AND THEIR WICKED GRANDFATHER BEING THE TRUE STORIES OF THE STRANGE LIVES OF CHARLES BRANDON, DUKE OF SUFFOLK, AND OF THE LADIES KATHERINE AND MARY GREY, SISTERS OF LADY JANE GREY, “THE NINE-DAYS’ QUEEN” BY RICHARD DAVEY AUTHOR OF “THE SULTAN AND HIS SUBJECTS,” “THE PAGEANT OF LONDON,” AND “THE NINE-DAYS’ QUEEN” WITH 14 ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON CHAPMAN AND HALL, Ltd. 1911 Richard Clay & Sons, Limited , BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE MAJO

The character of Elizabeth does not shine for its wisdom or kindliness in these pages; and some incidental information concerning the mysterious fate of Amy Robsart, Leicester’s first wife, tends to prove that “our Eliza” was perfectly well aware of what was going on at Cumnor Hall, where, it will be remembered, the fair heroine of Scott’s magnificent novel, Kenilworth , died “of a fall downstairs,” which, at the time, was not generally considered accidental. The callous manner in which the quee

A peerless Prince was Edmund’s Son, A good and gracious Roy. Therefore a happy Wife this was, A happy Mother pure, Thrice happy Child, but Grandam she, More than Thrice happy sure.” For more than seven years, during which time she gave birth to four children, the queen’s household observed profound secrecy with respect to her marriage—a fact which honours the fidelity and discretion of its members. Notwithstanding all these precautions, Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, who was regent during the mino

Unfortunately, so many physical advantages were not allied to an equal number of virtues; and here again, the resemblance between King Henry and his bosom friend is extraordinary. Both were equally cruel, selfish and unscrupulous, and both entertained the same loose ideas as to the sanctity of marriage—with this difference, however, that whereas King Henry usually divorced one wife before he took another, Charles had two wives living at one and the same time, from neither of whom was he properly

Immediately after the jousts, Mary Tudor learnt, to her exasperation, that her hand was destined, not for the Spanish prince, the future Emperor Charles V, nor for the Suffolk gentleman, but for the decrepit and doomed King of France. She was too much of a Tudor to accept her fate with meekness, and King Henry soon found he had set himself a difficult task to conciliate his sister, and obtain her consent to what was even then considered a monstrous match. She swore she would not marry his French

Louise of Savoy’s spies soon informed her that Mary and Suffolk were in constant communication with each other, and she was even informed that the duke had been seen leaving her apartment at questionable hours. Seizing a favourable opportunity when she knew the lovers to be together, the duchess threw open the door of the queen’s closet and, it seems, discovered Her Majesty and her lover in so compromising a situation, that “she ordered the startled couple into the chapel and then and there had

On June 26, of this same year (1533), the queen-duchess—who had returned with Lady Dorset, the bride, and her younger daughter, the Lady Eleanor, to Westhorpe, none the better for consulting the Court “fesysyon”—died somewhat suddenly, in the presence of her two children; her husband and son-in-law being still in London. Her body was embalmed and carried to Bury Abbey on July 20, nearly a month after her decease. Garter King at Arms and other heralds preceded the hearse, which was followed by a

The child’s costume as she grew up was cut on absolutely the same pattern as that of her mother, of which it was a miniature reproduction, without, however, the train or manteau de cour , which the Lady Frances only wore on state occasions. At five years of age, Lady Katherine wore long petticoats and a dress of brocade reaching to the feet, a ruff, and a little white cap, tied in a bow under the chin. There is still in existence a list or inventory of the toys which were in the possession of Pr

[ To face p.110 MARY TUDOR, QUEEN OF ENGLAND ( From a little known portrait by Antonio Moro, in the Escurial ) Lady Katherine Grey’s first appearance at the court of the queen, her cousin, was on the occasion of Mary’s marriage to Philip of Spain in July 1554, when she is mentioned as being among the ladies who rode in that startling red-lacquered chariot, lined with crimson velvet and specially constructed for the purpose, that so delighted contemporaries, and conveyed Her Majesty and her ladie

During the last two years of Mary’s life, young Hertford’s courtship of Lady Katherine Grey progressed smoothly enough, approved by the queen, by the Lady Frances and her husband, and also, in a certain degree, by that shrewd virago, his mother the Duchess of Somerset, who, however, expressed some anxiety lest such an alliance might eventually lead to “the undoing of her son.” Had Mary lived, there is no doubt but that the marriage would have taken place with state in the presence of the queen a

