Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide

Books to look forward in 2014

Posted on 29th July 2012 by Tamise

2nd January 2014 – The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings Who Invented England (Paperback) by Dan Jones

‘The Plantagenets inherited a bloodied, broken kingdom from the Normans, and set about expanding royal rule until it stretched at its largest from the Scottish lowlands to the Pyrenees, and from the Ireland to the foothills of the Holy Roman Empire. At the same time, they developed aspects of English law, government, architecture, art and folklore that survive to this day. Despite all this, and having reigned for twice as long as their eventual successors, the Tudors, the Plantagenets remain relatively unknown.
In this gripping, vivid new book, Dan Jones brings the Plantagenets and their world back to life. This is both an epic narrative history of the ‘high’ Middle Ages, and a spellbinding portrait of a family blessed and cursed in equal measure.

‘The Plantagenets’ sweeps from Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine’s creation of a European empire to Richard the Lionheart’s heroic Third Crusade and King John’s humbling under Magna Carta. It explores the beginning of parliament under Henry III. It charts the fierce rule of Edward Longshanks, who conquered Wales and subdued Scotland but could never come to terms with his own son, the ill-fated Edward II. The book comes to an exciting climax in the age of chivalry, as Edward III saw England triumph in the Hundred Years War while plague stalked Europe, before the Black Prince and his beautiful princess Joan of Kent raised a son, Richard II, who would come to destroy the Plantagenet legacy. It is a compelling, fascinating journey through Britain’s most spectacular age.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

Dan Jones

14th February 2014 – The Wars of the Roses (Paperback) by Anthony Goodman

‘The second half of the fifteenth century was one of the most turbulent periods of English history. Popular knowledge of the bitter struggle for the throne between the rival houses of York and Lancaster derives largely from Shakespeare’s history plays, which in their turn were coloured by Tudor propaganda, and most books on the Wars of the Roses have concentrated on politics and personalities. This new edition of Anthony Goodman’s highly successful volume The Wars of the Roses is a military as well as social history of the wars. It has been expanded to include the latest research and additional maps and illustrations. In the first part of his survey Anthony Goodman presents an overall view of the campaigns, for the first skirmishes of 1452 to the last campaign in 1497, and examines the generalship of the commanders in both camps. In the second covering military organization – how armies were recruited, paid, fed, billeted, armed and deployed – he shows that in a period of rapid change in European methods of warfare the English were not so old-fashioned as has sometimes been supposed. In conclusion he assesses the effects of the wars on society in general. The book makes extensive use of fifteenth-century sources, both English and Continental, including chronicles, civic records, and letters, and presents a vivid picture of the wars as they were seen and described by contemporaries.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

1st April 2014 – Tudor Secrets & Scandals (Paperback) by Brian Williams

‘What constituted a secret or a scandal in times gone by? This entertaining title in this new series gives an overview of the times and attitudes to ‘secrets’, and what was meant by a ‘scandal’. The series uncovers revelations of spies and plots, financial scandals, secrets of the royal bedchambers, dynastic tangles, and the exploits of both villains and so-called saints. Noble lords and ladies sampled the same pleasures and sometimes met the same ghastly fate as common criminals. Enemies of the state plotted and were plotted against, while a horrible fate awaited those found guilty of treason, hanged, drawn and quartered to the jeers of the mob. Assassins lurked in alleys, ghoulish body snatchers opened graves in the dead of night…This highly illustrated guide includes places associated with the stories.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

3rd April 2014 – Fatal Rivalry: Power, Personality and the Decisive Battle for Renaissance Britain by George Goodwin

