Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset (17 January 1517 – 23 February 1554), was an English nobleman of the Tudor period and the father of Lady Jane Grey.

Henry VIII's reign

The son of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset and of Margaret Wotton; through his father he was a great-grandson of Elizabeth Woodville, the queen of Edward IV of England, by her first marriage to Sir John Grey of Groby. Henry Grey became the 3rd Marquess of Dorset in 1530 after his father died. [http://www.thepeerage.com/p10208.htm#i102072] In 1533, with the permission of King Henry VIII he married Lady Frances Brandon (1517–1559), the daughter of Henry VIII’s sister Princess Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. The couple had three children who survived infancy: Lady Jane Grey (1537–1554), Lady Catherine Grey (1540–1568), and Lady Mary Grey (1545–1578).

Before Henry VIII's death in 1547, Grey became a fixture in court circles. A knight of the Bath, he was the king's sword bearer at Anne Boleyn's coronation in 1533, at Anne of Cleves' arrival in 1540, and at the capture of Boulogne in 1545. Twice he bore the Cap of Maintenance in parliament. He helped lead the army in France in 1545. In 1547 he joined the Order of the Garter.

Edward VI's reign

After Henry VIII's death in 1547, Grey fell out of favor with the leader of King Edward VI's government, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and Protector of England. Returning to his home in Bradgate, Leicestershire, Grey concentrated on raising his family to greater heights. Thus, with the Protector's brother Thomas Lord Seymour, Grey conspired to have his daughter Jane married to the King. This plot failed, ending in Seymour's execution, but Grey emerged unscathed.

In 1549, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, overthrew the Protectorship and secured power by appointing loyal friends to the Privy Council. Grey joined the Council as a part of this group. As a reward, he was created Duke of Suffolk on 11 October 1551, in the same ceremony that elevated John Dudley to the Duchy of Northumberland.

Protestantism

Henry Grey was best known for his zeal for the Protestant faith. The Swiss reformer Henry Bullinger dedicated a book to him in 1551 and frequently corresponded with the family. In Parliament and on the Privy Council, Grey pushed for further Protestant reforms. He is credited for making Leicestershire one of the most reliably Protestant counties in early modern England.

Queen Jane

Seriously ill, and fearing his own death, King Edward VI granted Northumberland's request for the marriage of Suffolk's daughter Jane to Northumberland's son, Lord Guildford Dudley, on 21 May 1553. Edward later altered his will to make Jane his designated successor. Edward died on 6 July 1553, and three days later Suffolk, Northumberland, and other members of the Privy Council proclaimed Jane queen. ["Grey, Henry, duke of Suffolk (1517–1554), magnate" by Robert C. Braddock in Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004)] This proclamation failed, with a large-scale rallying of forces in the country to Henry VIII's eldest daughter, Mary I.

By his wife's friendship with the new Queen Mary, Grey and his daughter and son-in-law temporarily avoided execution. However, Mary had Henry Grey beheaded on 23 February 1554, after his conviction for high treason for his part in Sir Thomas Wyatt's attempt (January – February 1554) to overthrow her after she announced her intention to marry Philip II of Spain.

Trivia

According to the archives of Ripley's Believe It or Not the severed head of the Duke was discovered in a vault in London's Holy Trinity church perfectly preserved by oak sawdust from the scaffold on which he had been executed, 297 years earlier.

In Fiction

*Henry Grey is featured in the 2007 historical fiction novel "Innocent Traitor" by author Alison Weir, which is a fictionalized story about his daughter, Lady Jane Grey.

References

*FactMonster.com entry for " [http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0847114.html "Suffolk, Henry Grey, duke of"] ", accessed 2004
*AllRefer.com biography " [http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/S/SuffolkH.html "Suffolk, Henry Grey, duke of"] " from British And Irish History section, accessed 2003
*Robert C. Braddock, 'Grey, Henry, duke of Suffolk (1517-1554)', "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004.
*Ripley's Believe It or Not 22nd series; property Ripley International, Ltd