Good Morning To Everyone,

"I have sent you, good sister Catherine, a book, which although it be not outwardly trimmed with gold, yet inwardly it is more worthy than precious stones. It is the book, dear sister, of the laws of the lord: It is His Testament and Last Will, which He bequeathed unto us wretches, which shall lead you to the path of eternal joy, and if you, with a good mind to read it, and with an earnest desire, follow it, it shall bring you to an immortal and everlasting life. It will teach you to live and learn you to die . . . It shall win you more than you should have gained by the possession of your woeful father's lands, for as if God prospered him, you shall inherit his lands . . . [it holds] such riches as neither the covetous shall withdraw from you, enither the thief shall steal. neither let the moth corrupt . . . And as touching my death, rejoice as I do and consider that I shall be delivered of this corruption and put on incorruption, for as I am assured that I shall for losing of a mortal life, find an immortal felicity. Pray God grant you and send you his grace t life in the love . . .

Farewell good sister, ut only your trust in God, who only must uphold you,

Your loving sister, Jane Duddley"

(A letter from Lady Jane Grey to her sister Catherine, in 1554.)

" . . . when I call to mind what a husband I have of you, and my great hard fate to miss the viewing of so good a one . . . Thus most humbly thanking you, my sweet lord, for your sending to see how I do . . . I most lovingly bid you farewell . . ."

(A letter of Catherine Grey to Edward Seymour in 1562.)


Lady Jane Grey, the unfortunate queen of England for just nine days, wrote the above letter to her younger sister Catherine before her execution. It was the last communication between the seventeen-year old Jane and fourteen-year old Catherine. Married to men of their parents' choosing in a double ceremony the year before, they both suffered when Jane was deposed and Princess Mary Tudor (named for their grandmother) became queen.

Catherine's reaction to the sudden disgrace of her family, the ruin of all their hopes and dreams, is not recorded. However, it is safe to assume she was devastated. She was just fourteeen and watched her entire world turn upside down. They gReys had long been the noblest family in the realm of England, united by ties of friendship and blood to the Tudor monarchs. Catherine's grandmother was Henry VIII's youngest sister, Princess Mary; her grandfather was his best friend, Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk. The bonds of blood and friendship had allowed the Brandons to rise to wealth and prominence. But they were dangerous bonds as well; for after Edward VI's death, the Tudor succession was once more an urgent question and anyone with royal blood was a target - for various plots of dissaatisfied citizens, for international speculation, for aristocratic mobility, etc.
(*NOTE: The Brandons became the Greys when Frances Brandon (Charles and Mary's eldest daughter) married Henry Grey.)

Poor Catherine, despite Jane's fervent prayers, was not to lead a life of "grace". She lacked Jane's intellect and religious fervor; taken togehter, theose qualities may have guided her impulsive nature and provided solace in her troubled world. Instead, she was - and always remained - an ordinary girl condemned to unhappiness because of her Tudor blood. Her sister, brother-in-law, and father were executed due to her father's stupidity and ingratitude. Mary I was often naive and kind-hearted; she lacked the ruthlessness of her father (Henry VIII's conscience rarely troubled him - despite the many executions he ordered.) His daughter did not care to kill innocents - especially those she believed to be the pawns of more greedy souls. Upon her accession, Jane Grey and her husband Guildford Dudley were imprisoned in the Towerp but they were not executed. It was only when Jane's father, Henry Grey, duke of Suffolk, tried to raise a revolt, capitlizing on anger at the queen's impending Spanish marriage - that Mary realized Jane must die. Henry Grey did not try to restore his daughter to the throne (despite the assertion of many history books.) But that didn't matter - Jane had been proclaiomed queen once before and Mary recognized the danger. Furthermore, Grey's actions followed upon the Wyatt rebellion, one of the most seriosu rebellions of the Tudor era; Mary was conscientious and attached to her legitimat family. But she ordered Jane, Guildford, and Henry Grey executed.