‘FATAL RIVALRY provides the first in-depth examination of the Battle of Flodden, the biggest and bloodiest in British history. James IV came to the Scottish throne as a fifteen-year-old widely suspected of ordering the murder of his own father. Chronicling James’s curbing of a nobility to whom regicide was second nature, FATAL RIVALRY charts his ascent to the first ruler of a unified Scotland. It shows how he was able to outfox Henry VII, and how the two countries later signed a Treaty of Perpetual Peace, cemented by James’s marriage to Henry VII’s eldest daughter, Margaret Tudor. Following five centuries of fluctuating relations with England, peace between the two countries was never guaranteed for long. After the death of Henry VII, James’s ambition to become a great Renaissance prince quickly clashed with the new teenage king, his brother-in-law Henry VIII of England. The ensuing rivalry was a full-scale political, ceremonial and even cultural competition at a time of rapid technological, economical and geopolitical change, fuelled by shifting alliances with France and Spain, Popes and Emperors. This book captures the importance of the key players in the story – the kings and their respective queens, their nobles, diplomats and generals – as the rivalry brought the two countries inexorably to war. Fatefully, it would be an error by James, that most charismatic of commanders, and in the thick of engagement, that would make him the last British king to fall in battle, would condemn the bulk of his nobility to a similarly violent death and settle his country’s fate.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

17th April 2014 – The Spanish Armada (Paperback) by Robert Hutchinson

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

1st May 2014 – Henry VIII’s England: A Guide to the Historic Sites of the Tudor Monarch and His Six Wives (Paperback) by Peter Bramley

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

5th June 2014 – Bosworth: The Rise of the Tudors (Paperback) by Chris Skidmore

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

Posted in Books 2014 | Tagged Books 2014 | Leave a comment

Books to look forward to in 2013

Posted on 25th July 2012 by Tamise

1 January 2013 – Queens Regnant by Tracy Borman, Siobhan Clarke, Sarah Gristwood , Alison Weir and Kate Williams

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

13th February 2013 – The Queen’s Agent: Sir Francis Walsingham and the Rise of Espionage in Elizabethan England by John Cooper

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

28th February 2013 – The Kings & Queens of England: The Biography [Hardcover] by David Loades

‘This is the history of the men and women who have occupied the highest position in English, and later British society. For about a thousand years they were superior lords, the leaders of a nobility which ruled; and for about three hundred years thereafter they were sovereigns, whose servants ruled in their name. Now, with the rise of democracy, they no longer rule. The Queen is a symbol and a social leader, vastly experienced in the ways of the world, and the head of a family which strives to be useful in a modern community. The records of the monarchy vary from one period to another, and many of them are political in nature. However, it is always necessary to remember the human being behind the constitutional facade. This is an attempt to recover their identities.’

From Amazon.co.uk

7 March 2013 – The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England (Paperback) by Ian Mortimer

‘We think of Queen Elizabeth I as ‘Gloriana’: the most powerful English woman in history. We think of her reign (1558-1603) as a golden age of maritime heroes, like Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Richard Grenville and Sir Francis Drake, and of great writers, such as Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare. But what was it actually like to live in Elizabethan England? If you could travel to the past and walk the streets of London in the 1590s, where would you stay? What would you eat? What would you wear? Would you really have a sense of it being a glorious age? And if so, how would that glory sit alongside the vagrants, diseases, violence, sexism and famine of the time? In this book Ian Mortimer answers the key questions that a prospective traveller to late sixteenth-century England would ask. Applying the groundbreaking approach he pioneered in his bestselling “Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England”, the Elizabethan world unfolds around the reader. He shows a society making great discoveries and winning military victories and yet at the same time being troubled by its new-found awareness. It is a country in which life expectancy at birth is in the early thirties, people still starve to death and Catholics are persecuted for their faith. Yet it produces some of the finest writing in the English language and some of the most magnificent architecture, and sees Elizabeth’s subjects settle in America and circumnavigate the globe. Welcome to a country that is, in all its contradictions, the very crucible of the modern world.’

From Amazon.co.uk

28th March 2013 – Blood Sisters: The Hidden Lives of the Women Behind the Wars of the Roses (Paperback) by Sarah Gristwood

‘Sarah Gristwood tells the true story behind Philippa Gregory’s recent novels. A fiery history of Queens, the perils of power and of how the Wars of the Roses were ended – not only by knights in battle, but the political and dynastic skills of women.
The events of the Wars of the Roses are usually described in terms of the men involved; Richard, Duke of York, Henry VI, Edward IV and Henry VII. The reality though, argues Sarah Gristwood, was quite different. These years were also packed with women’s drama and – in the tales of conflicted maternity and monstrous births – alive with female energy.

