When was lady jane grey executed

But Henry was also a complex man: intelligent, boisterous, flamboyant, extravagant. Athletic, musical, a poet. Ruthless, arrogant, passionate…. Queen Mary I However the country rose in favour of the direct and true royal line, and the Council proclaimed Mary queen some nine days later.

The shortest reign of any English monarch, before or since. Discover everything you need to know about Lady Jane Grey…. On 13 November , the year-old Lady Jane Grey became the youngest royal woman to be condemned for treason in British history. Her trial — staged at Guildhall in the heart of the city of London — was a very public humiliation.

For Jane, its outcome was a personal catastrophe. How had it come to this? A mere four months earlier, some of the most powerful men in England had conveyed Jane, the great-niece of Henry VIII , to the Tower of London , where they proclaimed her queen.

But now here she was, facing her accusers, her nine-day reign well and truly over, her very life hanging by a thread. He wanted the work to continue after his death, and that meant preventing his fiercely Catholic elder half-sister, Mary , from succeeding to the throne.

Northumberland was an ambitious man, desperate to retain his grip on power, something that would inevitably be diminished should Mary succeed to the throne — for the simple fact that she loathed him, for both religious and political reasons. Soon it had gathered an unstoppable momentum. With her short reign at an end, Jane and her husband remained in the Tower — prisoners in the same building that had so briefly been their palace. In fact, many would have considered her fate a foregone conclusion: after all, she had, albeit unwillingly, accepted the crown in defiance of Mary, an act of high treason.

Surely she would be executed. There was to be no such mercy for the Duke of Northumberland, and on 22 August his head was cut off. The next few months passed by uneventfully for Jane in the Tower, but she had not been forgotten. As the autumn drew in, under immense pressure from her supporters to punish those who had been involved in the coup, Mary agreed that Jane and her husband should stand trial. On the morning of 13 November, Jane and Guildford were conducted on foot from the Tower to Guildhall.

Upon arrival at Guildhall, the prisoners were escorted to the Great Hall, where their trial was staged in a room full of spectators. In so doing, she had committed high treason.

All eyes were upon Jane as those in the court waited to hear how she would plead to the charges. Life as a Tower prisoner began to resume its normal course for Jane, as it became evident that the sentence passed against her would not be carried out.

There seemed every reason to hope that not only would the queen spare Jane, but that she may eventually set her at her liberty. However, the machinations of ambitious men were to put Jane in terrible danger once more.

By early , Mary had signalled her desire to marry Philip, future king of Spain. Many of her subjects vehemently opposed the union — primarily because they feared that Philip would try to embroil England in Spanish wars, and because the Spanish king was a Catholic. Mary, however, was unmoved, and plans for the wedding continued unabated. But Mary, it seems, had underestimated the level of opposition to the union. Sickly with tuberculosis and only 10 years old at the time of his coronation, Edward VI was easily manipulated by calculating individuals such as the fiercely Protestant John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who acted as regent to the young king.

Henry had divorced Catherine, declaring his marriage null because she was the former wife of his deceased brother. This also deemed Mary illegitimate in the eyes of the court. In early , John Dudley brought forth the same charge against Mary and convinced Edward to continue to support the Protestant Reformation by declaring Jane his successor. Edward VI died on July 6, , and the year-old Lady Jane Grey, somewhat reluctantly but dutifully, agreed to become Queen of England and was crowned four days later.

However, she faced strong opposition from Mary Tudor and Parliament, both citing the Law of Succession, which clearly stated Mary should be queen. With opposition mounting against Jane Grey, many of her supporters quickly abandoned her, including her father, who futilely attempted to save himself by supporting Mary as queen.

The council didn't buy it and declared him a traitor. John Dudley was condemned for high treason and executed on August He had developed a strong affection for Jane in her time in the Tower, even asking for a memento from her, which was her tiny prayer book. The scene depicted by Delaroche is that of a brave young woman, dressed wholly in white to highlight her innocence, mourned by her ladies-in-waiting.

Their agony must have been heightened when, blindfolded, Jane failed to find the block and started crying. Get in touch with us via the form below. Thank you!