Lady Jane Grey was the Queen of England for nine days from 10 to 19 July 1553. She was a Protestant. (TV: Lost in Time [+]Loading...["Lost in Time (TV story)"])
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Grey (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
Lady Grey[[edit] | [edit source]]
Lady Jane Grey first encountered the First Doctor in May 1553 during a hunt in the forests of Bradgate. On that day she killed a wolf which had happened to be inhabited by a being from the Time Vortex known as a Vrij. While the Duke of Northumberland planned to have the Doctor and his companions, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton, executed for trespassing, Jane saved them by pretending to realise that the Doctor was her long-awaited tutor from Oxford, Doctor Samuel Smythe. The Doctor then became Jane's tutor for around two months, with the two developing a close friendship, with Barbara suspecting that she reminded him of his granddaughter Susan, (PROSE: The Nine-Day Queen [+]Loading...["The Nine-Day Queen (short story)"]) who had recently been left on 22nd century Earth. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Loading...["The Dalek Invasion of Earth (TV story)"])
This relationship was forced to come to an end after Jane's marriage to Lord Guildford Dudley, the son of the Duke of Northerumberland. The Duke sought to use Jane's weak claim to the throne of England to install his son as King of England. The wedding itself was attended by the Doctor, Barbara and Ian, during which Jane refused to repeat her marriage vows, until the the Vrij, which had taken refuge in the mind of the Duke, forced her to do so. (PROSE: The Nine-Day Queen [+]Loading...["The Nine-Day Queen (short story)"])
Queen Jane[[edit] | [edit source]]
On 10 July 1553, (PROSE: The Nine-Day Queen [+]Loading...["The Nine-Day Queen (short story)"], TV: Lost in Time [+]Loading...["Lost in Time (TV story)"]) Jane became queen at the age of sixteen as, but it was not a role she had ever desired. (TV: Lost in Time [+]Loading...["Lost in Time (TV story)"]) The Doctor, Barbara and Ian were all present at her coronation (PROSE: The Nine-Day Queen [+]Loading...["The Nine-Day Queen (short story)"]) On that day, Jane was ferried down the Thames on a royal barge to be crowned in the Tower of London, watched by silent onlookers. Immediately after the ceremony, the Duke cornered Jane in the Tower library, instructing her to use her power to make Guildford king. After the Duke struck her, the Doctor apprehended him and addressed the Vrij hiding within him, which attacked him in retaliation, forcing him into a restorative coma while the Duke fled. Using the power of the Vrij, the Duke managed to gather thousands of soldiers in Kentish Town to fight for Jane's throne against her rival Mary. This came to an end when the Doctor returned the Vrij to the time vortex and the Duke fled to his house in Cambridge. (PROSE: The Nine-Day Queen [+]Loading...["The Nine-Day Queen (short story)"])
Jane met Rani Chandra on 19 July 1553, the ninth and final day of her reign. Rani was found by Mistress Ellen, believing her to be the queen's new lady-in-waiting. Rani played along so she could find a certain object as per a mission issued by The Shopkeeper. Ellen presented Rani to the Queen, who gave her a music box. Jane liked Rani because she spoke to her as a girl, not a queen, with the pair quickly becoming friends. (TV: Lost in Time [+]Loading...["Lost in Time (TV story)"])
On that day, Queen Mary had claimed the throne and proclaimed Jane a traitor. Lady Matilda tried to kill Jane to have her die a martyr, but was stopped by Rani. Rani worked out that the dagger Matilda tried to kill Jane with was the object the Shopkeeper was after. She retrieved it and stayed to comfort Jane before using it to teleport back to 2010. Jane suspected Rani was an angel and this strengthened her. (TV: Lost in Time [+]Loading...["Lost in Time (TV story)"])
Later that day, the First Doctor arrived at the court just in time to see Queen Jane removing what she dubbed her "crown of shame" after she was led away from the throne by her father. Seconds later, soldiers loyal to Mary broke into the room, leading Jane and her father away. (PROSE: The Nine-Day Queen [+]Loading...["The Nine-Day Queen (short story)"])
Jane spent her final time in her bedchambers with Rani, before Queen Mary ordered she be taken to the keep to await trial. (TV: Lost in Time [+]Loading...["Lost in Time (TV story)"])
Imprisonment and execution[[edit] | [edit source]]
During her imprisonment, Jane finally became friends with her husband and fellow prisoner Guildford. They ate together at nights, with Jane then reading to him from the Bible, with Guildford resting his head against her knees. (PROSE: The Nine-Day Queen [+]Loading...["The Nine-Day Queen (short story)"])
Before her execution, she wrote to her sister Katherine knowing that she had achieved immortality as Rani had told her earlier that she would be remembered for centuries to come. (TV: Lost in Time [+]Loading...["Lost in Time (TV story)"])
Jane and Guildford were executed fifteen months after their initial imprisonment. Guildford was carried off first, with Jane weeping for him, silently. Hours, later, Jane herself was taken for execution. She was permitted to make a speech to the crowd, but took this opportunity to invite the crowd to pray with her. When blindfolded, Jane struggled to reach for the block, but, according to the history books, was helped to do so by an "elderly onlooker", who quickly disappeared from the scene. Her final words were "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit." (PROSE: The Nine-Day Queen [+]Loading...["The Nine-Day Queen (short story)"])
Undated events[[edit] | [edit source]]
She was involved in Missy's plan to befriend several Tudor women in an effort to prevent the reign of James I, who created the charter for St Luke's University, thereby preventing her imprisonment in the Vault. (PROSE: Girl Power! [+]Loading...["Girl Power! (short story)"])
When in the Tower of London with Evelyn Smythe in 1555, the Sixth Doctor told her that the last he was there was when he visited Lady Jane Grey. (AUDIO: The Marian Conspiracy [+]Loading...["The Marian Conspiracy (audio story)"])
Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 1985, Barbara wrote a GCSE textbook called Journeys Through History: A Sourcebook for GCSE for the Associated Exam Board with Ian Martin in which Lady Jane's brief reign was covered. (PROSE: The Nine-Day Queen [+]Loading...["The Nine-Day Queen (short story)"])
Jane was surpassed as the British monarch with the shortest reign by Queen Elizabeth IV, who ruled for thirty-six minutes before her coronation space yacht flew into the Time Vortex. (PROSE: Time Traveller's Diary [+]Loading...["Time Traveller's Diary (novel)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Lady Jane Grey has been played by Jane Asher and Sophia Myles in different versions of The Prince and the Pauper and by Louise Brealey in the BBC Radio 4 play The Nine Days Queen.
- The Nine-Day Queen claims that Jane was executed fifteen months after she was deposed, when in the real world her execution occurred seven months later, on 12 February 1554.