HM Queen Catherine
Nobility
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2009
- Messages
- 302
- City
- Rendsburg
- Country
- Germany
I believe her parents were said to be quite cruel to her.. her mother at least even before she tried to claim the throne. To them, she was just something to use for their own ambitions. So it's not surprising they didn't beg for her life. None of the Grey sisters were lucky. Jane as a name is never used much anymore by non royals and hasn't been used in the RF since forever, and is unlikely to make a comeback.
Frances Brandon was a very cold and highly ambitious woman, whose marriage to Henry Grey was well-matched. She was also a woman extremely disappointed that she had not borne a living son and heir for her husband.
She was especially cruel to Jane, who was the eldest and bore the brunt of her parents ill treatment. Jane was under 10 years old, when in 1546 she was sent to live with Queen Katherine Parr. The Queen was very kind to Jane and they shared a close bond with each other.
But her parents had a motive even for sending her to the Queen. They were trying to arrange a marriage for her with Edward VI and put her on the throne as consort. Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, and Lord Thomas Seymour, were trying to gain control of the young King and minimize the power of the Protector.
Ultimately, they failed to arrange the marriage, and Jane was proposed as a bride for the son and heir of the Duke of Somerset. When that alliance also failed, she was married to Guilford Dudley, a younger son of the Duke of Northumberland.
It must be said that Jane Grey never aspired to be Queen, and that she was a poor pawn in the political games of her parents her whole life. Her only happiness was in her relationship with Katherine Parr, and the time she was in her household.
Otherwise, she appears to have been very bright and studious, and a gentle soul who was definitely born into the wrong family.
Queen Mary recognized this, and even though Jane had been tried for treason, found guilty and imprisoned in the tower, Mary intended to spare her life. She knew what kind of woman her cousin Frances was, just as she knew Jane to be sensitive and meek.
Wyatt's Rebellion, however, changed Queen Mary's mind. It was a popular revolt, of which the Duke of Suffolk took part, based on the nobility's opposition to the marriage of the Queen with the King of Spain. They called for Jane's restoration as Queen.
Philip of Spain and his councillors pressed Queen Mary to execute Jane and put an end to any future focus of unrest. Mary realized that as long as Jane lived, having once been declared Queen, that her reign would always be threatened by Protestant rebellion. And it was Mary's intention to return England to the Catholic faith.
Had it not been for Wyatt's Rebellion, Jane Grey would have kept her head.
I'm not quite sure when it was that Frances Brandon begged for the life of her husband, but he was executed a week after Jane and Guilford Dudley. It could have been that Jane was already dead at this point, and if not, I doubt Frances Brandon would have given much thought to Jane in any case. That was just the kind of woman she was.
Less than a month after the executions of her daughter and her husband, Frances Brandon married Adrian Stokes, who was Master of the Horse. This marriage shocked the court, and produced 3 children; Elizabeth (stillborn), Elizabeth Stokes (1555-1556) and a stillborn son. So she never did get her heir.
Frances was fully pardoned by Queen Mary and was allowed to remain at court with her daughters. But she was never known to have mentioned Jane again.