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LADY JANE GREY

Lady Jane Grey was a Queen of England. She was born in 1537 and died in 1554. The daughter of Henry Grey, marquis of Dorset, afterwards duke of Suffolk, by Frances, daughter of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, and Mary, younger sister of Henry VIII. She displayed much precocity of talent; and under the tuition of Aylmer, afterwards bishop of London, she acquired a knowledge of the learned languages, as well as French and Italian. She was married to Lord Guildford Dudley, fourth son of the Duke of Northumberland, in 1553. Edward VI, who died in 1553, was induced on his death-bed to settle on her the succession to the crown. The council endeavoured to keep his death secret, with a view to secure the persons of the princesses, Mary and Elizabeth, and when Mary discovered the design the council proclaimed Lady Jane Grey queen. On the approach of Mary, however, the council deserted Lady Jane, and Mary was proclaimed queen. Jane was now confined to the Tower. She and her husband were arraigned, and pleaded guilty of high treason; but their doom was suspended, and it was not until after the suppression of the rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt, in which the Duke of Suffolk, Lady Jane's father, had participated, that the sentence was executed. She was beheaded on Tower Hill on February the 12th, 1554, her husband having previously suffered the same day.
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