In this completely original book, acclaimed author Sarah Gristwood sheds light on a neglected dimension of English history: the impact of Tudor women on the Wars of the Roses. She examines Cecily Neville, the wife of Richard Duke of York, who was deprived of being queen when her husband died at the Battle of Wakefield; Elizabeth Woodville, a widow with several children who married Edward IV in secret and was crowned queen consort; Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, whose ambitions centred on her son and whose persuasions are likely to have lead her husband Lord Stanley, previously allied with the Yorkists, to play his part in Henry’s victory.

Until now, the lives of these women have remained little known to the general public. Sarah Gristwood tells their stories in detail for the first time. Captivating and original, this is historical writing of the most important kind.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

11 April 2013 – The Spanish Armada by Robert Hutchinson

‘After the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558, Protestant England was beset by the hostile Catholic powers of Europe – not least Spain. In October 1585 King Philip II of Spain declared his intention to destroy Protestant England and began preparing invasion plans, leading to an intense intelligence war between the two countries, culminating in the dramatic sea battles of 1588. Robert Hutchinson’s tautly-written book is the first to examine this battle for intelligence, and uses everything from contemporary eye-witness accounts to papers held by the national archives in Spain and the UK to recount the dramatic battle that raged up the English Channel. Contrary to popular theory, the Armada was not defeated by superior English forces – in fact, Elizabeth I’s parsimony meant that her ships had no munitions left by the time the Armada had fought its way up to the south coast of England. In reality it was a combination of inclement weather and bad luck that landed the killer blow on the Spanish forces, and of the 125 Spanish ships that set sail against England, only 60 limped home – the rest sunk or wrecked with barely a shot fired.

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

1st May 2013 – The Tudor Rose: Princess Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s Sister by Jennifer Kewley Draskau

Further details

9th May 2013 – Henry: Model of a Tyrant (Paperback) by David Starkey

‘How and why did Henry VIII turn from a glamorous Renaissance prince into this country’s greatest tyrant? David Starkey’s magesterial concluding biography, published to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Henry’s accession to the throne, tells this remarkable, bloodthirsty story.

When Henry VIII came to throne in 1509, he had already distinguished himself as a scholar, musician and athlete. So how did this glamorous young Renaissance prince become this country’s greatest tyrant?

Desperate to cement his claim to the throne, Henry quickly became frustrated by the lack of a male heir from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. His impatience increased after he became infatuated with the beautiful Anne Boleyn. When Anne refused to become his mistress, a desperate Henry was forced to take action that would set the course of British history for the next 500 years.

In a move that would have fateful consequences for all involved, Henry ordered his lifelong friend Thomas More to implement religious changes that would allow him to remarry. The resulting establishment of the Church of England catapulted Henry to the height of his personal power and led to More’s death. Catherine was dismissed, Anne was ushered in, and so began the bloody cycle of marriage, divorce and execution Henry is still remembered for today. And yet behind this brutal history was a man traumatised by bitter divorce.

David Starkey’s magisterial concluding biography of this most complex of British kings, published to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Henry’s accession to the throne, tells the bloodstained story of his remarkable shift from humanist prince to all-powerful despot during one of the most vivid and significant periods of British history.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

13th June 2013 – Bosworth: The Rise of the Tudors by Chris Skidmore

‘The Battle of Bosworth has a legendary significance in British history. The last battle fought on English soil until the seventeenth century, and the last occasion that an English king would die on the battlefield, it was also the battle that brought an end to the dynasty of Plantagenet kings who had ruled since 1154, and heralded the birth of the Tudor dynasty. Yet the story of Bosworth is more than just the result of a few hours bloodshed on the battlefield. It is the culmination of the rise of the House of Tudor, a remarkable story which began fifty years earlier, when a page of Henry V’s ran off with his widow. It is the tale of the turbulent life of Henry Tudor, who, against the odds, rose from relatively humble origins and exile in France to overthrow the deeply unpopular Richard III. When this inexperienced young soldier landed in England in 1485 with 2,000 French mercenaries and a handful Lancastrian lords and knights, few could have predicted his campaign would end in with him seizing the throne of England. Drawing on a wide range of unpublished sources as well as new research that has only recently come to light, Chris Skidmore will disentangle fact from legend and relate the compelling story of the battle in full. BOSWORTH will also set the battle against the background of the storms of the Wars of the Roses, and paint a vivid portrait of this time of immense political ferment and social change.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

11 July 2013 – Fatal Rivalry, Flodden 1513: Power, Personality and the Decisive Battle for Renaissance Britain by George Goodwin

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

Posted in Books 2013 | Tagged Books 2013 | Leave a comment

Double Take: Versions and Copies of Tudor Portraits

Posted on 24th July 2012 by Tamise

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the ‘Double Take: Versions and Copies of Tudor Portraits’ exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition features five sets of paintings and subjects include, Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Archbishop William Warham, Thomas Gresham and Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset.

