The Execution of Lady Jane Grey Painting

“I am assured that I shall, for losing of a mortal life, win an immortal life.” – Lady Jane Grey, February 1554

Housed inside The National Gallery is The Execution of Lady Jane Grey painting by Paul Delaroche. It was completed in 1833. The National Gallery acquired the painting after it was rediscovered in 1973. According to the National Gallery, “two years after it was first put on display, Paul Delaroche’s [painting] has become one of the nation’s best loved paintings.” The painting is “monumental in scale, poignant in subject matter and uncanny in its realism, Delaroche’s depiction of the 17-year old, who was Queen of England for just nine days, created a sensation when first unveiled at the Paris Salon of 1834.”

Lady Jane Grey was born in October 1537. She was the great-granddaughter of King Henry VII “through her mother, Lady Frances Brandon, whose own mother was Mary, the younger of King Henry VIII’s two sisters.” According to Britannica, Lady Jane grew up learning how to speak and write Greek and Latin. She was also able to speak French, Italian, and Hebrew. When she was “barely nine years old, she went to live in the household of Queen Catherine Parr, and on the latter’s death in September 1548, she was made a ward of Catherine’s fourth husband, Thomas Seymour, Lord Seymour of Sudeley, who planned her marriage to his nephew and her cousin, the young King Edward VI. Seymour was beheaded for treason in 1549 so Jane returned to her studies at Bradgate.” Her father was later created Duke of Suffolk so Lady Jane then spent most of her time at Royal Court.

According to Britannica, on “May 21, 1533, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who exercised considerable power at that point in the minority of King Edward VI, joined with Suffolk in marrying [Jane] to his son, Lord Guildford Dudley. [Jane’s] Protestantism which was extreme, made her a natural candidate for the throne of those who supported the Reformation, such as Northumberland. With the support of Northumberland, who had persuaded the dying King Edward VI to set aside his half sisters Mary and Elizabeth in favour of any male heirs who might be born to the duchess of Suffolk, and in failing them, to Lady Jane, she and her male heirs were designated successors to the throne.” King Edward VI died on July 6, 1553. Four days later on July 10, 1553, Lady Jane Grey “who fainted when the idea was first broached to her, was proclaimed Queen.”

Lady Jane Grey was the first female monarch in English history. It was a short-lived monarchy though. According to Britannica, “Edward’s sister, Mary Tudor, the heir according to an Act of Parliament in 1544 and King Henry VIII’s Will from 1547, had the support of the populace, and on July 19, even Suffolk, who by now despaired of success in the plans for his daughter, attempted to retrieve his position by proclaiming Mary Queen. Northumberland’s supporters melted away, and the Duke of Suffolk easily persuaded his daughter to relinquish the unwanted crown.”

At the beginning of Queen Mary’s reign, she committed Lady Jane Grey and her father, Suffolk, to the Tower of London. Jane’s father was soon pardoned. According to Britannica, “Lady Jane and her husband were arraigned for high treason on November 14, 1553. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death. The execution of the sentence was suspended, but the participation of her father in early February 1554, in Sir Thomas Wyatt’s rebellion sealed her fate. She and her husband were beheaded on February 12, 1554 and her father was executed 11 days later.”

The painting by Paul Delaroche shows the moment before Lady Jane Grey, the first female monarch, was beheaded.