Thanks to one programme, Lady Jane Grey reached a wide audience this year. ‘My Lady Jane’ was shown on Amazon Prime and I loved it! You have to leave your historical view of Jane at the door and just go with the flow!
Not Jane related but in January I visited the wonderful ‘Holbein at the Tudor Court’ exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery.
The Grey sisters featured briefly in ‘Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era’ by Amy McElroy, which was published in February.
A revised version of ‘Portraits of Lady Jane Grey Dudley, England’s ‘Nine Days Queen’ by J Stephan Edwards was published on the 470th anniversary of Jane’s execution.
This month I interviewed Nicola Tallis about her new book, ‘Young Elizabeth: Princess, Prisoner, Queen.’
The March edition of ‘BBC History Magazine’ included ‘Sisters at War’ by Nicola Tallis which briefly mentioned Jane.
Jane also featured in ‘1000 Tudor People’ by Melita Thomas.
On 23rd April, the play ‘Three Queens’ by Rosamund Gravelle opened at the Barons Court Theatre.
‘Set in February 1554, Queen Mary is determined to save the soul of England. Future Queen Elizabeth is desperate to avoid her mother’s fate, and teenage Queen Jane Grey’s rebellion seeks to unravel everything.
Told in real time over one sleepless night, the play follows three women manoeuvring for power, each carving out their place in history.’
Stephan J Edwards gave several talks about Lady Jane this month. You can watch the talk he gave at Some Grey Matter – Bradgate Park, Lady Jane Grey Dudley: Fact or Fiction?
I accompanied him to the talk at Syon House, where we viewed their portrait of Jane. You can listen to the talk he gave at Some Grey Matter – Searching for a Portrait of Lady Jane Grey Dudley England’s Nine-Day’s Queen of 1553
You can listen to a re-recording of the talk, Stephan gave at The Society of Antiquaries at Some Grey Matter – Queen Jane’s Proclamation of Accession of 1553 and Gendering of the English Monarchy.
In May, it was revealed that Emma Rutherford and Elizabeth Goldring had identified the sitter of a newly discovered miniature by Nicholas Hilliard, as Arbella Stuart. You can read about this discovery at Arts and spycraft: The new discovery that illustrates the fortune and tragedy of an Elizabethan life.
Alison Weir’s ‘Mary I: Queen of Sorrows which featured Jane, was also published this month. Stephan Edwards investigated ‘Was Jane Grey Dudley Really a ‘Nine-Days Queen’?
‘My Lady Jane’ was released in June. As well as articles about the TV series, there were also articles published about the historical Jane.
These included, BBC – My Lady Jane: The brutal truth about the UK’s infamous ‘Nine Days Queen’, National Geographic – How a teenage girl became queen of England for nine days, The Conversation – A woman who blindly conformed or feisty creator of her own story? What we know about the real Lady Jane Grey and Today.com – My Lady Jane’ puts a fantasy spin on the life of a Tudor monarch. The true story of the ‘Nine-Day Queen.
This month I interviewed Sharon Bennet Connolly about ‘Heroines of the Tudor World’ which featured Jane. Also published in June was ‘The Thistle and the Rose: The Extraordinary Life of Margaret Tudor’ by Linda Porter. Linda wrote a guest article for this website, Margaret, Queen of Scots – the forgotten Tudor. Margaret, Queen of Scots: the forgotten Tudor.
Stephan Edwards continued his investigations ‘Were Edward VI’s Letters Patent on the Succession of 1553 ‘Legal’? and ‘Was Jane Grey Dudley a ‘Real’ Queen of England?’.
The recently rediscovered portrait of Katherine Parr, once thought to be of Jane, was on display at the National Portrait Gallery as part of the ‘Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens’ exhibition.
The exhibition meant that there were gaps in the Tudor Gallery, so the Lady Jayne/Streatham portrait was back on display. I updated ‘A look at how the Streatham portrait has been displayed over the years’.
‘Tudor Executions: From Nobility To The Block’ was published in July and naturally featured Jane. You can read my interview with author Helene Harrison.
Also this month, the V&A’s miniature of Lady Katherine Grey was on display as part of the ‘Now You See Us’ exhibition’ at the Tate Britain. Stephan Edwards continued his investigating with Some Grey Matter – Where was Jane Grey Dudley Born?.
‘The Tragic Life of Lady Jane Grey’ by Beverley Adams was published in August and you can read my interview with the author.
In September, Susan James put forward evidence to re-identify the ‘Lady Jayne/Streatham portrait’ as Katherine Parr – Lady jane grey or queen kateryn parr? National portrait gallery painting 6804: Analysis and historical context.
‘Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots’ by Jade Scott was published in October and you can read my interview about Mary’s letters.
Stephan Edward’s wrote about a possible new portrait of Lady Jane, which appeared at auction in July. Analysis of a ‘new’ portrait said to depict Jane Grey Dudley that appeared at auction in July 2024
In November, Jane was the subject of a TV programme on Channel 5, ‘Jason Watkins & Lady Jane Grey: A Tower of London Special.’
Jane was also included in ‘The Illustrated Tudor Dictionary’ by Simon Sandys Winsch.
Leanda de Lisle discussed the ‘Sisters Who Would Be Queen’ with Adam Pennington on the Tudor Chest podcast.
