1 00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:04,440 The Tudors are historical superstars, 2 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:07,000 our most famous royal dynasty. 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,800 But there is one Tudor monarch who's been all but forgotten - 4 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:12,320 Queen Jane. 5 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,040 Lady Jane Grey was a teenager, 6 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:20,120 thrust onto the throne, only to lose her crown after just nine days. 7 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,280 She was the first woman to be proclaimed Queen of England, 8 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,320 but few would recognise the name Queen Jane. 9 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:31,240 I'm Helen Castor, and over three episodes 10 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,400 I'm going to take a forensic look at Jane's story. 11 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:41,160 It is a Tudor thriller, an epic tale of family conflict... 12 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:44,960 ..ambition and betrayal... 13 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:48,280 ..the death of a king covered up... 14 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,080 ..and a country torn between two faiths. 15 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,760 Our protagonists include the manipulative duke... 16 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:00,800 ..the wronged princess... 17 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:04,560 ..and the God-fearing 15-year-old 18 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,440 who finds herself caught between them, 19 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:09,400 and pays with her life. 20 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:13,560 I'm going to track down original sources, 21 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:15,400 written as the drama unfolds. 22 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:19,000 This is the really exciting bit of the job. 23 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,440 I'll talk to expert colleagues. 24 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:24,720 I've been in this game for 40 years, and I have to tell you, 25 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,960 there is no trickier Tudor subject than Jane Grey. 26 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,400 And I'll visit the places where Jane once walked during 27 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:34,600 the nine days that she reigned. 28 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,120 This time Jane's power base dissolves into deceit 29 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:40,920 and treachery, but the question remains - 30 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:43,040 will she escape with her life 31 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:46,600 or will she pay the ultimate price for her part in the coup? 32 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:58,000 Jane Grey wakes on the morning of 17th July 1553, 33 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:00,600 eight days into her reign. 34 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:04,720 She has taken personal charge of the keys to the Tower of London. 35 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,320 She's locked her own supporters inside the Tower with her. 36 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,200 Many believe that the end is approaching. 37 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:16,440 We're entering the final chapter 38 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:19,440 of a story that began several months earlier. 39 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,280 The men who surrounded the dying son of Henry VIII 40 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:24,040 have staged a coup. 41 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,800 They've blocked Mary Tudor, Henry's eldest daughter, 42 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,920 from the succession and put her cousin Jane onto the throne. 43 00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:34,680 Lady Jane Grey was a teenager in the royal court. 44 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,440 Now she's Queen Jane of England. 45 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:43,080 But Mary has fought back, and she's proving popular. 46 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:48,640 Out in East Anglia, at her castle at Framlingham, 47 00:02:48,640 --> 00:02:53,080 Mary has assembled an army of local landowners and tenant farmers. 48 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:58,080 It becomes apparent that the common mood of the realm is pro-Maryan. 49 00:02:58,920 --> 00:03:00,440 Noblemen discovered that 50 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,000 their tenants were refusing to fight for them. 51 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,160 And just as a king needed his nobles 52 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:07,480 to fight for him, nobles needed their tenants 53 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:09,680 to fight for them, that's how it all works. 54 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,240 Even some of Jane's closest advisors, 55 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:17,040 men from her Privy Council, have been talking of abandoning her. 56 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,400 Jane learned of this and commanded that they be locked into the Tower 57 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:24,680 and the keys turned over to her personally. 58 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:26,680 Very assertive move on her part. 59 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:32,680 Two days ago Mary was the underdog, but now the tables have turned. 60 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:35,800 Jane's navy has mutinied, 61 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:39,920 giving their precious gunpowder and artillery to Mary. 62 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:42,440 This was a massive coup, because, you know, 63 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,680 these are ships that have been sent on behalf of Lady Jane, 64 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:47,520 essentially representing the Government 65 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,080 at that point, and they've declared for the rank outsider, 66 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:52,680 as it were - Mary. 67 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,440 Mary has the numbers and the artillery. 68 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,080 For the first time Jane is under threat. 69 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:02,680 And now it is not just her crown she could lose, it's her life. 70 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:09,160 As members of the Council begin to desert her, Jane is taking 71 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:13,440 extraordinary precautions in an extraordinary situation. 72 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:20,040 I think once the Privy Council had begun to entertain the option 73 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,440 of leaving the Tower and Jane had to actually physically lock them in, 74 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:27,840 I think she was intelligent enough to know that she was in trouble, 75 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:29,680 she was in serious trouble. 76 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,240 The same morning, as Jane wakes in the Tower, 77 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,760 the Duke of Northumberland rises in Cambridge, 78 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:45,200 where he's camped at the head of his army. 79 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,680 The Duke of Northumberland was no ordinary military leader. 80 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:52,800 He was a powerful politician. 81 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,440 He'd been chief advisor to Edward VI 82 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:57,800 and the dominant figure at the royal court. 83 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:02,920 He was also a leader in the battle against Catholicism. 84 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:07,160 It was quite dramatic, so they were tearing organs 85 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,720 out of churches because they didn't believe in music in church, 86 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,000 as well as destroying stained glass. 87 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,800 I think something like 90% of religious art was destroyed. 88 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:20,240 And while he'd become very powerful, 89 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:22,920 he's also extremely unpopular. 90 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,080 Having succeeded in putting Jane onto the throne, 91 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:33,200 Northumberland now has another job to do in East Anglia. 92 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:34,360 The key element 93 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:36,600 in a succession crisis like this 94 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,360 is to get hold of the alternative monarch. 95 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,920 Northumberland wants to capture Mary 96 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:46,040 and prevent her from moving against Jane's regime. 97 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:51,000 The plan is to engage with Mary's forces at her castle in Framlingham. 98 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,040 But Northumberland's progress has been slow. 99 00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:00,440 Northumberland had arrived in Cambridge on the 15th. 100 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:04,320 Here, 50 miles from Framlingham, he hesitated. 101 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,480 Rather than move in for a quick battle, 102 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:10,760 he chose to wait for reinforcements. 103 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,680 After two days of waiting, there's good news. 104 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:17,880 On the 17th he's still at Cambridge, 105 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,960 he is waiting for his reinforcements to come in, and they ARE coming in. 106 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,560 Probably the artillery arrives on the 17th, 107 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:25,640 which is the key weapon for him. 108 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,160 He knows that Mary's at Framlingham, 109 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,640 he's assuming she's going to be entrenched there to try and defend 110 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,240 the position - that is exactly what she was intending to do - 111 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,320 and therefore he is going to need artillery to reduce her position. 112 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,600 So he gets this key force on the 17th, 113 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:43,480 and therefore he's now ready to move. 114 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:46,320 He's probably about 3,000 strong now, 115 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:50,280 2,000 cavalry, 1,000 infantry 116 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:54,560 and then, of course, these 30 or so artillery pieces. 