Jane I

1536-1554. Born: Jane Grey. Daughter of Lord Henry and Lady Frances Grey (née Brandon), Duke and Duchess of Suffolk. Briefly Queen of England in 1553.

Jane Grey claimed the crown because of her maternal grandmother Mary Tudor, Queen of France, daughter of Henry VII. Moreover she was nominated as successor by King Edward VI. As Edward was a devout Protestant and did not want Roman Catholicism to be restored in England, he removed his Catholic sister Mary from the succession. She was declared illegitimate by parliament in 1532. However, if he removed Mary, he also had to do so with Elizabeth. Despite the Third Act of Succession he declared Frances’ daughter Jane as his successor on 21 June 1553. It probably also helped that Jane's father-in-law was John Dudley, the Lord Protector.

Jane Grey was crowned Queen of England in the Tower of London 10 July 1553 as the successor of Edward VI who had died four days earlier. Jane was married to Guildford Dudley who she did not crown king. Meanwhile Mary Tudor was proclaimed Queen in Norfolk. She tried to force Jane to convert to Catholicism. On 14 November 1553 Jane was convicted of high treason together with her husband. But the death sentence was not carried out immediately. During the rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt Jane was decapitated 12 February 1554 in the Tower of London after Mary accused her of treason.

Sources:

Given-Wilson, Chris and Alice Curteis. The Royal Bastards of Medieval England. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul,1984.

Hanson, Marilee. "Lady Jane Grey – Facts, Biography, Information & Portraits." English History, http://englishhistory.net/tudor/relative/janegrey.html#Biography, 30.04.2010, 12:35.

Nichols, John Gough. The Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary, and especially of the Rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyat. ed. by John Gough Nichols 1850, first reprinting: USA 1986.