As will be seen in the course of this biography, many and curious were the intrigues, of which Lady Katherine was the centre, for retrieving Spanish ascendancy in the British Isles; but by far the most astonishing and fantastic (and the earliest) was a plot—evolved in 1558 or early in 1559—for secretly abducting Katherine to Spain. [66] There she was to be married to Don Carlos, the king’s son, or to the Archduke Ferdinand, or some other Spanish prince, and put forward by Philip as Elizabeth’s i

About April 1561, the queen—possibly on the advice of Cecil, who, suspecting something untoward, wanted him out of the way—ordered Hertford to accompany Mr. Thomas Cecil, son of the above-named statesman, into France, where the young gentlemen were to take up certain legal studies. The Duchess of Somerset, evidently in total ignorance of what had occurred, addressed a letter to Cecil, on April 19, 1561, in which she says she is content to submit to her son’s going abroad; but adds: “I would wish

In November 1562 the question of the succession was again discussed, at a meeting attended by the Duke of Norfolk and others, which was held in the Earl of Arundel’s house. The object of this gathering seems to have been to endorse Lady Katherine’s pretensions, now greatly favoured by Norfolk, who in the course of the preceding month, had developed a shadowy notion that, at some future time, one of his daughters (as yet mere infants) “might marry the Countess of Hertford’s lately born son.” The

“ John Grey .” This petition, like most of the letters to and from both Lord John and Lady Katherine at this period, will be found among the Lansdowne MSS. It runs as follows:— “I dare not presume, Most Gracious Sovereign, to crave pardon for my disobedient and rash matching of myself without Your Highness’s consent; I only most humbly sue unto Your Highness to continue your merciful nature towards me. I [ac]knowledge myself a most unworthy creature to feel so much of your gracious favour as I h

The loss of the queen’s favour had a depressing effect on the health of Lord John Grey, who, on May 20, 1564, in a curious letter to Cecil, says it will no longer endure the strain of anxiety caused by the care of his niece, the Lady Katherine, adding that he has been very ill and fears he may not live much longer. Late in November 1564, Cecil wrote to Lord Robert Dudley to inform him that Lord John Grey had died at Pirgo five days previously [i.e. about November 21], “of whom his friends report

Lady Katherine’s remains were evidently embalmed, for among the items in the list of expenses incurred by Sir Owen Hopton we find the following: “Itm’; for one Mr. Hannse S’geon, for the cering of the corpse of the Lady Katherine, 3 li. Itm’; for spice, flax, rosin, wax, and the coffin-making and for the serge clothes, 3 li.” The funeral took place on February 21, 1568, in Yoxford Church. There were seventy-seven mourners, but nobody of great note was present; and, needless to say, Hertford was

All we know of Lady Mary’s childhood and youth is an occasional mention of her name in the State Papers, in connection with those of her sisters, or in the correspondence, wills and bequests of her family, and in accounts of visits to royal and other illustrious persons, in which she accompanied her parents. She is also mentioned in a legal document, recently discovered in the Record Office, as co-heiress with her sisters, of certain landed estates in Warwickshire belonging to their mother, the

“The day of the marriage of Mr. Knollys—I was married about nine o’clock at night by candlelight.” “Where?” “In the Sergeant-Porter’s chamber.” “Who were present?” “The Sergeant’s brother, the Sergeant’s son, a gentlewoman, Mrs. Goldwell, and the priest, apparelled in a short gown.” She never knew his name. “What was he like?” “He was old and fat, and of low stature.” “Did the Sergeant-Porter give you anything?” “Yes, a ring.” Continuing, she said she supped in her own chamber with Mrs. Arundell

An entry in the royal household books for 1576 states that Lady Mary Grey stood sufficiently well in the queen’s graces to be at Hampton Court during the great revels held there at Christmas time. The list of guests who presented gifts to Her Majesty opens with the names of her two cousins, the Lady Margaret Lennox and the Lady Mary Grey. The latter presented a gold cup; Leicester, a carcanet glittering with diamonds, emeralds and rubies; Burleigh, a purse of £30; and the Lady Derby, “a gown of

On the death of the old Earl of Cumberland, in 1542, his title passed to Eleanor’s husband, but very shortly after this accession of rank, he successively lost both his sons; the eldest, christened Henry after his father, died when he was two or three years of age, and was buried in the Clifford family vault in Skipton Church, near his brother Charles, who also died in infancy. The inconsolable young mother did not long survive her loss. She retired to Brougham Castle, and died there in November