Queen For A Day - Lady Jane Grey

1536–54

Perhaps you’ve dreamed of being treated like royalty for a day, just a day—and then you could go back to your ordinary life. Well, Jane Grey had that dream come true for nine days, and she paid for it dearly.

When King Henry VIII died in 1547, he left religious turmoil. The Church of England had broken away from the Roman Catholic Church, and now the nation was torn. Henry was succeeded by his sole male heir, ten-year-old Edward VI, who leaned toward the Protestant cause, aided by adult advisers. A sickly child, Edward died at age sixteen, but not before making a will in which he left the throne to his cousin Jane Grey.

Jane was a smart girl, from a good Protestant family, and about Edward’s age. Taught by the best tutors, she was respected for her intelligence and manners. Despite her youth, she had corresponded with the Swiss Protestant leader Heinrich Bullinger, who was eager to spread the faith throughout Europe. If Edward sought a leader to protect the newly formed Church of England, Jane might have been a good choice. She was proclaimed queen on July 9, 1553, and did some official business over the next few days, signing documents “Jane the Queen.”

But the political machines of the land were in overdrive. Mary Tudor, a Catholic, had been next in line for the throne, and she enjoyed considerable support among the people. On July 19, the Privy Council declared that the new queen should be Mary, not Jane. And so Lady Jane Grey will be forever known as “The Nine Days Queen.” Though she insisted that she had taken the throne reluctantly, Jane was seen as a usurper and convicted of treason. She was beheaded the next February, reciting the confessional Psalm 51 from the scaffold and uttering Jesus’ prayer from Luke 23:46: “Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!”

We might lament the fact that this promising life was cut short. We might rail against the apparent injustice. But we might also recognize that Lady Jane seems to have died as she lived, putting her life in God’s hands. Sometimes we are tempted by power and privilege, but they carry empty promises. True value is found in our submission to God.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

Psalm 51:12