The exhibition is free and is displayed among the portraits of the Tudor Gallery. The famous portrait of Anne Boleyn is finally back on display after the completion of conservation work.

‘Recent research undertaken as part of the ‘Making Art in Tudor Britain’ project has used a variety of scientific techniques to analyse the Gallery’s 16th century paintings, and also comparative works from other collections, in order to explore the way in which these versions and copies were produced.’

Henry VIII
Unknown Artist
c1535-40, oil on panel

Henry VIII
Unknown artist
c1535-40, oil on panel
Lent by the Society of Antiquaries of London

‘Two portraits depict Henry in his mid-forties…It is possible that both of these portraits derive from the same English workshop. They show the influence of Netherlandish painting techniques, copied from foreign artists who settled in London. A pattern was used to mark out the King’s likeness, which was copied freehand for the smaller version. Similarities in the technique suggest that parts of the painting may have been by the same person.’

Anne Boleyn
Unknown artist
Late 16th century, oil on panel

Anne Boleyn
Unknown artist
1590-1610, oil on panel

‘As the mother of Elizabeth I, Anne’s image was often included in portrait sets of English monarchs, however only a few versions survive today.

Although these two portraits vary in quality they are based on the same pattern; demonstrating the way in which established face patterns of prominent individuals could be used for many years…In the (second painting), the artist’s complete reliance on a pattern is demonstrated by the unusual painting technique in which the eyes, lips and eyebrows were painted in full and then the flesh was painted around these features.

By contrast, the (first painting) is far more subtle and accomplished. The portrait…has recently undergone structural conservation following a successful fundraising campaign and the generous support of public donations.’

You can read detailed analysis of some of the portraits at the National Portrait Gallery website:

Henry VIII Analysis

William Warham

Thomas Gresham

The exhibition runs until 6th September and is well worth a visit to see Anne Boleyn looking her best again!

Italics – copyright National Portrait Gallery.

Posted in Exhibitions | Tagged Double Take: Versions and Copies of Tudor Portraits, Exhibitions, National Portrait Gallery | Leave a comment

Books 2012 – Updated

Posted on 23rd July 2012 by Tamise

28th August – Margaret of York, the Diabolical Duchess: The Woman Who Tried to Overthrow the Tudors by Christine Weightman

‘The amazing life of Margaret of York, the woman who tried to overthrow the Tudors. Reared in a dangerous and unpredictable world Margaret of York, sister of Richard III, would become the standard bearer of the House of York and ‘the menace of the Tudors’. This alluring and resourceful woman was Henry VII’s ‘diabolical duchess’. Safe across the Channel in modern-day Belgium and supported by the Emperor she sent Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck with thousands of troops to England to avenge the destruction of her brother and of the House of York. Both rebellions shook the new Tudor dynasty to the core. As the duchess and wife of the wealthiest ruler in Western Europe, Margaret was at the centre of a glittering court and became the patron of William Caxton. It was at her command that he printed the first book in English. Her marriage to Charles, the dour, war-mad Duke of Burgundy, had been the talk of Europe. John Paston, who was among the awestruck guests, reported in the famous Paston Letters that there had been nothing like it since King Arthur’s court. Yet within a decade Charles was dead, his corpse frozen on the battlefield and within another decade her own family had been destroyed in England. Childless and in a foreign land Margaret showed the same energetic and cautious spirit as her great-grand-niece Elizabeth I, surviving riots, rebellions and plots. In spite of all her efforts, the Tudors were still on the throne but Margaret, unlike the Yorkist kings, was a great survivor.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amberley Publishing

6th September – Matilda: Queen of the Conqueror [Paperback] by Tracy Borman

‘Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, was the first woman to be crowned Queen of England and formally recognised as such by her subjects. Beyond this, though, little is known: the chroniclers of the age left us only the faintest clues as to her life. So who was the real Matilda?

