The March issue of ‘Notes and Queries’ included an article by Martin Spies, ‘A Performance of Rowe’s Lady Jane Gray in 1852’. He argued that the last performance of Rowe’s play was not at Covent Garden, London in 1774 but at The Theatre Royal, Hull in 1852.
The ‘On the Nature of Women: Tudor and Jacobean Portraits of Women 1535-1620’ exhibition opened at Montacute House, Somerset on April 30th (see blog). It includes the National Portrait Gallery portrait, ‘Unknown Woman, formerly known as Lady Jane Dudley (nee Grey)’ . The exhibition runs until October 2009.
It was reported in the press in May that Alison Weir and Tracy Borman had discovered a copy of a portrait of Henry VIII, Will Somers, Edward, Mary and Elizabeth at Boughton House, Northamptonshire (see blog ). They suggested that the portrait of the young Princess Elizabeth could be used to identify the National Portrait Gallery’s ‘Unknown Woman, formerly known as Lady Jane Dudley (nee Grey)’. An article by Weir and Borman appeared in the June issue of BBC History Magazine. The portrait was on display at Boughton House during August.
The June issue of ‘Notes and Queries’ featured a further article about the birth date of Lady Jane by Dr J Stephan Edwards. In ‘A Further Note on the Date of Birth of Lady Jane Grey’ he argued that Jane was born in the second half of 1536.
A portrait of Mary Grey (possibly by Hans Eworth) was on display as part of the Portraits from Chequers: Kings, Queens and Revolutionaries’Interview with Leanda de Lisle . Harper Collins also allowed me to use the new cover art (see blog ).
Books that featured Jane included: ‘Mary Tudor’ by Judith M Richards, ‘Catherine Parr: Henry VIII’s Last Love’ by Susan James, ‘The Tudor Chronicles’ by Susan Doran and ‘She Wolves: The Notorious Queens of England’ by Elizabeth Norton.