But the queen did not forget the remaining Grey family. Henry's wife was Fraances Brandon, the eldest daughter of Mary's aunt, Princess Mary Tudor/. Queen Mary remembered her aunt's kindness to the beleaguered Katherine of Aragon; she also wanted to put the past behind her - she was marrying Philip of Spain, thus fulfilling her heart's to great desires. Mary I wanted a family and to resotre the Catholic faith to England. On her way to achieve both, she was inclined to be generous. She allowed Frances and her two remaining children, Catherine and Mary (Mary was eleven years old) to remain at court. They attended her wedding on July 25, 1554, to Philip at Winchester Cathedral. Catherine and Mary were appointed maids of honor; the queen was careful to show them special kindness, singling them out for favor. Even when their mother married for a second time, they were still afforded every privilege. Frances Grey had waited just three weeks after her husband's execution to marry her steward, Adrian Stokes, a young man fifteen years her junior. Queen Mary did not protest; perhaps she was happy her cousin was putting the past to rest.

At any rate, Frances Grey's second marriage fared much better than Catherine's first one. She had been married on either May 21 or 25, 1553 to the earl of Pembroke's heir; it had been a double ceremony - her sister Jane was also wed to the duke of Northumberland's son Guildford. But when Mary I was proclaimed queen in July, Pembroke was eager to distance himself from the Greys. He banished Catherine from his home and had the marriage annulled. It was cruel of Pembroke but politically necessary. After all, he had no idea how Mary would react to the Grey-Northumberland treachery. Meanwhile, Catherine remained at court, openly favored by the queen but despondent. There was occasional domestic and internationa speculation about her future once it became clear Mary would provide no heir. When discussing Princess Elizabeth's future, most stressed the need to either support or destroy her two mainrivals - Catherine Grey and Mary queen of Scots. In other words, if Elizabeth's rule was to be secure, she needed to deal with both Catherine and Mary. Mary of Scotland was a problem that could be faced later (she was off in France for now) but Catherine Grey was close adn a dangerous rallying point for dissatisfied Englishmen.

Before Elizabeth became queen, however, Catherine did achieve some measure of personal happiness. After a period of depression, she became friends with Lady Jane Seymour, daughter of the late Lord Protector Edward Seymour, earl of Hertfod and duke of Somerset. (She was named for her aunt, Henry VIII's third queen and mother of his son._ Jane was also a maid of honor and suffered from poor health (already battling the consumption which killed her._ Queen Mary encouraged the two girls to become friends, allowing Catherine to accompany Jane on her frequent visits home. The Seymour family's main home was currently Hanworth, Catherine Parr's manor which had passed to her husband Thomas Seymour, then to his brother, and then to his brother's wife. The widowed duchess of Somerset lived there with her second husband (like Frances Grey, she had marriued her steward) and her oldest son, Edward. Edward was in his late teens, jsut a few years older than Catherine, and already tall, dark-haired and good-looking. Naturally enough, the two young people became attached to one another.

Both Edward and Catherine had suffred public humiliation. She had been repudiated by the Pembroke family and her sister and father werer executed as taitors; his father, too had been executed as a traitor, and the Seymour wealth had yet to be restored. Also, their family titled remained in abeyance. Edward, who should have been titled earl of Hertford, waited for his titled to be officially reinstated. Beyond these painful personal experiences, they were also lonely. Both were past the age for betrothal, but still unattached. And, equally importnat, both were physically attractive. Catherine was the beauty of the Grey family; small like Jane, she had the Tudor red-gold hair and a fair complexion. Their attraction was physical and emotional; it was also obvious. Before long, the duchess of Somerset was asking her son about his intentions. He replied that he enjoyed visiting with Catherinep his mother should not worry about the queen's feelings, he said, because Catherine had been sent by Mary to live at Hanworth - so "her majesty's feelings in this matter cannot be doubted." Whatever Mary's feelings, they did not soon matter. In November, 1558, she died and Elizabeth Tudor, unlike her half-sister in so many ways, became queen of England.


(To Be Continued . . .)