Also often referred to as the "nine-day queen," Lady Jane Grey was the unfortunate lady caught up in the suicidale game of her father-in-law, the duke of Northanmberland (Edward's chief councilor and, in the young king's minority, de facto regent) and made queen upon the young king's death in 1553 in oder to prevent the rightful and Catholic candidate, Mary, from the throne. Mary, by her extreme popularity with the people, however, quickly gained the upper hand and the throne. Though Mary recognized that Jane Grey was simply an unwilling pawn in her father's threachery (he was beheaded) and was, at first, prepared to spare her, the subsequent outbreak of riots by Protestants (the Wyatt Rebellion) made her death a political 'necessity.' She was executed the following year.
Jane Grey had some legitimate claim to the throne, being the grand-daughter of the younger sister (also named Mary) of Henry VIII, but in the line of succession to the throne, sat in a place after Elizabeth. Evangelical, deeply devout, reserved and learned in person (she read Plato's Phaedo for pleasure!). Her marriage to Northamberland's son was probably part of Northamberland's political designs for power when it became clear that Edward would not have long to live and he needed some legitimacy for his desperate plan. Obediently she surrendered to the will of her father-in-law. From another perspective this desperate plan also represented an attempt to preserve the fruits of reformation that had been accomplished in Edward's reign.
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