Jane gropes for the block in panic at her execution. Her cousin Queen Mary had hoped to spare her, but an 11th-hour rebellion meant Jane’s days really were numbered
GUILDHALL LIBRARY & ART GALLERY/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES
Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen of England at only 16 years old. Famously, her reign was to last for just nine days. According to her tutor, John Aylmer, who stated in 1551 that she had just turned 14, Jane was born in 1537, when Henry VIII was on the throne. Her mother was Frances Brandon, the King’s niece, being the eldest daughter of his late sister, Mary Tudor. Frances had married Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset.
LEFT: Jane was a well-educated young woman, able to speak and read in Latin, Greek and Italian as well as English