What was Queen Mary I's reactions after Jane Grey's execution?

Question

I know she really didn't want to as she tried to convince Jane to convert to catholicism. But it was about survival and protecting her own life so she had to. Anyone know of any accounts regarding Mary's reactions after the execution? Did she feel remorse? Was she depressed? I'm not even sure if Mary and Jane were close since Jane was more closer to the age of Elizabeth and Edward whom she were close to.

And one more thing semi related....did anyone plea for Jane's life? I know Frances didn't. Her father Henry and husband Guilford probably didn't also. Since they were both headed to the block as well....

Answer 1

As you know, Queen Mary was very reluctant to have Lady Jane executed; she was only a young girl.  After the Wyatt rebellion, pressure was put on her to have Jane executed along with any other persons who might become a focus for rebellion.  As long as they lived, they would present a danger to Mary.  And, if Jane were allowed to live, her very existence might jeopardise the Spanish marriage; Charles V would not permit Philip to come to England until Jane was removed.  Mary was reluctant, but agreed, signing the death warrant.  However, the next day she offered Jane a reprieve if she would convert to the Catholic faith, sending the kind Abbot of Westminster, Richard Feckenham to talk to her.  He and Jane warmed to each other, and the Abbott asked the Queen for three more days to convert Jane.  Mary gladly agreed, and repeated that, if he was successful, Jane would be allowed to live.  Jane stuck to her convictions.  

I’ve found it difficult to find any references at all to Mary’s reaction to the execution.  As she had been described as a kind, good woman, who loved children, and in the light of her reluctance to have Jane executed, I believe she would have been very sad at the necessity of having an innocent child killed.  But there was her own safety to think of; it was the done thing in those days to terminate anyone who might be the focus of a plot against the monarch, but it might well have bothered her that Jane was the innocent and unwilling pawn of the ambitious Northumberland.  However, there was now her Spanish marriage to Philip to think of, and also the need to deal with her half-sister, Elizabeth, believed to be implicated in Wyatt’s rebellion against her.  I think Mary had a lot on her mind.

The Duchess of Northumberland, wife of the instigator of the plot to put Jane on the throne, rode to Newhall to beg Queen Mary for mercy for her husband and son, Guilford.  Mary refused to receive her, and the duchess was spotted dejectedly riding away.  

Mary did, however, grant the Duchess of Suffolk, Jane’s mother, an interview.  The Duke was still at large, and Frances was in a state of panic, begging the Queen to spare her husband and daughter.  Northumberland, she declared, had tried to poison not only the late King (Edward VI), but also Suffolk.  Mary demanded proof; the Duchess told her that an apothecary employed by Northumberland had just killed himself.  Whether Mary believed her is not recorded, but she did assure Frances that she would harm neither the Duke nor Lady Jane, and allowed her to go home to Sheen.  Suffolk was arrested there shortly afterwards, but spent only three days in the Tower, as Mary kept her word and granted his plea for mercy.  Thereafter the Suffolks made no attempt to communicate with their daughter, nor to plead further for her life.  (Suffolk, Jane's father, tried again against Mary and was found in a hollow tree.  He was also executed.  Her mother lived on to marry again, to her master of horse, a man half her age.)

Much of the above has been copied or adapted from Alison Weir’s “Children of England”.

PS: Mary and Jane weren't close.  Mary had once sent a fine dress to Jane, who was offended because she wore the severe, plain garb of a Protestant.  Jane was closer in age to Elizabeth, but they weren't really friends.

Answer 2

Mary I was queen from 1553 to 1558. When she was crowned queen, she was very popular with the people of England. It was this popularity that helped to quickly overturn the attempt to put Lady Jane Grey onto the throne of England. However this popularity quickly turned sour because of her religious changes and her marriage.

Lady Jane Grey was born in Leicestershire in 1537. Her father was Henry Grey, marquess of Dorset, later duke of Suffolk. Her mother, Lady Frances Brandon, was the daughter of Princess Mary of England, sister of Henry VIII, and her second husband, Charles Brandon.

Well-educated as was fit for a young lady who was however distantly in line for succession for the throne, Lady Jane Grey became the ward of Thomas Seymour, second husband of Henry VIII's widow, Catherine Parr. After his execution for treason in 1549, Lady Jane Grey returned to her parents' home.

John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, in 1549 became head of the council advising and ruling for the young King Edward VI, son of King Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour. Under his leadership, England's economy improved, and the replacement of Roman Catholicism with Protestantism progressed.

Northumberland realized that Edward's health was fragile and probably failing, and that the named successor, Mary, would side with the Roman Catholics and probably would suppress Protestants. He arranged with Suffolk for Suffolk's daughter, Lady Jane, to marry Guildford Dudley, son of Northumberland. They were married in May, 1553. Northumberland then convinced Edward to make Jane and any male heirs she might have the successors to Edward's crown. Northumberland gained the agreement of his fellow council members to this change in the succession.



Lady Jane Grey offered crown

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This act bypassed Henry's daughters, the princesses Mary and Elizabeth, whom Henry had named his heirs if Edward died without children. The act also ignored the fact that the duchess of Suffolk, Jane's mother, would normally have precedence over Jane, since Lady Frances was the daughter of Henry's sister Mary and Jane the granddaughter.  

Execution of Lady Jane Grey

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After Edward died on July 6, 1553, Northumberland had Lady Jane Grey declared Queen, to Jane's surprise and dismay. But support for Lady Jane Grey as Queen quickly disappeared as Mary gathered her forces to claim the throne. On July 19, Mary was declared Queen of England, and Jane and her father were imprisoned. Northumberland was executed; Suffolk was pardoned; Jane, Dudley and others were sentenced to be executed for high treason. Mary hesitated, however, until Suffolk participated in Thomas Wyatt's rebellion, when Mary realized that Lady Jane Grey, alive, would be too tempting a focus for further rebellions. Lady Jane Grey and her young husband Guildford Dudley were executed on February 12, 1554.

Answer 3

I've read Alison Weir's books and I don't remember anything about her reaction.

I doubt that she was friends with Jane (being twenty years older). Personally I think that this event would have been life altering.  I think she decided that she would have to do many horrible things to protect her religion and herself.

   It was her first order to execute an innocent person to protect her position. Within 5 weeks she would have her half sister locked in the tower of London. Within a year she would giving orders to burn people alive.