The Last Tudor

Lady Jane Grey (1536–54), a legitimate Tudor heir, reigned over England for only nine days following the death of her second cousin, the Protestant Edward VI in 1553. Fearful that Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's daughter by Katharine of Aragon, would return England to the Catholic faith if she became queen, Edward VI and the Duke of Northumberland engineered Lady Jane's reign to ensure England remained Protestant. The plan failed; Lady Jane Grey was beheaded in 1554. Mary ruled England until her death in 1558, and Elizabeth, her half-sister, ascended the throne. Written in the first person, Gregory's (Three Sisters, Three Queens) captivating latest entry in her Plantagenet and Tudor series considers Lady Jane's brief reign and then explores the lives of her sisters, Katherine and Mary, also Tudor heirs, as Elizabeth I's insidious insecurity and arbitrary rage intertwine with their lives. Elizabeth imprisons both after each marries in secret without the monarch's permission.