The Mysterious Story Of Lady Jane Grey:
The Queen Who Only Reigned For Nine Days
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Lady-Jane-Grey/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lady-Jane-Grey
Most people know her as “The Nine Days Queen” or “The Queen That Was Executed”, but I believe she was much more than that. The Lady Jane Grey, once Queen Jane, had an odd yet confusing story. Lady Jane Grey had reigned for nine days in 1553, from July 10th to July 19th, when she was executed for being accused of treason, along with her husband. But unfortunately that’s not the only shocking aspect of her life.
Lady Jane Grey had only been sixteen when she had an arranged marriage with The Lord Guildford Dudley, who had also only been sixteen. She married him because before her cousin died, he signed a scroll declaring her Queen and she was required to get married and produce an heir. He had done it because he was terribly ill and John Dudley, who led the government of the young king, persuaded him to.
Also, it turns out Jane had married his son, so a large conspiracy (bear in mind that it hasn’t been proven true!) is that John Dudley had been slowly poisoning the young king, as he had access to the castle, had convinced him to order an arranged marriage between Jane and Lord Guildford, had him hand over the throne to Jane so he had closer access to the throne and all the power. Of course, if this was his plan, it backfired horribly as Jane and Guildford were beheaded. John Dudley had been accused of high treason.
It was said that Jane was intelligent and an avid reader, but her mother, Lady Frances wasn’t very fond of her reading and had tried to marry her off before- but the engagements were called off three weeks before the engagement ceremonies.
The execution of Lady Jane Grey,
by French painter
Paul Delaroche, 1833
In conclusion, Lady Jane Grey had been given the throne in spite of the following quote that clearly expresses how she felt about it, “The crown is not my right, and pleaseth me not. The Lady Mary is the rightful heir.” She had been married against her own will, which later got her killed; she had been made queen, once again, against her own will; and her mother had tried to marry her off several times -you guessed it- against the poor sixteen year old girl’s own will. She didn’t deserve any of what happened to her, making history appear unjust in many ways. An important thing to learn from her story is that you should always stick to what you believe in, even if it means you have to suffer for it. Never let people put words into your mouth.
