the 1st of October, 1553, while Jane was imprisoned in the Tower of London under sentence of death for high treason.

Things might have progressed no further but for a revolt led by Sir Thomas Wyatt, anxious at Mary’s intention to marry Philip II, King of Spain.

Suspicion fell on all Mary’s rivals, and while the Queen’s half-sister Elizabeth managed to survive, Jane was executed on the 12th of February, 1554.

Précis

King Edward VI died when he was just fifteen. He named his cousin Jane Grey as his successor, but the Privy Council overturned his decision and gave the crown to his half-sister Mary. Jane might have survived, had it not been for Thomas Wyatt’s failed revolt, which goaded Mary into executing her. (52 / 60 words)

Suggested Music

Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

Performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.

Media not showing? Let me know!

Related Posts

for The Nine-Day Queen

Tudor Era

The Plea of Pocahontas

In 1607, settler Captain John Smith was captured by the Algonquin near the English colony at Jamestown, and watched his captors’ ceremonies with rising anxiety.

Tudor Era

No Smoke Without Fire

Sir Walter Raleigh was within his rights to experiment with the Native American habit of smoking tobacco, but he should have told his servants first.

Tudor Era

The Lost Colony of Roanoke

In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh’s first attempt to found an English colony in the New World failed, but two years later he was keen to try again.

Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary Queen of Scots

Henry VII’s great-granddaughter Mary never grasped that even royalty must win the people’s respect.

Tudor Era (38)
All Stories (1522)
Worksheets (14)
Word Games (5)