117 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:59,560 What he doesn't know is that a major piece of his plan, 118 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,320 the warships off the coast of Suffolk, have mutinied. 119 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:08,200 Now, at Framlingham, Mary has the artillery she was lacking. 120 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:12,120 He's outgunned, but he does not know it yet. 121 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,760 News of the mutiny has reached the Privy Council in London... 122 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:23,560 ..and they haven't told Northumberland. 123 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:30,600 Some of them are questioning their loyalty to Jane. 124 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,800 The imperial ambassadors reported that, "Many good men, 125 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,280 "among whom there are members of the Council, are disgusted." 126 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:41,760 They added, "There's trouble coming." 127 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:52,640 Not knowing what's going on in London, Northumberland 128 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:56,720 begins to position his men, ready for battle against Mary. 129 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:00,680 He begins to move finally towards Framlingham, 130 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:03,800 pretty much due east, on the morning of the 18th. 131 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:08,080 The force breaks down probably two-to-one in terms of cavalry, 132 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:10,960 but cavalry were the most dominant force on the battlefield 133 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:13,280 at that time, anyway. So, that was a good thing. 134 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:17,320 It's not a massive army, but these are pretty reliable soldiers, 135 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:21,600 probably better trained in his mind than anything Mary will have 136 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:25,680 to tackle him with, and therefore, it's enough for the job. 137 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:33,080 Inside the fortress of the Tower of London, 138 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:38,000 the Privy Council is receiving a steady stream of worrying reports, 139 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:41,560 including one message with chilling implications. 140 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,800 Sir Edmund Peckham, Treasurer of the Mint, is missing. 141 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,800 No-one knows for sure where he is, but rumours are flying. 142 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:56,640 Reports say that he's helped assemble forces from Oxfordshire, 143 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:59,480 Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Middlesex, 144 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:02,360 and they're not for Jane, but for Mary. 145 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:10,280 If the rumours are true, Peckham has mustered 10,000 men, 146 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:14,000 and they're ready to march on London to depose Jane. 147 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:20,240 She immediately begins writing to powerful landowners for help. 148 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:32,040 This is a letter written on 18th July 1553, 149 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:37,680 from the Tower, by Jane the Queen, as it says at the top. 150 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,520 And it's a letter asking for help 151 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:47,360 in subduing the violence and resistance that's taking place 152 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:50,720 in her kingdom, and it asks the recipients to 153 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:55,240 "Assemble, muster and levy all the power you can possibly make... 154 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:01,280 "..to repair with all possible speed towards Buckinghamshire... 155 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:05,960 "..for the repressing and subduing of certain tumults of rebellions 156 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:10,960 "moved there against us and our crown by certain seditious men." 157 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:17,040 This is a last-ditch attempt by Jane to rally support behind her. 158 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,840 But these desperate letters come too late. 159 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,960 In one report from the imperial ambassadors, 160 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:32,880 they suggest that Mary appears to be stronger than the Duke. 161 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:35,480 The balance, it seems, has tipped. 162 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:43,080 Now the odds are that the Duke is facing defeat at Mary's hands, 163 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:46,800 a message is hurriedly dispatched from the Tower. 164 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:49,880 The Duke is poised for the last push to Framlingham 165 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:52,040 when the letter arrives. 166 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:00,680 He receives information that actually everything's changed 167 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:02,960 and two bits of crucial information. 168 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:05,800 The first bit is that Mary's forces are actually stronger 169 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:10,440 than he might have anticipated, so he's outnumbered by three to one. 170 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:13,360 But the really key bit of information he gets is that 171 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:17,160 Mary now has artillery, and she's got artillery from 172 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:20,080 the royal ships that have mutinied and joined her. 173 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:23,000 And so, not only is he outnumbered, he's outgunned. 174 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,280 And it's at this point that he makes what we can say in 175 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:31,200 retrospect was the fatal decision to withdraw back to Cambridge. 176 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,160 But Northumberland has one last hope. 177 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:40,760 He's expecting the Privy Council to put down the rising 178 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:42,960 in Mary's favour to the west of London. 179 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:47,720 What he doesn't know is that things have been changing in the Tower. 180 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:52,600 One by one, Jane's loyal circle have begun to abandon her. 181 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:55,520 Her control over the Tower is slipping, 182 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:59,480 and members of the Privy Council are disappearing by the hour. 183 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:02,720 And one of those who quietly slips away 184 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:06,040 is the man that Jane was depending on to lead the reinforcements 185 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:07,960 against Mary's supporters. 186 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:12,840 Her own uncle, the Earl of Arundel. 187 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:18,880 It all seems to me very poignant that Jane is left in the Tower 188 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,320 with the other Privy Councillors around her, 189 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,040 and one by one they started dropping like flies. 190 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:27,520 Once the one drops, it's like one penny drops, 191 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:29,600 the rest go, it's like dominoes, 192 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:32,520 because they begin to see that the public mood is very much 193 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:36,200 against Jane, it's very much in favour of Mary. 194 00:12:37,680 --> 00:12:40,760 Finally abandoned by her uncle and the other members 195 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:45,360 of the Privy Council, time has run out for Queen Jane. 196 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:50,960 18th July would be the last day of Jane's nine-day reign. 197 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:01,920 By the morning of 19th July, 198 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:06,000 only those closest to Jane remain with her in the Tower of London... 199 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,240 ..including her husband, Guildford Dudley... 200 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:15,360 ..and her father, Henry Grey, 201 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,240 who stays with his daughter to the end. 202 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:24,800 The Privy Council are now free from the confines of the Tower. 203 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,360 They've been quick to abandon Jane in her hour of need. 204 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:32,920 These members of the Council were a mix. 205 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:36,160 You have both Protestants and Catholics, 206 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:40,560 you have the Earl of Arundel, who was a Catholic, and he had 207 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:45,600 supported Jane, but we presume that was for monetary reasons. 208 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:49,560 But then he fell back on his religious alliance 209 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:51,840 and shifted to Mary. 210 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:54,680 Paulet, he was an older man who had been raised 211 00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:57,960 in the Catholic faith and converted to Protestantism, 212 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:00,960 so he too began to shift back. 213 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:05,920 And the Earl of Huntingdon did so as well. 214 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:09,800 But if Huntingdon were to support Queen Mary, 215 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,360 that could give him a leg up in his own home power base. 216 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:19,240 They now risked being seen as traitors by both rival queens. 217 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:23,920 A crisis meeting was called at Baynard's Castle on the banks of the Thames. 218 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,400 The Council gathered and Arundel put together an argument 219 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:29,920 that might just absolve them of blame. 220 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:37,120 Arundel makes the case for the innocence of the assembled men. 221 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:40,720 And the man they make the scapegoat... 