The execution of Lady Jane Grey, 1554

Jane Grey was the shortest-reigning monarch in British history, lasting for only nine days. She inherited the crown from the teenage King Edward VI, King Henry VIII’s son. Edward was Grey’s first cousin once removed. Grey was Henry’s great-niece: her grandmother was Henry’s youngest sister. When Jane was young, she was part of the household of Henry's final wife, Katherine Parr, where she gained a good education and was exposed to Protestant ideas.

The author William Harrison Ainsworth wrote a novel about the doomed queen called The Tower of London, published in 1840. He brought in the famous illustrator George Cruikshank to create a dark, doomy image of the Tower as a place of torture and imprisonment. Many of Cruikshank’s prints are in our collection. They add to the drama of Grey’s short reign and life.

When Edward fell ill aged just 15, he wanted the next monarch to be a Protestant king, like him. He ruled out his half-sisters, Mary – a Catholic – and Elizabeth. But there were no male heirs next in line. The Duke of Northumberland, a top adviser in Edward’s Privy Council, persuaded the king to name Grey as his heir. This was self-serving – the duke then orchestrated a marriage between Jane and his own son.

Edward died on 6 July 1553. Grey was taken to Syon House, Hounslow, and told she would be queen. She was reportedly very distressed when she found out. But she eventually agreed and she was taken to the Tower of London to prepare for her coronation. Her reign officially began on 10 July, when she was just 16 years old.

Mary was Henry’s eldest child and was widely considered to be the rightful heir, despite Edward preferring Grey. The Privy Council quickly gave in to external pressure and turned in favour of Mary.She was proclaimed queen on 19 July. Grey and her husband were taken to the Tower, convicted of treason and held as prisoners. Her dad, Henry Grey, Duke of Sussex, accepted Mary as queen to try and save his own skin.

Mary’s plans to bring Catholicism back to England soon made her deeply unpopular. While Mary was lenient towards Grey at first, her Protestantism made her a threat. Again, Henry Grey didn’t help things. He took part in the Wyatt rebellion, a failed Protestant rebellion against Mary in the early months of 1554. Mary feared Jane would become a figurehead of the rebellion.

Mary made Jane Grey an offer: convert to Catholicism and you can live. She refused. On 12 February 1554, she was executed on Tower Green, within the grounds of the Tower. Her husband was publicly executed on Tower Hill an hour before. Jane Grey’s final words were: “Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit."

As well as novels like Ainsworth’s The Tower of London, the story of Lady Jane Grey has inspired poems, films and artworks. Paul Delaroche’s 1833 painting, currently hanging in the National Gallery in London, is one of the most famous. Delaroche paints her as an innocent martyr. He depicts Grey’s final, blindfolded moments as she supposedly pleaded, “What shall I do? Where is the block?”.