
On this day, February 12, in 1554, Lady Jane Grey was executed. She’s best known as the ‘Nine Days Queen,’ having been proclaimed Queen of England soon after the death of her first cousin, once removed, Edward VI of England. It was a political ploy because Edward’s half-sister Mary Tudor was Catholic, while Jane was a Protestant like Edward.

Of Jane Grey’s life, much has been speculated and little is known. She was well educated, that is true, and she was devout in the new religion, having disdain for the Catholic mass. Her marriage to Lord Guildford Dudley on May 25, 1553, was arranged by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. While Jane and Guildford probably didn’t know much about each other before marrying, such deals were not uncommon for this period and class level. Like Jane, he was also a serious Protestant.

Lady Jane Grey was never officially crowned, and her so-called reign lasted from only July 10, 1553, to July 19, 1553, when Mary Tudor entered London and the Privy Council swore allegiance to her. Jane was tried and convicted of treason in November, and Queen Mary pondered Jane’s sentence for a little while. However, the participation of Jane’s father in a rebellion in January sealed her fate. Execution made Jane something of a Protestant martyr in later years, and a fascinating subject for frock flicks too.
Nova Pilbeam in Tudor Rose aka Nine Days a Queen (1936)



Anne Howard in The Prince and the Pauper (1937)

Jane Asher in The Prince and the Pauper (1962)

Sarah Frampton in Elizabeth R (1971)

Felicity Dean in Crossed Swords (1977)

Helena Bonham Carter in Lady Jane (1986)



Sophia Myles in The Prince and the Pauper (1996)

Perdita Weeks in The Prince and the Pauper (2000)

Amber Beattie in The Sarah Jane Adventures, “Lost in Time” (2010)

Which is your favorite Lady Jane Grey on screen? Is there another one we’ve missed?
Helena Bonham Carter. Need I say more?
Nothing really substantive to say other than… I forgot how beautiful Cary Elwes was.
(Also, that red gown in the Streatham portrait is astounding!)
I love how Helena’s Jane is really “not having” her husband’s behavior all through the wedding feast. She sits there rolling her eyes and disapproving.
I have to stand up a little bit for her mother. Apparently, while she was strict with Jane (as a lot of parents are), her beating her daughter into submission may have been exaggerated; the most recent book I read about the family suggested there’s no proof of that extreme of an abuse level. Unfortunately, the movie / popular rumors always paint her as beating Jane to within an inch of her life, which isn’t entirely fair if it’s untrue. :P
Not that… Hollywood cares for telling the truth. Please see: the Tudors and anything adapted from PFG novels. :P
Yep, the HBC movie was heavily fictionalized in all ways. Super entertaining & decent costumes, but not super historical story!
The picture of the Greys as abusive parents comes from an account, some time after the fact, by Roger Ascham of a conversation with Jane in which she complains of her parents’ mistreating her. Ascham is using Jane to make a point about corporal punishment being counterproductive so maybe not totally factual. Our other main source on Jane’s relationship with her parents is the letter she wrote to Queen Mary in which she is making a case for her life and so engaging in ‘spin’ if not outright lying.
Jane certainly was not the moving spirit behind the plot to put her on the throne but by contemporary accounts she didn’t put up much resistance. Indeed she threw herself into her new role which is understandable given her religious convictions. Jane was a fiery little thing, highly opinionated and intolerant. She was probably difficult to live with.
Jane doesn’t seem to have had anything against Guildford personally. Her problem with the marriage was John Dudley. She was terrified of the man, even accusing him of trying to poison her. It is significant that Jane clung to her parents for protection from Dudley.
Henry Grey was an incompetent political intriguer but a sincere supporter of the Protestant religion and there are some indications he and Jane were close, or at least in sympathy religiously. When they were both in the Tower after the Wyatt rebellion Grey was full of grief and guilt over what he’d done to his daughter and Jane wrote him quite a nice, forgiving letter assuring him that she wasn’t sorry to die and she would pray for him in heaven. Her father made a good end himself, strongly stating his devotion to the Protestant religion. Jane would have been proud of him.
I love this post! I’ve found Lady Jane fascinating ever since I read “The Nine Days Queen” by Karleen Bradford in my early teens. This post has reminded me that I really need to pull that book out (i kept it all these years!) and reread it as an adult – and track down all these films as well!
WHY DOES JANE ASHER HAVE GIANT SPOCK EARS
My own reaction, precisely.
I love you for “Never change, HBC” hair.