222 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:44,280 ..is the one man who isn't there. 223 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:50,920 It was time to speak against the Duke of Northumberland. 224 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:54,880 Arundel's words have been reported many times, 225 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:56,840 and every report differs. 226 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,880 But one version from a papal envoy 227 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:04,360 has him describing the Duke as a man "unhampered by scruples". 228 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:09,600 He addressed the Privy Council, saying, 229 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,280 "My conscience was burdened with remorse, 230 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:14,960 "considering how the rights of my Lady Mary, 231 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,000 "true heir to this crown, were usurped, 232 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,560 "and that we have been robbed of that liberty which 233 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:24,360 "we have enjoyed so long under the rule of our legitimate kings. 234 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:27,880 "I believe you know well enough the ways and means that 235 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:30,800 "the Duke is using and that he is not moved 236 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:34,200 "either by zeal of the public welfare nor of the religion, 237 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:36,280 "but only by the ambition to rule." 238 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:41,480 The Privy Council has a choice to make. 239 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:45,360 They need to survive with their lives and fortunes intact. 240 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:49,920 The Privy Council came to their conclusion - 241 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:52,200 the true Queen was Mary. 242 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,120 It's a decisive moment, 243 00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,840 decisive for the future of the Privy Council, 244 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:01,760 decisive for the country, 245 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:03,440 decisive for Jane. 246 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,280 The Council had put Jane on the throne 247 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:10,520 and now they abandon her and declare for Mary. 248 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:17,360 For the Council, the most important thing is to get the news to Mary 249 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:20,880 and secure their futures as best they can. 250 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,920 As the Earl of Arundel set out on a fast horse through the streets 251 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:27,000 of the capital, on the road to Mary at Framlingham, 252 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,480 the rest of the Privy Council headed for Cheapside 253 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:31,520 to tell the people their decision. 254 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:34,440 Big crowds had assembled, 255 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:37,040 waiting to hear what the Councillors have to say. 256 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:42,160 When they broke the news, the city erupted in celebrations. 257 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:44,520 There were bonfires without number 258 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,320 and people singing in the street for joy. 259 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:55,240 The reaction when Mary's proclaimed Queen in Cheapside 260 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:57,680 is one of complete elation. 261 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:01,120 Everyone is utterly overjoyed that she has at last 262 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:02,960 come into her birthright. 263 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:06,240 And there are all these wonderful accounts and reports 264 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:10,080 of the celebrations that were staged and took place there. 265 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:12,640 And a Tudor historian, John Stowe, 266 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:16,320 records that there were all these bonfires, 267 00:17:16,320 --> 00:17:19,720 that people were leaping around in the streets and dancing, 268 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:21,800 that Te Deum was sang, 269 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:24,280 that there was wine flowing through the streets. 270 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,680 From this moment on, each of those who later told their story 271 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:32,880 cast Northumberland as the instigator of the coup. 272 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:35,400 He was the man driven by ambition, 273 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:39,160 the bully, the tyrant, the traitor. 274 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:41,960 History is written by the winners, 275 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:44,560 those who survive to tell the tale. 276 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:48,240 Throughout the 16th century, Privy Councillors had to confront 277 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:51,360 crises over the succession to the throne. 278 00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:56,400 And those who survive are those who make the right call at the critical moment. 279 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:05,120 Messengers from the Privy Council in Baynard's Castle are sent to 280 00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:09,400 the Tower to pass on the news that the Council have switched sides, 281 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,280 and Jane can no longer hold on to power. 282 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:18,360 How did Jane in the Tower find out that her reign was over? 283 00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:20,800 Well, the Privy Council sent a military force 284 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:25,000 to tell her father that Jane was no longer Queen 285 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,520 and that Mary had been proclaimed. 286 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:30,440 They weren't sure how Henry Grey would react, 287 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:35,480 but when this force arrived, he simply said, "I am just one man." 288 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:39,280 There was nothing he could do to defend 289 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:42,320 his daughter's rights as Queen any longer, 290 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:47,360 and he went to tell her that she was no longer Queen. 291 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:50,440 The Pope's envoy described the scene. 292 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:54,920 Henry Grey entered the room where his daughter was sitting in state 293 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:57,920 and removed the cloth of state from over her head 294 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:00,680 as clear demonstration of what had to follow. 295 00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:04,440 He delivered the news that it was all over. 296 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:07,360 There was no anger, no tears. 297 00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:10,360 Jane hadn't chosen to take the crown. 298 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:15,040 Now she said that she would give it up as gladly as she'd accepted it. 299 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:17,320 And she said, "Can I go home now?" 300 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:19,680 In a very innocent sort of way. 301 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:25,760 It's almost as though she has had to put on this persona of a queen 302 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:28,560 and play the role for several days, 303 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:31,000 and it must have been enormously exhausting, 304 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,480 all of the stress and worry 305 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,640 and not knowing what's happening from one minute to the next. 306 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:39,120 And then she's told, "OK, it's over," and it's like, 307 00:19:39,120 --> 00:19:43,160 "Phew! Can I go back to being me again and not Queen of England?" 308 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:48,160 And a young woman who has found the strength to inhabit that role 309 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:53,680 for nine days in a situation of such stress and crisis, 310 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:57,640 then suddenly displaying the naivety to think that there was any chance 311 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:00,000 that she might be allowed to go home. 312 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,760 And that almost makes us wonder, you know, 313 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:08,080 if she is so intelligent and she is so...so... 314 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:11,920 ..insightful of what's going on around her, 315 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:15,000 it's almost as though she lost all of that for a moment. 316 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:19,800 Jane and her father no longer command the Tower. 317 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:22,040 Instead they're arrested. 318 00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:27,040 Her fortress now becomes her prison. 319 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:31,440 What happened next, when Jane had changed from Queen to prisoner? 320 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,600 She was stripped of her valuables, 321 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:36,840 down to her small change. 322 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:40,520 She was then escorted from the royal apartments 323 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,040 to this small house on Tower Green, 324 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:47,520 which belongs to the Gentleman Gaoler, Nathaniel Partridge. 325 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,920 The house is still within the confines of the Tower, 326 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,120 but very different accommodation. 327 00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:56,160 Yes, it's a world away in terms of status. 328 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:59,520 In one she would sit on, essentially, what was a throne 329 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:01,880 under a canopy of state 330 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:05,880 in great rooms hung with tapestries, as a queen. 331 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:10,200 Now she was, appropriately, in this small house 332 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:14,280 as simply Lady Jane Dudley, 333 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:16,360 wife of a commoner. 