Wrong Hands by John Atkinson for July 25, 2023

Poor Lady Jane Gray. The planners used her then lost and she paid the price.

Poor girl was only 17

Her brother Earl steeped a great tea I hear.

Dark.

Jane was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII through his daughter, Mary Tudor, and was therefore a grandniece of Henry VIII and a first cousin once removed of Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. She had an excellent humanist education, and a reputation as one of the most learned young women of her day. In May 1553, she married Lord Guildford Dudley, a younger son of Edward’s chief minister John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. In June 1553, the dying Edward VI wrote his will, nominating Jane and her male heirs as successors to the Crown, in part because his half-sister Mary was Catholic, while Jane was a committed Protestant and would support the reformed Church of England, whose foundation Edward laid. The will removed his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, from the line of succession on account of their illegitimacy, subverting their claims under the Third Succession Act.

After Edward’s death, Jane was proclaimed queen on 10 July 1553, and awaited coronation in the Tower of London. Support for Mary grew quickly, and most of Jane’s supporters abandoned her. The Privy Council of England suddenly changed sides, and proclaimed Mary as queen on 19 July 1553, deposing Jane. Her primary supporter, her father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland, was accused of treason, and executed less than a month later. Jane was held prisoner in the Tower, and was convicted of high treason in November 1553, which carried a sentence of death.

Mary initially spared her life; however, Jane soon became viewed as a threat to the Crown when her father, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, became involved with Wyatt’s rebellion against Queen Mary’s intention to marry Philip of Spain. Jane and her husband were executed on 12 February 1554. At the time of her death, Jane was either 16 or 17 years old.

The tea guy: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (c. 1764–1845) was the son of Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey and Prime Minister of the United Kingd

Borrowed from Wikipedia and British History Online.

Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (c. 1764–1845) was the son of Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Lord Grey’s government enacted the abolition of slavery in the British Empire by initiating the mass purchase of slaves from their owners in 1833. He had previously resigned as foreign secretary in 1807 to protest the King’s uncompromising rejection of Catholic Emancipation. He is the namesake of Earl Grey tea.

The Grey Cup guy: Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, PC (28 November 1851 – 29 August 1917) was a British peer and politician who served as Governor General of Canada 1904–1911, the ninth since Canadian Confederation. He was a radical Liberal aristocrat and a member of a string of liberal high society clubs in London. An active and articulate campaigner in late Victorian England he was associated with many of the leading Imperialists seeking change.

Albert Grey was born into a noble and political family, though at birth not in direct line to inherit the earldom. His father, General Charles Grey, was a younger brother of the 3rd Earl, who died without issue. As General Grey was deceased, the titles descended to his eldest living son Albert, then in his forties. Albert was educated at Harrow School before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated MA and LLM. “His grandfather was the 2nd Earl Grey, who was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1830 to 1834 and, reputedly, the recipient of a diplomatic gift from China of black tea scented with bergamot oil, which became known as Earl Grey tea.”

Quite a colourful family for being all Grey.

I like Earl Grey tea and am a fan of the CFL.

Hers was actually quite a tragic life.

centuries later, we’re still talking about her and all she had to do was marry the wrong guy…