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The main “Protagonists” – Jane, Mary, John Dudley and Edward VI – are each covered separately. These sections include their family background, and possible insight into their personality and motivations. He seems to have a great deal of respect for John Dudley’s abilities and puts him in the same category as Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell and William Cecil. Ives notes that although Dudley started out the son of a traitor, by the time he was barely forty he had gained an earldom – quite an achievement in Tudor England. Ives also spends some time looking at history’s less than kind view of Dudley and his ambition.

Ives indicates that there were four version of Edward VI’s “deuise for the succession.” He goes through each in great detail and points out that initially it seemed clear that Edward wanted to make female rule impossible. It is only later as his health deteriorated and realizing that the conditions initially set out would not happen soon, that he made changes.

The next part of the book covers the “Thirteen Days” between the king’s death and Mary’s acclamation as queen. Ives notes that one of the puzzles during that time is the council’s inability and/or failure to appreciate the need for gaining control of Mary. Perhaps they underestimated her as a “mere woman”; if so, it was an opinion they would come to regret. Even as Jane was reluctantly agreeing to become Queen, Mary was mobilizing to enforce her own claim to the throne. From there, the events that follow become a jumble of names and events as the nobles scurry to save their own necks with some changing sides more often than they probably changed their clothes.

The success of Mary’s rebellion (Ives points out that Jane was the reigning queen at the time) had everything to do with her own preparations as well as the lack of the same on part of Northumberland and those supporting Jane. This was the likely result of Mary being warned as to what was going on, probably even before her brother’s death.   In the weeks following Mary’s establishment as queen, most of the “rebels” were released from prison. Ives notes that the “rebellion” of 1553 was different than most others in history since it was not directed against the government itself and/or its policies, but rather was a division within the ruling class. Mary’s purpose was to become queen and in order to govern effectively, she needed to turn “dissidents into loyalists”. Jane and her husband were found guilty of treason but Mary seemed content to keep them imprisoned.  The involvement of Jane’s father inthe later rebellion, known as Wyatt’s Rebellion, finally forced Mary’s hand. Although the purpose of the rebellion had been to put Elizabeth on the throne (rather than reinstating Jane), the rumor was put out that Jane had been the intended replacement. This made it impossible for Mary to continue to protect Jane.



After recounting Jane’s final days and her execution, Ives moves on to Jane’s place in history and in popular culture. She lives on due to the image portrayed in The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by the French artist Paul Delaroche – an image meant to evoke emotions “in one of the world’s most repulsive individual atrocities”. In this regard, Ives includes with Lady Jane: the daughter of Sejanus in first century Rome (the virgin who was raped so that she could be executed); Prince Arthur during the reign of King John; the Princes in the Tower; the son of Louis XVI; the son of Napoleon and the Romanov children – children killed not for what they had done but because of the “bed they were born in.”

Several illustrations and portraits are included, although it would have been nice if they had been printed in color. Also included is a list of individuals holding relevant titles and offices (including dates) as well as a number of charts showing the line of succession via Henry VIII’s will and the options considered by Edward VI. There is also an extensive bibliography and endnotes. Despite feeling that the “Thirteen Days” section was often overloaded with detail, overall I really liked Ives approach in telling Jane’s story as well as his focus on Dudley's character which is often glossed over in a negative way.





In case the FTC asks: A friend at Goodreads had an extra copy of this book and gave it to me.