334 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:21,400 When the news reaches Northumberland in Cambridge, 335 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:24,000 he knows he's facing a traitor's death. 336 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:31,040 Foxe's Book Of Martyrs, a Protestant history, describes a man in crisis. 337 00:21:32,360 --> 00:21:35,800 In desperation, he proclaims Mary Queen 338 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:40,240 and "so laughed that the tears ran down his cheeks for grief". 339 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:46,280 The Duke of Northumberland had not been born to high office. 340 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:50,240 He'd fought his way to the top. 341 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:53,800 He'd come so close to making Jane Queen 342 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,360 and his own son, Guildford, King. 343 00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:59,360 And now... 344 00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:01,320 ..it's all over. 345 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:17,760 On 20th July, just ten days after Jane entered the Tower as Queen, 346 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:20,840 Jane's own uncle, the Earl of Arundel, 347 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:24,920 leads a deputation from the Council to offer their allegiance to Mary. 348 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:29,760 The Earl, once one of Northumberland's closest allies, 349 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:32,680 denounces the Duke and delivers the news 350 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:35,720 that the Privy Council have abandoned Jane's cause 351 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,560 and have proclaimed Mary Queen on the streets of the capital. 352 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:42,600 What happened when the Earl of Arundel and his colleagues 353 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:46,960 arrived at Framlingham to tell Mary that they'd changed sides? 354 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:51,440 Well, one of the first things they did was to beg for her pardon. 355 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:55,400 And the imperial ambassadors describe how they went 356 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:59,560 on their knees and how they pointed a dagger at their own stomachs 357 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:04,320 to demonstrate that they deserved death, but they were, nevertheless, 358 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:09,000 asking her, out of her royal mercy, to grant them pardon. 359 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,040 And did Mary forgive them? 360 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:14,960 Mary did, Mary had wanted to forgive them from the beginning. 361 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:20,000 She had been determined to reassure the elite that if they came to her, 362 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:25,080 if they took her side, it would be a safe thing to do, 363 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:28,600 that she would forgive them and it would all be put behind them. 364 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:31,840 Mary summoned Arundel. 365 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:35,400 Whether it was reward for his present devotion to Mary 366 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,440 or punishment for his past devotion to Northumberland, 367 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,600 Mary gave him one task. 368 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:47,000 The Duke of Northumberland is still in Cambridge 369 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,120 when Mary's troops come for him. 370 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:55,680 The man who arrests him, on the order of the new Queen, 371 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:59,320 is his former ally and friend the Earl of Arundel. 372 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:07,160 When Arundel brought Northumberland back to the Tower on 25th July, 373 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,960 the streets were crammed with people. 374 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:14,960 He was pelted with stones and rocks, and the crowds cried, "Traitor." 375 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:20,680 The views of the people are key to this story. 376 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,800 We could say Mary won because she had superior forces. 377 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,720 But WHY did she have superior forces? 378 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,600 Because the people didn't believe in Jane. 379 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:42,000 Jane's story tells us a lot about what we take to be the rules of governments. 380 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,080 abiding by the letter of the law. 381 00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:52,840 But the competing claims of 1553 show that isn't necessarily so. 382 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:57,840 Jane was proclaimed Queen by the regime in power, 383 00:24:57,840 --> 00:24:59,680 according to the will of the dead king. 384 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:03,800 But that idea didn't fly with the people. 385 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,280 They knew that Mary was Henry VIII's daughter. 386 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,280 Even if the law said that she was illegitimate, 387 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:14,720 they believed that she, not Jane, was the rightful Queen of England. 388 00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:18,800 And if you can't get your people to obey you, 389 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,800 then what kind of a queen can you really claim to be? 390 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:28,560 On 3rd August, two weeks after Jane's reign had ended, 391 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,680 Mary Tudor entered London to take control of the Tower. 392 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,400 Crowds lined the streets. 393 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,920 One Tudor chronicler who witnessed the events noted, 394 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,400 "Her gown of purple velvet, with sleeves of the same, 395 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:46,280 "her curtal, purple satin all thick set with goldsmith's work 396 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:48,440 "and a great pearl. 397 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,280 "Her palfrey..." - that's her horse - "..that she rode on, 398 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:54,960 "richly trapped with gold embroidered to the horse's feet." 399 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,520 Mary was a vision of royal splendour. 400 00:26:02,360 --> 00:26:06,120 She was every bit the Queen that people wanted to see. 401 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:14,000 Mary quickly turned to the matter of Jane Grey and what to do with her. 402 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,720 Against the advice of those around her, who cried for blood, 403 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:19,880 Mary looked for a bloodless resolution. 404 00:26:21,360 --> 00:26:25,560 Mary knew it was politic at that beginning of her reign 405 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:27,440 after regaining the throne to be merciful, 406 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:30,400 other than of course to Northumberland and the people most 407 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:33,800 involved in what she saw as this plot to div... 408 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:37,120 ..which it was, of course, a plot to divert the succession. 409 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:42,080 So Jane is actually, really, I mean, for the best part of six months 410 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,920 kept in confinement in the Tower. 411 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,200 Jane and her young husband, Guildford Dudley, 412 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,040 were imprisoned in separate quarters. 413 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:56,040 Guildford was a prisoner in the Beauchamp Tower, 414 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,920 and Jane was held for some time in Nathaniel Partridge's house, 415 00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:01,520 on this side here. 416 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,720 We know that Jane was kept at the house of a Tower officer, 417 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:09,280 but the location of the prison for the Dudleys 418 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:11,520 is written into the walls. 419 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:16,080 Often graffiti is the only way we know where 420 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:18,360 specific prisoners were held. 421 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:22,120 And in the Beauchamp Tower there's the most extraordinary graffiti 422 00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:24,840 relating to the Dudley family. 423 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:29,080 It's an elaborate piece, left behind by Guildford's brother John, 424 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,440 the Earl of Warwick, who was imprisoned with him in the Tower. 425 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:36,960 You can tell it's him as Earl Warwick because it has 426 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:41,000 a bear and a ragged staff, which is the image of Warwick. 427 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:45,160 And then it's surrounded by flowers which represent his brothers. 428 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,480 So there's a rose for Ambrose, 429 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,880 gillyflowers for Guildford - it's all very cheesy - 430 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:52,280 honeysuckle for Henry, 431 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:56,840 and also there's a verse underneath which says, it basically says, 432 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,080 "Those people who see this will understand why it's here 433 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,200 "and will be able to seek out the four brothers represented." 434 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,400 Jane and Guildford would be spared for now, at least, 435 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:09,920 but what of Jane's father? 436 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,920 Jane's mother, Frances Grey, had been close to Mary, 437 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:19,640 and if anyone could save the life of Henry Grey, then it would be her. 438 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:22,840 Jane's mother predictably pleaded that the Grey family 439 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:25,080 had been victims of Northumberland. 440 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,320 She claimed to have evidence that her husband had fallen ill 441 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:32,520 because he'd been poisoned by the evil Duke. 442 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,440 Remarkably, Mary was persuaded. 