John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, an adventurer, was King Edward VI’s most trusted man. Observing that the king would not live long, the duke married his son Guildford Dudley to Jane Grey, a handsome fifteen-year-old girl who could aspire to the Crown as a great-granddaughter of Henry VII. When the king was in a dying state, the duke persuaded him to exclude his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth from the succession, in favor of Jane. On July 6, 1553, Jane was proclaimed Queen of England. However, Mary Tudor rallied her supporters and seized the throne. She immediately seized the duke and executed him. Nine days after ascending the throne, Jane resigns. Confined to the Tower of London, she along with her husband, accused of treason, were beheaded on February 12, 1554. Jane had been born in Bradgate Park. Her father was Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk. Jane just loved reading Plato in the Greek text. When she was asked to resign she did not object and she only asked to be allowed to return to her house. However, the fury of Maria la Sanguinaria, as Maria Tudor was known, did not allow it. Mary was the most terrible queen of England. During her term of only five years, she executed more than four hundred people accused of heresy. She was a Catholic to die for.
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