In late December 2009, the National Portrait Gallery opened a free exhibition called ‘Lady Jane’. The display explored ‘how artists constructed an idealised image of Lady Jane as a Protestant heroine and martyr.’ (See NPG – Press Release). Originally due to close in July, the exhibition was extended until 15th August. The display included the Streatham Portrait , purchased by the gallery in 2007. For details of other paintings on display, see the report of my visit (blog).
Articles relating to the display were published in Art Daily, ‘National Portrait Gallery Charts the Iconography of Lady Jane Grey’ and at Suite101.com ‘How Works in Print Elevated the Nine Day Queen to Heroine and Martyr’
The January/February issue of Costume Chronicles featured an article about the film Lady Jane, which included photos of the costumes.
On the anniversary of Lady Jane’s execution (12th February), Dr Stephan Edwards gave an interview to the ‘Executed Today’ website (Interview).
‘Hunting the Truth of Lady Jane Grey’ by Leanda de Lisle was published in the February 24th edition of ‘Country Life’ magazine.
The National Gallery’s exhibition ‘Painting History: Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey’ opened on February 24th and closed on May 23rd. See Reviews. The exhibition was also featured on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour’. You can listen at ‘Delaroche’s iconic painting of the nine day queen’. You can also read about my visit to the exhibition (blog).
The paperback version of Leanda de Lisle’s ‘The Sisters Who Would Be Queen’ was published on March 4th. Since the publication of the hardback in January 2009, Leanda has made new discoveries about Lady Jane (see ‘Hardback versus paperback’). An article about one of these discoveries, ‘Faking Jane’ was published in the March issue of BBC History Magazine.
Leanda also gave a talk at the National Gallery in connection with the ‘Painting History: Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey’ exhibition. See ‘Death Becomes Her: The Life and Afterlife of Lady Jane Grey’. ‘Painting History’ was also featured in the National Gallery Podcast for March. You can listen here.
‘The Truth About the Queen for Nine Days’ was published in the Daily Express on March 8th. Leanda also wrote a guest article for this website, ‘Death Becomes Her’.
Dr Stephan Edwards transcribed and rendered Lady Jane Grey’s prayer book into modern English at his website, Some Grey Matter. Have a look at ‘Some Grey Matter – Lady Jane Grey’s Prayerbook’ .
Linda Porter’s ‘Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr’ was published in March (see Reviews). Articles about her book, one of which featured Lady Jane, were published in the March issues of BBC History Magazine and History Today.
Two talks were given at the National Gallery in April as part of the Delaroche exhibition. Alison Weir gave a talk entitled ‘Nine Days A Queen’ and Viyki Turnbull’s was called ‘The Making of Delaroche’s Lady Jane Grey’.
Leanda de Lisle had two articles published about Mary Grey. ‘A Tudor Mystery Unravels’ appeared in The Spectator and ‘Sex and Violence’ in the Leicester Mercury.
Linda Porter’s new biography of Katherine Parr, raised a few questions relating to Lady Jane Grey, which she was kind enough to answer (see Q&A with Linda Porter).
Dr Stephan Edwards posted his research regarding ‘The Somerley Portrait’ at his website (see ‘Some Grey Matter – The Somerley Portrait’).
Leanda’s new book was announced at the end of the month. Published by Chatto, it will be ‘a dynastic history of the Tudor royal family stretching from Margaret of Beaufort to the death of Elizabeth’.
In April I visited Bradgate Park in Leicestershire (see ‘A Walk in Bradgate Park – Part 1 & Part 2). The highlight of my year was lunch with Leanda de Lisle and Professor Eric Ives. It was a Lady Jane Grey master class I will never forget!
In May, Leanda gave a talk at the National Portrait Gallery entitled, ‘A Picture of Innocence: Lady Jane Grey and Her Sisters’.
In June, I visited the ‘Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill’ exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum. There were a number of items on display that related to the Tudors, including a lock of Mary Tudor’s hair (the grandmother of Lady Jane). See ‘Horace Walpole & Strawberry Hill Exhibition Visit’.
Dr Stephan Edwards posted his research on another possible portrait of Lady Jane. See ‘Some Grey Matter – The Althorp Portrait’.
In July, On this day (see Exhibitions/Events – Events – On this day) featured accounts of events relating to Lady Jane, her nine days reign and their aftermath.
De Lisle’s ‘The Sisters Who Would Be Queen’ was picked by the Times as a Top Summer Read. An article about Katherine and Mary Grey appeared in the Mail on Sunday’s ‘You Magazine’. See ‘Loved-up then locked up by the Virgin Queen: The story of Katherine and Mary Grey’.
The ‘Lady Jane’ exhibition ended at the National Portrait Gallery on 15th August and the ‘Lady Jayne/Streatham’ portrait is no longer on display.
Helen Castor took part in the BBC History Magazine September podcast to accompany her article ‘A Queen in a King’s World’. You can listen here. Helen also had another article published in the September issue of History Today Magazine. The article featured Lady Jane Grey and you can read it at ‘Exception to Rule’.
‘She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth’ by Helen Castor was published by Faber on October 7th (see Reviews). Helen was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour.’ You can listen at Woman’s Hour – Chapter 4 – The Early Queens of England.
Another book that featured Lady Jane was published in November. ‘Tudor Queenship:The Reigns of Mary and Elizabeth’ is a collection of essays edited by Anna Whitelock and Alice Hunt.
Helen Castor’s ‘She-Wolves’ was named as one of the ‘History reads of the year’ by The Sunday Times.
Dr Stephan Edwards continued his research into possible portraits of Jane. You can read his research at his website about ‘The Madresfield Portrait’, ‘The Melton Constable Portrait’, ‘The van de Passe Engraved Portrait’, ‘The Portland Portrait’ and ‘The Anglesey Abbey Portrait’. TudorHistory Blog had a report on some further portrait research that he hopes to publish next year.
Lady Jane featured as a character in two episodes of ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ on the BBC. You can read a review at ‘Den of Geek’.
In December, ‘She-Wolves’ was one of the ‘History Books of the Year’ for The Independent. Helen Castor kindly answered my questions about her new book in an interview. See ‘Interview with Helen Castor’
Linda Porter read from ‘Katherine the Queen’ at Vanity Fair. You can listen at Vanity Fair.
Books that featured Jane included: ‘Traitors of the Tower’ by Alison Weir, ‘Catherine Parr’ by Elizabeth Norton, ‘Death and the Virgin: Elizabeth, Dudley & the Mysterious Fate of Amy Robsart’ by Chris Skidmore, ‘Painting History: Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey’ by Stephen Bann and Linda Whiteley and ‘Elizabeth: Virgin Queen’ by Philippa Jones.