443 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:41,560 The blame, she felt, should be Northumberland's, 444 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,560 he was the sole architect of the coup. 445 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:50,840 The ultimate crime of treason was his and his alone. 446 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,000 Jane's father was pardoned and set free. 447 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:01,040 But on 18th August, the Duke of Northumberland was put on trial in Westminster Hall. 448 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,880 Here he was confronted by many of his former colleagues 449 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:08,160 from the Privy Council, who had switched sides to Mary. 450 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:11,560 The outcome was never in doubt. 451 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:15,120 He was sentenced to a public execution on Tower Hill. 452 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:18,760 The day before his death, the Duke, 453 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:21,880 the scourge of Catholics across the country, 454 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:26,040 the man who had ferociously suppressed the old faith, 455 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:30,960 fell back on the one course of action that might have saved his life. 456 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:36,360 Northumberland, the great religious reformer, 457 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:38,600 attended a Catholic Mass, 458 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,160 and declared to all those present, 459 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:46,120 "I do most faithfully believe this is the very right and true way, 460 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:49,640 "out of which true religion you and I have been seduced 461 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:54,680 "these 16 years past by the false and erroneous preaching of the new preachers." 462 00:29:56,600 --> 00:30:00,280 But if he thought his plea might save his life, he was wrong. 463 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:08,000 On 22nd August, thousands of people crowded onto Tower Hill 464 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:11,080 for Northumberland's very public beheading. 465 00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:17,480 Was Northumberland really to blame for everything that happened? 466 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:20,120 Was he alone responsible for the coup, 467 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,920 or was he a convenient scapegoat for others who wanted to 468 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,360 distance themselves from the events of July 1553? 469 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:29,840 I think that's the big question, isn't it? 470 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:32,840 That's what has been debated for almost 500 years. 471 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,840 Was he this sort of scheming Machiavellian 472 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:40,400 who takes this poor, innocent young girl and places her on the throne? 473 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,480 Or was he a genuinely sort of caring person who cared about his country, 474 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:47,880 cared about his family, was educated and talented? 475 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:52,200 You don't see Northumberland as the Machiavellian figure 476 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,560 pulling the strings behind the dying Edward. 477 00:30:55,560 --> 00:31:00,560 You would see him as a player attempting to preserve 478 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:04,320 his own position as the board is moving rapidly around him. 479 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:06,760 People want to say he's a Rasputinesque 480 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,000 or, as you say, Machiavellian-type figure. 481 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,680 I don't buy into that at all. I just don't see it. 482 00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:16,360 It was entirely normal for people in this period to seek personal 483 00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:20,960 advantage, and that he did so, he was simply reflecting his own, 484 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:22,840 the culture in which he lived. 485 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,480 He was doing what everyone else around him did. 486 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:29,920 We do know what Jane herself thought of Northumberland. 487 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:33,160 On 29th August, Partridge threw a dinner party, and 488 00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:36,840 those present included the author of The Chronicle Of Queen Jane, 489 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,640 the most reliable source, and Jane herself, 490 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:41,520 and in the course of that dinner, 491 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,920 well, they must have clearly been reflecting on, 492 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:46,960 you know, the general situation and what had happened. 493 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:50,080 Jane suddenly denounces Northumberland and says he was 494 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:52,880 the source of all her and her family's troubles, 495 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,600 and the reason for this was Northumberland's exceeding ambition. 496 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,720 Jane remained in the house of Nathaniel Partridge for several months. 497 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,640 And during this time there was growing tension between Mary, 498 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:08,800 who wanted to save Jane, 499 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:12,280 and those around her who were calling for Jane's death. 500 00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:15,160 A trial was inevitable. 501 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:20,120 On 13th November, Jane was led out of the Tower. 502 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:22,320 It was the first time she'd left the fortress 503 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:25,560 since she entered it as Queen in early July. 504 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:27,840 Now she walked through the streets, 505 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:32,240 a single mile to the Guildhall, where she faced a public trial. 506 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:36,960 Jane could have been tried in Westminster Hall, 507 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:39,600 taken by water, privately on a barge, 508 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:44,600 but instead, she was processed through the streets on foot. 509 00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:50,000 A treason trial at this period was not a trial in the way we understand it. 510 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,200 It wasn't about discovering guilt or innocence, 511 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:55,920 it was essentially a morality play, 512 00:32:55,920 --> 00:33:00,920 and this morality play was a demonstration of Jane's guilt. 513 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:05,160 She was dressed very dramatically, entirely in black, 514 00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:08,360 and she had hanging from her belt a prayer book. 515 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:14,480 She was setting herself up as an example of Protestant piety. 516 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,600 Jane was tried alongside her husband, Guildford. 517 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,320 The trial opens with a Catholic liturgy, 518 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:27,840 which Jane must have found extremely irritating and upsetting. 519 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:33,240 Nevertheless, she listens calmly 520 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:36,880 to the accusations laid against her - 521 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:41,920 treason, which include her signing her documents as "Jane the Queen". 522 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:47,400 And she pleads guilty to treason, 523 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:52,360 as does her husband, Guildford, who is on trial with her. 524 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:55,880 At the end of the trial, entirely predictably, 525 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,880 she is found guilty and condemned to death... 526 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:06,200 ..either by burning or by beheading at the Queen's pleasure. 527 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:11,960 Guildford is to be hanged, drawn and quartered. 528 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,280 But was Jane guilty? 529 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:19,720 She was a teenage girl who'd played no part in planning to take the throne. 530 00:34:19,720 --> 00:34:22,280 Was Jane an innocent victim? 531 00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,480 Depends on how you define "innocent". 532 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:27,440 In purely legal terms... 533 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:30,600 ..probably not, 534 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:35,280 because she did actively participate in the events of her reign. 535 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,760 She asserted herself and refused to make Guildford King, 536 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:43,400 she willingly signed documents repeatedly, numerous documents, 537 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:47,400 she took the action of locking her Privy Councillors into the Tower. 538 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:52,440 All of those are very positive moves on her part to assert herself as monarch. 539 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:56,800 So legally, no, she's not innocent. 540 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:01,720 But in an extraordinary act of leniency, 541 00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:04,400 Mary suspended Jane's sentence. 542 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:09,080 She continued to resist those around her who wanted Jane dead. 543 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:14,280 Mary is somebody who actually, particularly at this stage of her reign, is generous. 544 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:18,400 She's merciful, she's also very pragmatic because she knows it'll 545 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:22,400 actually be rather wise to build up as much support as possible 546 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:24,160 by being lenient where she can. 547 00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:27,320 Mary needs to bring people together, not divide them, 548 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:31,080 to consign the crisis to history as quickly as she can. 549 00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:35,800 It's well within Mary's character that, because Jane was family, 550 00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:37,800 you know, even despite all that had happened, 551 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:40,720 she could have brought her into her court and rehabilitated her. 552 00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:43,440 She did rehabilitate various other young women. 