In this first major biography, Tracy Borman elegantly sifts through the shards of evidence to uncover an extraordinary story. In a dangerous, brutal world of conquest and rebellion, fragile alliances and bitter familial rivalries, Matilda possessed all the attributes required for a woman to thrive. She was born of impeccable lineage, and possessed of a loving and pious nature, she was a paragon of fidelity and motherhood. But strength, intelligence and ambition were also prerequisites to survive in such an environment. This side of her character, coupled with a fiercely independent nature, made Matilda essential to William’s rule, giving her unparalleled influence over the king. But while this would provide an inspiring template for future queens, it also led to treachery, revolt and the fracturing of a dynasty.

Matilda takes us from the courts of Flanders and Normandy to the opulence of royal life in England. Alive with intrigue, rumour and betrayal, it illuminates for the first time the life of an exceptional, brave and complex queen pivotal to the history of England.

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Vintage Books

Tracy Borman

28th September – Edward the Confessor: King of England [Paperback] by Peter Rex

‘The first major biography of Edward the Confessor for almost 40 years. Between these pages the story of Saint Edward the Confessor is masterfully told by the critically acclaimed historian Peter Rex. Born when England was besieged by blood-thirsty Vikings, the future King of England was forced into exile in Normandy to escape the Danish invasion. Often portrayed as a holy simpleton, Edward was in fact a wily and devious King. To most kings a childless marriage would have been an Achilles heel to their reign, but Edward turned this to his advantage. He cunningly played off his potential rivals and successors to his advantage using the prize of the throne as leverage. Edward’s posthumous reputation grew as stories were spread by the monks of his magnificent foundation, Westminster Abbey. The childless King was transformed through the monks’ vision into a chaste, pious and holy man. Miracles were attributed to him and he was credited with the King’s Touch – the ability to cure illnesses by touch alone. In 1161 he was canonised as Saint Edward the Confessor and is the patron saint of the Royal Family.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

1st October – William: King and Conqueror by Mike Hagger

‘1066 is the most famous date in English history. On 14 October, on Senlac Hill near Hastings, a battle was fought that would change the face of England forever. Over the next twenty years, Norman culture was imposed on England, and English politics and society were radically reshaped. But how much is really known about William ‘the Conqueror’, the Norman duke who led his men to victory on that autumn Saturday in what was to be the last successful invasion of England? In this book, Mark Hagger takes a fresh look at William’s life – from his birth at Falaise in Normandy to his chaotic funeral at Caen in 1087 – and his reign as both duke of the Normans and king of the English. He shows how William, as both duke and king, was attacked by rebellious subjects and jealous neighbours, but defeated them all through the strength of his personality, his abilities as a lord, the loyalty of his friends, and sheer good luck. His response to the English rebellions was to populate the country with castles and strongholds – a feature of the landscape which remains to this day. He was not always a popular ruler – especially not with the English earls who saw their estates and titles handed over to Norman lords – but he was a strong one, and he kept the peace and did good justice, so that history has treated him kindly. His greatest surviving monuments – the White Tower of the Tower of London and Domesday Book – attest to a powerful legacy. This book provides some new insights into William’s character – his strengths and flaws – and his rule. It also places William squarely within the context of the time in which he lived, enabling a better understanding of what life was like in medieval England.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

28th October – Catherine Howard: The Adultress Wife of Henry VIII by David Loades

‘Henry’s fifth Queen is best known to history as the stupid adolescent who got herself fatally entangled with lovers, and ended up on the block. However there was more to her than that. She was a symptom of the power struggle which was going on in the court in 1539-40 between Thomas Cromwell and his conservative rivals, among whom the Howard family figured prominently. The Howards were an ambitious clan, and Catherine’s marriage to Henry appeared to signify their triumph. However her weakness ruined them in the short term, and undermined Thomas Howard, the 3rd Duke of Norfolk’s power permanently. Catherine’s advent has to be seen against the background of the failed Cleves marriage and the policy which that represented. Her downfall similarly should be seen in terms of the reformers fighting back against the Howards, and bringing down Jane Rochford with her. Politics and sexuality were inextricably mixed, especially when the King’s potency was called in question. It is time to have another look at her brief but important reign.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further detilas – Amazon.co.uk

