Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide

Books 2026 – on sale today – Jane Seymour: Patronage, Material Culture and Image Crafting (Lives of Royal Women) by Elizabeth Norton

Posted on 23rd July 2026 by ladyjanegreyreference

‘Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII, was queen of England for only seventeen months, something which has accounted for the little interest shown in her by historians. In her lifetime, however, she was a significant political figure, while her legacy and memorialization extended beyond her early death following childbirth in October 1537.

Jane Seymour: Patronage, Material Culture and Image Crafting is the first full length academic study of Jane’s life and queenship. Using extensive archival research, it pulls together all of the surviving information to provide both a biographical and a thematic account. Chapters include a consideration of Jane’s queenship and political role, her material cultural environment, her household, her financial position and her religion, before also considering her afterlife and attempts to commemorate her both officially and unofficially. In doing so, the book banishes many myths that have grown up around the queen, most notably ideas of her passivity and powerlessness and also often repeated (but unsubstantiated) claims of her conservative religious outlook. This book presents a picture of Jane as an active and highly political queen consort.

The book is a valuable resource for students and established scholars since it adds considerably to knowledge of the queen and re-inserts her into the heart of the dynasty, while also drawing pertinent conclusions on sixteenth-century queenship.’

From Routledge

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

Was Jane Queen for 9 or 13 days?

Posted on 19th July 2026 by ladyjanegreyreference

Sarah Beth Watkins (author of The Tudor Brandons)

Coronation is a religious ceremony, not what creates a monarch legally – that was the succession. So, by that reckoning, Jane was queen for 13 days as she was declared queen on Edward VI’s death.

Janet Wertman (author of The Boy King)

I do believe nine is the correct number. The crown must always be vested in someone, so on the death of a monarch, it magically passes to the rightful heir…which was not Jane because Edward’s action could not overrule an act of Parliament. Jane only became queen upon being proclaimed as such…so nine days.

Posted in 25 years of Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide | Tagged 25 years, 9 or 13 days, Janet Wertman, Sarah-Beth Watkins | Comments Off

Was Jane Queen for 9 or 13 days?

Posted on 18th July 2026 by ladyjanegreyreference

Melita Thomas (author of The House of Grey: Friends & Foes of Kings)

I am afraid I don’t think Jane was queen at all, as the letters patent were unable to overturn a Parliamentary act.

However, in the spirit of the enquiry, I’d say it is a tricky question. If she had defeated Mary to become queen in fact, then her reign would have started on the death of Edward on 6th July, so we can argue that her reign began that day. However, she did not inherit from Edward by process of law, so we could say that her reign began on her proclamation, which was 10th July. Arguing against that, monarchs become monarchs immediately, they don’t need to be proclaimed, taking us back to 6th July. So, on balance, although she was not legally queen at all, I would go with 13 days.

Kathryn Warner (author of The Granddaughters of Edward III)

I’d say 13 days, from the death of Edward VI, because reigns are usually deemed to begin from the death of the previous monarch. In July 1307, Edward II didn’t know for four days that his father Edward I was dead, but his reign had started anyway.