553 00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:46,040 It's perfectly possible. 554 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,120 But unlike the Duke of Northumberland, 555 00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:54,040 Jane was not prepared to change her faith at any price. 556 00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:58,640 She was the sort of person we might recognise today, 557 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:01,400 she's a sort of a teenage religious ideologue, 558 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:05,560 who's prepared to die for her religious cause. 559 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:10,840 Jane had one way of reaching the outside world. 560 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:14,640 As a child she had been schooled in writing letters, 561 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:18,160 a skill that had traditionally been a male preserve. 562 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:23,440 Women are able to, because they're able to write, 563 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:27,440 are able to express themselves on paper. 564 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:31,040 These are privy and powerful communications. 565 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:35,000 You know, letters here are a sort of a political tool. 566 00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:42,000 As Queen, Jane had signed letters prepared by professional scribes. 567 00:36:42,720 --> 00:36:45,600 Now she put her own skills to work, 568 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:50,640 and gave full vent to her faith with no concern for the consequences. 569 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:55,920 She hears that Mary has re-legalised the Catholic Mass. 570 00:36:55,920 --> 00:37:00,040 So the Mass, the Catholic Mass can be said again in England. 571 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:03,440 Jane violently disapproves of the Catholic Mass, 572 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:06,880 she describes it as a sort of form of Satanic cannibalism. 573 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:11,280 And she wants people to make a stand against it. 574 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:15,040 So she writes an open letter to a former tutor of hers 575 00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:17,160 who's converted to Catholicism, 576 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:21,920 and says to people they should rise, rise again in Christ's war. 577 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,920 At the very moment when Jane needs to be appealing to Mary, 578 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:28,440 as her life hangs in the balance, 579 00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:31,360 the writing of this letter is remarkable. 580 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,880 It's a very forceful letter, full of extremely strong language, 581 00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:38,720 even name-calling, telling this person that 582 00:37:38,720 --> 00:37:43,120 he's going to become the spawn of Satan if he doesn't recant 583 00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:45,520 and come back to Protestantism etc. 584 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:48,120 Violating all sorts of social norms. 585 00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:52,400 I mean, she's speaking to... This is a young girl speaking to a man, 586 00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:56,160 this is a young person speaking to an older person, 587 00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:59,160 this is a student speaking to her former teacher. 588 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:02,560 And in each of those roles she's reversed it 589 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:07,080 and become the authority, the teacher, the parent, the guide. 590 00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:09,800 I mean, she may not literally have meant, "Go out and put on 591 00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:12,920 "your suit of armour and chop off Mary Tudor's head," but... 592 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:16,440 ..not that far from it, really. 593 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:20,360 The extraordinary thing is that Mary overlooks this letter. 594 00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:23,080 Even now, she won't sign Jane's death warrant. 595 00:38:24,200 --> 00:38:27,400 But Jane is left languishing in the Tower of London, 596 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:29,160 isolated from the world. 597 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:32,680 The process of wiping away the pictures and records 598 00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:35,080 of Jane the Queen begins. 599 00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:38,800 And after all this time looking for traces of Jane, 600 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,280 I still don't know what she looks like. 601 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:45,840 We live in an era today of visual media. 602 00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:48,880 You know, visual images are around us everywhere, 603 00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:52,120 and we want to see what these people look like. 604 00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:56,040 And unfortunately we don't have a reliable, authentic, 605 00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:58,600 documentable portrait of Jane Grey. 606 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:01,680 Jane almost seems to be a ghost slipping through our fingers. 607 00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:04,720 What are the options for the possible images 608 00:39:04,720 --> 00:39:08,960 that we might look at to try to see Jane's face? 609 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,640 There is really only one at the moment that gives us 610 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,120 reasonably reliable indication of her appearance, 611 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:16,480 and that's a portrait at Syon House. 612 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:21,000 If there were ever more paintings of Jane, 613 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,680 then it's possible they were destroyed as she awaited execution, 614 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:26,720 condemned as a traitor. 615 00:39:26,720 --> 00:39:29,040 Traitors, people who have had their heads chopped off, 616 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:31,160 pictures of them don't survive, because, you know, 617 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:33,840 if you've got a traitor in the family you don't want to boast about it. 618 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:36,280 You don't want to say Great-Aunt Maude when it was a traitor, 619 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:38,640 at least not when you're living during the Tudor era. 620 00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:41,920 The Syon picture, long said to be Jane Grey, 621 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:46,880 was analysed in 2013 by experts able to date the wood it was painted on. 622 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:52,280 It was painted 50 years after she died, 623 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,040 but we do know that it was commissioned 624 00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:57,680 by someone who had actually known Jane. 625 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:07,480 So here it is. 626 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:09,760 This is as good as it gets. 627 00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:28,360 Now Jane was out of sight, she was out of mind. 628 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:32,160 The new Queen Mary was focused on her own future. 629 00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:39,160 She had announced her intention to marry Philip of Spain, 630 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:41,200 who was Catholic and a foreigner... 631 00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:45,480 ..and on both counts caused her people unease. 632 00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:51,040 For the four months that Jane had been imprisoned, 633 00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:56,040 Mary had also been working to undo her brother's Protestant reforms. 634 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:01,040 Proclamations were amended and laws reversed. 635 00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:05,760 The Mass and the old prayer book were reintroduced, 636 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:09,240 and Catholicism, with all of its ritual, returned. 637 00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:15,280 Jane glimpsed the world through narrow windows 638 00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:18,760 and conversations with the few who still came to visit, 639 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,000 including her father, Henry Grey. 640 00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:28,800 But while she was in prison, another plot was being hatched. 641 00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:33,480 In January 1554, Thomas Wyatt, a Protestant gentleman, 642 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:38,240 raised 4,000 men to march on London to remove Mary from the throne. 643 00:41:38,240 --> 00:41:40,720 We don't know if Jane knew about it, 644 00:41:40,720 --> 00:41:43,600 but she was implicated all the same. 645 00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:46,880 Alongside Wyatt, one of the rebel leaders was a man 646 00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:50,480 who had worked for so long to advance the Protestant cause - 647 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:51,880 her own father. 648 00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:57,000 Jane would have heard that the rising collapsed in violence 649 00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:00,960 and chaos and was routed by the forces of the Crown. 650 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:06,080 She would have heard that the leaders were captured and tried. 651 00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:09,800 And she would have had no doubt of the consequences for those involved. 652 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,360 Hundreds of men were sentenced to die. 653 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:18,240 Many would be hanged, 654 00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:22,200 and the worst offenders were to be hanged, drawn and quartered. 655 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:26,920 It would be a violent and terrible blood-letting 656 00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:29,320 as a statement of the authority of the Crown. 657 00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:33,880 And there could be no pardon for Jane's father this time. 658 00:42:35,240 --> 00:42:38,760 Mary had forgiven him once, she couldn't forgive him again. 659 00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:41,960 He would be executed. 660 00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:48,920 When Jane refused to let her father lead the army to confront Mary 661 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:51,720 in Framlingham, she probably saved his life. 662 00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:56,960 And had her father lived a quiet life at court under the new regime, 663 00:42:56,960 --> 00:42:59,320 there's a chance Jane could've been saved... 