David Loades

28 October – Henry VIII by Lacey Baldwin Smith

‘The Henry VIII of popular legend and historical fiction is a bacchanalian figure of gargantuan proportions. Historical fact, however, is another matter. A deeply insecure man constantly in need of reassurance, a ritualist, a prude unsure of his prowess and easily embarrassed by sex – these are the faces which Lacey Baldwin Smith reveals hidden behind the mask of royalty. Opening with Henry on his death bed, a monstrous bloated figure ravaged by pain, disease and suspicion, the story revolves around the crucial last five years of his reign (1552-7). With old-age creeping up on him, and his sixth wife, Catherine Parr at his side, Henry’s true personality began to reveal itself. How the once cautious pedant and competent administrator turned into the neurotic and dangerous tyrant is the subject of Lacey Baldwin Smith’s biography.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

Posted in Books 2012 | Leave a comment

Bloody Tales of the Tower: Lady Jane Grey

Posted on 19th July 2012 by Tamise

I have finally got round to writing up the episode from the ‘Bloody Tales of the Tower’ series which featured Lady Jane and was shown on the National Geographic channel in April.

Bloody Tales of the Tower: Executions

The second episode of ‘Bloody Tales of the Tower’ presented by Suzannah Lipscomb and Joe Crowley, looked at three executions at the Tower of London. One of these was the execution in 1554 of Lady Jane Grey.

(c) National Geographic Channel

Jane’s execution is described as ‘the most infamous execution of a notoriously bloody reign.’

Who was the rightful Queen?

Suzannah Lipscomb and Joe Crowley investigate this question. Suzannah describes Jane as ‘famously supposed to be the only monarch who was executed at the Tower.’

‘She is called Lady Jane Grey and not ‘Queen Jane’. The question is, was she really Queen at all?’

As part of her investigation, Suzannah visits places related to Lady Jane, these include Bradgate Park, where Jane was possibly born and grew up and the present day site of Durham House, London, where Jane was married to Guildford Dudley in May 1553.

(c) National Geographic Channel

(c) National Geographic Channel

At the Inner Temple Library, she looks at ‘Edward’s Devise for the Succession’ to discover who Edward left the crown to.

(c) National Geographic Channel

Here you can clearly see how ‘L’ Jane heires masles’ was altered to read ‘L’Jane and her heires masles.’

Suzannah goes on to say that when Jane was installed in the Tower of London, ‘the reluctant 16 year old Queen wrote a poignant letter.’

(c) National Geographic Channel

‘It starts ‘Jane the Quene, Trusty and well beloved we great you well, our cause we doubt not but this the most lawful possession of the crown.’ The letter ends, ’18 July in the first year of our reign.’

(c) National Geographic Channel

‘In this very letter Jane is saying that her possession of the crown is lawful…It’s really quite sad because here in this one statement you’ve got the great hope for the future that she has. Jane was only 16; she was hoping to live out her life as Queen.’

Joe Crowley discussed Mary’s campaign with historian Anna Whitelock. Anna described Mary’s move from Kenninghall to Framlingham and how her campaign was based on the legitimacy of Henry VIII’s will.

The next part of Dr Lipscomb’s investigation takes her to Westminster Abbey.

‘Today we remember Jane as a tragic victim but shouldn’t we also remember her as Queen Jane, even though she was crowned here at Westminster? Historian Chris Skidmore thinks so and the proof is right here in the Abbey,’

Chris Skidmore shows Suzannah the tomb of the two princes in the Tower. The inscription on the tomb reads Edward V King of England.

He says ‘It just goes to prove, he did not have a coronation but is considered Edward V, King of England. Another example is Edward VIII. Even though Jane herself never had a coronation, I believe you can still regard her as Queen Jane.’

Edwardfifth

(c) National Geographic Channel

Suzannah concludes, ‘We’ve got two kings in history who weren’t crowned and who were monarchs, so Lady Jane Grey is one of those. We should call her Queen Jane, we should remember her as a true Queen of England before Mary came along and seized her throne.’