664 00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:04,000 ..but now, her father's actions were what seals Jane's fate. 665 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:08,080 While she was alive, she became a symbol, 666 00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:10,920 a rallying point for rebel Protestants. 667 00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:13,960 Mary couldn't let her live. 668 00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:17,400 Mary signed the death warrant for Northumberland's son, Guildford, 669 00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:19,800 and for Jane too. 670 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:23,040 The executions would take place in five days' time. 671 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:30,200 And for Jane's father, perhaps the greatest punishment of all - 672 00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:33,960 he would live long enough to know his daughter had been beheaded. 673 00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:39,760 Jane would die on the same day as her husband, 674 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:41,800 Guildford before Jane. 675 00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:49,920 The vast majority of executions associated with the Tower of London 676 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:54,360 happened outside the castle on Tower Hill, in public, 677 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:57,240 for justice to be seen to be done, 678 00:43:57,240 --> 00:44:00,240 and, of course, that's what happens to Guildford Dudley, 679 00:44:00,240 --> 00:44:05,280 but for Jane herself, she's one of a very privileged group of people 680 00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:10,280 who are actually executed more privately within the castle itself. 681 00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:15,480 Between 1483 and 1941 there are 22 executions 682 00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:19,840 that happen within the confines of the Tower. 683 00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:24,640 And Jane is one of five women who were executed within the castle, 684 00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:26,920 and one of three queens, 685 00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:30,640 the other two being Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. 686 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:35,960 There is an account of Jane's private execution, 687 00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:39,680 which is the most reliable description of this infamous event. 688 00:44:41,080 --> 00:44:43,480 It's in The Chronicle Of Queen Jane, 689 00:44:43,480 --> 00:44:46,800 written by someone who was present inside the Tower. 690 00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:52,480 Jane, we're told, was "nothing at all abashed, 691 00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:54,640 "neither with fear of her own death, 692 00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:58,200 "neither with the sight of the dead carcass of her husband. 693 00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:03,240 "She came forth, the lieutenant leading her, in the same gown wherein she was arraigned. 694 00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:06,800 "Neither her eyes anything moisted with tears, 695 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:08,680 "although her two gentlewomen, 696 00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:11,960 "Mistress Elizabeth Tilney and Mistress Ellen, wonderfully wept. 697 00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:15,040 "Jane carried a book in her hand, 698 00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:18,560 "whereon she prayed all the way till she came to the said scaffold." 699 00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:23,760 Another source says that, "She conducted herself at her execution 700 00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:26,760 "with the greatest fortitude and godliness." 701 00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:37,960 It's a terrifying thought. 702 00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:40,400 Jane had to walk out here, 703 00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:42,360 lay her head on the block 704 00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:44,240 and wait for the blade. 705 00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:48,320 When we talk about Tudor history, 706 00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:51,640 we use words like "beheading" without thinking too much about them, 707 00:45:51,640 --> 00:45:54,280 but Jane's death was a moment of horror. 708 00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:07,680 She was executed on 12th February 1554, 709 00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:10,000 dressed head to foot in black, 710 00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:12,360 carrying a prayer book in her hand, 711 00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:15,360 supported by two devoted gentlewomen. 712 00:46:22,680 --> 00:46:25,560 It may be the end of Jane's life, but this is where 713 00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:29,800 the enduring fascination with the Nine Days Queen begins. 714 00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:33,040 The story of how this young woman met her death 715 00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:35,800 has been repeated throughout history, 716 00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:40,120 and in the process, her execution has become shrouded in myth. 717 00:46:42,520 --> 00:46:45,960 There's another famous description of her execution. 718 00:46:45,960 --> 00:46:49,560 It's an account published in the weeks after Jane's death 719 00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:52,920 by an underground Protestant press, 720 00:46:52,920 --> 00:46:57,040 in other words, by someone who had an interest in making Jane 721 00:46:57,040 --> 00:46:59,680 a perfect Protestant martyr. 722 00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:05,520 It describes her last moments in heart-rending detail. 723 00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:11,000 " 'Shall I say this psalm?' 724 00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:12,840 "And he said, 'Yes.' 725 00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:16,080 "Then she said the Psalm of Miserere mei, Deus, in English, 726 00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:17,920 "in most devout manner to the end. 727 00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:21,480 "Then she stood up and gave her maid, Mistress Tilney, 728 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:23,200 "her gloves and handkerchief, 729 00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:27,280 "and her book to Master Thomas Bridges, the lieutenant's brother. 730 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:30,520 "Then the hangman kneeled down and asked her forgiveness, 731 00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:33,000 "whom she forgave most willingly. 732 00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:35,720 "Then he willed her to stand upon the straw, 733 00:47:35,720 --> 00:47:37,880 "which doing, she saw the block. 734 00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:41,760 "Then she said, 'I pray thee, dispatch me quickly.' 735 00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:43,720 "Then she kneeled down, saying, 736 00:47:43,720 --> 00:47:47,080 " 'Will you take it off before I lay me down? 737 00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:49,560 "And the hangman answered her, 'No, madam.' 738 00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:53,320 "She tied the handkerchief about her eyes, 739 00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:57,400 "then, feeling for the block, said, 'What shall I do? Where is it?' 740 00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:01,400 "One of the standers-by guiding her thereunto, 741 00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:05,000 "she laid her head down upon the block and stretched forth her body 742 00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:09,280 "and said, 'Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit.' 743 00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:12,160 "And so she ended." 744 00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:14,200 It's full of pathos, 745 00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:17,560 but it's an example of how Jane's story has been embellished, 746 00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:20,960 because it was added in to the eyewitness chronicle of Queen Jane 747 00:48:20,960 --> 00:48:24,200 when it was published in the 19th century. 748 00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:27,560 Now, when this was edited, in 1850, by John Gough Nichols, 749 00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:31,200 who was a very distinguished historian, he altered the text. 750 00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:33,160 This is very, very hard to believe, 751 00:48:33,160 --> 00:48:37,640 but he added new text that he believed to have been written 752 00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:41,080 by the original chronicler that he had found elsewhere. 753 00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:44,120 They were texts that were circulating quite widely, 754 00:48:44,120 --> 00:48:46,240 even in the 16th century, 755 00:48:46,240 --> 00:48:48,760 but he added them for the extraordinary reason - 756 00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:53,120 and this is the thing about Jane Grey that you couldn't possibly have made up - 757 00:48:53,120 --> 00:48:58,080 he added it because he'd recently seen Paul Delaroche's painting. 758 00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:06,200 All the pathos, 759 00:49:06,200 --> 00:49:10,280 all the drama of the version of the story that has Jane Grey, 760 00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:13,880 you know, coming up to the scaffold and then sort of basically 761 00:49:13,880 --> 00:49:17,040 fumbling with the blindfold and then groping for the block, 762 00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:18,880 and asking the executioner, you know, 763 00:49:18,880 --> 00:49:21,840 "Are you going to do it before I've actually knelt down at the block?" 764 00:49:21,840 --> 00:49:24,840 And he says, "No," and then saying the Psalm, you know, 765 00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:27,080 basically, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord," 766 00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:30,680 and the wonderful, theatrical, dramatised creation 767 00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:34,160 of Jane as this innocent victim and Protestant martyr. 768 00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:37,880 That is not in The Chronicle Of Jane Grey. 769 00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:43,880 The 19th-century editor was inspired to this description 770 00:49:43,880 --> 00:49:47,480 of Jane's execution in the otherwise eyewitness chronicle 771 00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:50,640 by one of the most popular portraits in the National Gallery. 772 00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:56,240 The Execution Of Lady Jane Grey was painted by the French artist 773 00:49:56,240 --> 00:50:01,320 Paul Delaroche over 250 years after Jane died. 774 00:50:06,920 --> 00:50:09,360 What it is not is 775 00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:13,600 a historical reconstruction of the actual circumstances, 776 00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:17,480 insofar as we can know them, of Jane Grey's execution. 777 00:50:18,880 --> 00:50:22,000 The painting was first shown in 1834, 778 00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:25,320 30 years after the end of the French Revolution. 779 00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:28,680 If you put somebody with an axe, 780 00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:30,880 and you have a young woman in the foreground 781 00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:33,000 who is about to be beheaded, 782 00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:36,840 inevitably this brings up the issues of French history, 783 00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:41,440 which were perhaps too raw to be depicted at that particular time 784 00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:43,880 in their own right. 785 00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:47,800 The image of an archetypal innocent facing the block 786 00:50:47,800 --> 00:50:51,800 was a particularly resonant one in post-Revolutionary France. 787 00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:55,360 What Delaroche was not striving for 788 00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:59,120 was historical accuracy about 16th-century England. 789 00:51:00,720 --> 00:51:03,400 That is such a rubbish image. 790 00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:06,000 The only thing accurate in that image, really, 791 00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:07,880 is the straw on the floor. 792 00:51:07,880 --> 00:51:12,920 And beyond that it is an entirely almost histrionic, dramatic 793 00:51:13,840 --> 00:51:17,280 evocation of an idea, 794 00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:20,320 rather than a depiction of an individual. 795 00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:23,360 Do you think the difficulty of seeing Jane's face 796 00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:25,880 is one of the things that's left space for 797 00:51:25,880 --> 00:51:28,280 the crowding in of myth about her? 798 00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:31,680 That it's harder to have a sense of her as a real person? 799 00:51:31,680 --> 00:51:34,800 It makes it very difficult to render her concrete. 800 00:51:34,800 --> 00:51:38,640 So there is kind of a mystery and a vagueness about it 801 00:51:38,640 --> 00:51:41,040 that leaves room for infill. 802 00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:47,840 At times, those gaps in the record have left room for complete invention. 803 00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:52,440 One of the best examples appears in The Nine Days Queen, 804 00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:56,520 written by Richard Davey and published in 1909. 805 00:51:59,040 --> 00:52:01,840 This is the book, and his source is a letter 806 00:52:01,840 --> 00:52:04,520 from a Genoese merchant called Baptist Spinola. 807 00:52:05,560 --> 00:52:08,880 The letter says, "This Jane is very short and thin 808 00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:11,240 "but prettily shaped and graceful. 809 00:52:11,240 --> 00:52:14,120 "She has small features and a well-made nose, 810 00:52:14,120 --> 00:52:16,280 "the mouth flexible and the lips red. 811 00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:19,160 "Her headdress was a white coif with many jewels. 812 00:52:19,160 --> 00:52:22,360 "The new queen was mounted on very high chopines..." 813 00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:25,800 That's a kind of platform shoe. "..to make her look much taller, 814 00:52:25,800 --> 00:52:29,760 "which were concealed by her robes as she is very small and short." 815 00:52:30,920 --> 00:52:33,560 But here are the pitfalls of history. 816 00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:36,000 This, after her execution, 817 00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:40,040 the most often repeated detail in the story of Jane Grey 818 00:52:40,040 --> 00:52:42,880 turns out to be a historical fraud, 819 00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:47,160 and that rich merchant Baptist Spinola probably never existed. 820 00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:50,280 It fulfils people's expectations, 821 00:52:50,280 --> 00:52:52,240 they want a pretty girl 822 00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:54,760 who looks vulnerable and fragile, 823 00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:56,920 surrounded by sort of big adults. 824 00:52:56,920 --> 00:52:59,400 You know, there she is in her stack shoes, 825 00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:02,280 and she's smiling just as she enters the Tower. 826 00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:08,120 From the moment she died, 827 00:53:08,120 --> 00:53:11,880 people have mythologised and misrepresented Lady Jane Grey. 828 00:53:15,560 --> 00:53:18,320 But there is one object that allows us to hear 829 00:53:18,320 --> 00:53:20,680 Jane's own voice from beyond the grave. 830 00:53:26,240 --> 00:53:27,800 Her prayer book. 831 00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:32,880 So this is the book she actually carried onto the scaffold 832 00:53:32,880 --> 00:53:37,560 and handed over just before the blindfolding and the kneeling? 833 00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:39,480 It is, yes. Yes. 834 00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:41,160 It's quite incredible, isn't it? 835 00:53:41,160 --> 00:53:43,560 What makes it even more special, 836 00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:46,520 one of the great treasures of the British Library, 837 00:53:46,520 --> 00:53:49,440 Jane wrote some messages in it. 838 00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:52,480 One is a heartfelt message to her father. 839 00:53:54,440 --> 00:53:57,520 She writes, "The Lord comfort your grace, 840 00:53:57,520 --> 00:54:00,280 "and that, in the world we're in, 841 00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:04,000 "all creatures can only be comforted." 842 00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:08,920 "And though it hath pleased God to take away two of your children, 843 00:54:08,920 --> 00:54:12,560 "yet think not that you have lost them, but trust that we, 844 00:54:12,560 --> 00:54:17,280 "by leaving this mortal life, have won an immortal life." 845 00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:19,080 And then she signs it, 846 00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:21,800 "Your grace's humble daughter, Jane Dudley." 847 00:54:21,800 --> 00:54:23,800 She's no longer Jane the Queen. 848 00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:27,360 In another message, 849 00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:30,760 she writes to the Catholic gentleman who had been in charge of the Tower 850 00:54:30,760 --> 00:54:32,760 during her time in prison. 851 00:54:34,040 --> 00:54:39,120 "I shall, as a friend, desire you, and as a Christian require you, 852 00:54:39,120 --> 00:54:43,040 "call upon God to incline your heart to his laws 853 00:54:43,040 --> 00:54:46,880 "and to not take the word of truth utterly out of your mouth, 854 00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:49,840 "but live to die. Live still to die." 855 00:54:49,840 --> 00:54:53,120 So she's saying, don't be misguided by false teachings, 856 00:54:53,120 --> 00:54:56,400 and of course by that she means Roman Catholicism. 857 00:54:56,400 --> 00:55:00,760 Once we strip away the layers of myths and exaggeration, 858 00:55:00,760 --> 00:55:05,800 the Jane we find is devout, unflinching, composed to the end. 859 00:55:09,160 --> 00:55:12,200 But the one thing she could never be is the one thing that 860 00:55:12,200 --> 00:55:15,720 might have made a difference to her chances of keeping the throne. 861 00:55:17,080 --> 00:55:20,160 Her cousin Edward's plan for the succession makes it clear 862 00:55:20,160 --> 00:55:23,040 that he thought a man should wear the crown. 863 00:55:24,440 --> 00:55:27,680 One word gets repeated over and over again. 864 00:55:27,680 --> 00:55:31,160 Male, male, male, male. 865 00:55:31,160 --> 00:55:32,840 Heirs male. 866 00:55:32,840 --> 00:55:36,520 To hold power meant to be male. 867 00:55:36,520 --> 00:55:41,600 Women were considered to be creatures of emotion rather than of reason. 868 00:55:41,800 --> 00:55:45,920 Edward's plan had been to keep women off the throne for good. 869 00:55:45,920 --> 00:55:48,760 No-one has yet looked at it as a gender issue... 870 00:55:49,880 --> 00:55:53,520 ..as opposed to a pure political power and religious issue. 871 00:55:55,160 --> 00:55:58,200 But as it turned out, Jane's nine-day reign 872 00:55:58,200 --> 00:56:01,360 was part of a critical moment in English history. 873 00:56:02,880 --> 00:56:06,440 She was overthrown by her female rival, Mary, 874 00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:09,320 who would rule England for five years. 875 00:56:11,120 --> 00:56:14,880 When Mary died, Elizabeth followed her onto the English throne. 876 00:56:14,880 --> 00:56:18,040 Another woman, another queen. 877 00:56:18,040 --> 00:56:21,280 Like Jane, she was a religious reformer. 878 00:56:21,280 --> 00:56:25,000 Unlike Jane, she ruled for 45 years. 879 00:56:26,400 --> 00:56:30,080 And Elizabeth learned a lot from Jane's brief reign. 880 00:56:31,600 --> 00:56:35,240 It's very important in the impact it has on Elizabeth. 881 00:56:35,240 --> 00:56:37,040 Why is she the Virgin Queen? 882 00:56:37,040 --> 00:56:38,280 Well... 883 00:56:38,280 --> 00:56:41,720 ..she saw what happened to Jane when Jane married Guildford Dudley 884 00:56:41,720 --> 00:56:45,040 and how that helped undermine her position. 885 00:56:45,040 --> 00:56:48,720 She's seen how little she can trust the nobility, 886 00:56:48,720 --> 00:56:51,960 the Protestant nobility who were supposed to be her chief backers. 887 00:56:51,960 --> 00:56:54,880 Elizabeth has seen how they can't be trusted 888 00:56:54,880 --> 00:56:58,600 but how the ordinary people might help to save her. 889 00:56:58,600 --> 00:57:02,720 So Jane's nine days do leave a legacy. 890 00:57:02,720 --> 00:57:06,080 But was she Lady Jane Grey or Queen Jane? 891 00:57:06,080 --> 00:57:11,040 Would you count Jane as a Queen of England? 892 00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:14,280 Or was this a failed coup 893 00:57:14,280 --> 00:57:18,600 that we shouldn't include in the line of English monarchs? 894 00:57:18,600 --> 00:57:22,200 She reigned for nine days, she was a Queen of England. 895 00:57:23,440 --> 00:57:26,200 A contested queen, but a queen nonetheless. 896 00:57:26,200 --> 00:57:31,240 1553 was an extraordinary moment in English history. 897 00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:36,640 For the first time ever, all possible heirs to the crown were female. 898 00:57:37,960 --> 00:57:41,400 The men who surrounded the throne imagined that the only way 899 00:57:41,400 --> 00:57:44,480 a mere woman could rule was as their puppet. 900 00:57:44,480 --> 00:57:47,040 That's why they chose Jane Grey. 901 00:57:47,040 --> 00:57:49,560 But in her nine days as Queen, 902 00:57:49,560 --> 00:57:52,080 Jane began to show them they were wrong. 903 00:57:53,280 --> 00:57:56,920 It was a lesson hammered home by her cousin and rival, Mary. 904 00:57:58,240 --> 00:58:02,800 And the example of these two women in the summer of 1553 905 00:58:02,800 --> 00:58:06,920 demonstrated that a queen could rule without a man to control her, 906 00:58:06,920 --> 00:58:09,440 if she had the support of England's people. 907 00:58:10,520 --> 00:58:12,600 We call her Lady Jane Grey, 908 00:58:12,600 --> 00:58:16,920 not Queen Jane, because we know how her story ended. 909 00:58:16,920 --> 00:58:21,080 But in reliving the drama of her nine-day reign, 910 00:58:21,080 --> 00:58:25,560 we're reminded just how close she came to ruling England... 911 00:58:25,560 --> 00:58:28,400 ..and how different things could have been.