The Last Tudor Heir Of The Grey Family | Lady Mary Grey

while Catherine gray was living out her imposed arrest through several different stately homes Lady Mary Gray the youngest of the Gray Sisters was watching from the sidelines she was intelligent and well-read but the idea of being the heir to the throne of England had likely never passed through her mind even when her deceased sister Jane briefly became Queen but with the imprisonment of her remaining sister Catherine and Elizabeth the first still unmarried and childless Mary Gray found herself in just that position but while intelligent and educated Mary did not hold the best qualities of her older sisters she wasn't commanding and sharply opinionated like Jane nor was she a beauty who Charmed all who knew her like her sister Catherine from all accounts Mary actually had a curved spine and was the shortest person caught the Spanish Ambassador bluntly stated she was crook backed and very ugly in Tudor Society being beautiful was a symbol of divine right and the correct social order aristocratic women were assumed to always be beautiful by way of their status what the court considered ugly was an indication of sin and the opposite of what the higher ranks stood for but this probably also allowed Mary to blend into the background keeping her head down while Elizabeth vented her fury on Catherine it worked and Mary became a part of Court life appointed as a maid of honor to Elizabeth a junior to the ladies in Waiting her late Mother Frances gray had left most of her estate to her second husband Adrian Stokes leaving Mary with only a modest annual income of 20 pounds Elizabeth ensured she was instead granted an allowed of around 80 pounds it was safe to say perhaps her distant cousin was feeling somewhat softened towards the remaining gray daughter and it looked as though Mary might get through Court life unscathed but Mary was about to attract the Queen's anger for herself not to be outdone in the claims for true love she had fallen for a man at court he was a former soldier called Thomas Keys who was now the sergeant Porter at court known as the tallest man there and a widower with several children already a sergeant Porter was essentially in charge of Palace security and in order to get the position Thomas must have proven his loyalty and dependability he was hardly likely to be considered a suitable candidate however for a young woman of 19 who was descended from Mary Tudor Henry VII sister but it's possible Mary thought she would be following in her late mother's footsteps when Francis married her master of the horse making herself less of a threat to Elizabeth whatever the case as the pair met each day at the palace gate where Thomas stood guard they courted one another with the usual traditions Thomas gave her several little trinkets as proof of his affections including his ruby ring and a gold chain with a bottle of mother of pearl hanging from it we have no way of knowing what made Mary cast her eye in Thomas's Direction but they were clearly serious about one another and to Mary's Credit for some time she went no further wary of what had happened to Catherine she would have understood she had to ask Elizabeth for her permission at just the right time and in the right way it must have been a moment she missed the steady shrewdly-minded understanding of her mother's way with her relatives unfortunately the right moment never seemed to come the issue with Catherine and Edward Seymour's marriage only seemed to intensify as Parliament pushed Elizabeth to soften and Thomas and Mary began to grow impatient so they planned a secret wedding of their own it's hard to understand why they would throw caution to the wind in light of Elizabeth's reaction to secret weddings but perhaps Mary thought both Thomas and herself in her own way were unimportant enough to get away with it the date was set for the 16th of July 1565. this was not randomly chosen it was also the date of another much bigger wedding that of Henry Knowles a Kinsman of Elizabeth's and his bride Margaret cave daughter of the Rich and influential courtier Ambrose cave the queen was invited and therefore she would not be around to see Mary and Thomas be married Mary gathered in the morning with the other ladies of the court to see Elizabeth off the wedding didn't finish until 1 30 in the early hours of the next morning involving a feast a ball a tourney and masks it gave Thomas and Mary am simple time for their own special day Mary ate in her chamber with three of her cousins before the wedding before calling for a servant to meet with her the servant girl was well liked by Mary a girl called Francis Goldwell and she was to be a witness to the clandestine matrimony when Francis arrived she found Mary waiting for Thomas along with her three cousins Having learned from the problems her sister Catherine had improving her marriage Mary was obviously determined to be able to prove her own if needed Thomas soon arrived leading them to his private Chambers above the Watergate where they were to be married at around nine o'clock at night their few guests gathered to watch them exchange vows except for Margaret Willoughby who remained outside the door with the view that she couldn't be punished if she didn't actually see anything it took only 15 minutes or so for the quiet ceremony vows and a small gold ring exchanged before the guests ate and drank the happy couple went to bed and all seemed well two weeks later however the rumors of the wedding would soon leak out on the 29th of July Elizabeth's cousin Mary Queen of Scots married Lord darnley at holyrood while Elizabeth and her Parliament had once agreed this would be a good match time had increased paranoia and now the English Queen fretted over their claim to her throne despite Mary's assurances that they did not want the claim as darnley was English and also Catholic it would give England's enemies greater cause to Rally behind the new royal couple if they ever chose to it was not the right time to hear the news of Mary Gray's secretive marriage William Cecil wrote to a friend the sergeant Porter being the biggest gentleman of this court has married secretly the Lady Mary Gray the least of all the court the offense is very great Elizabeth Fury knew no bounds first Catherine's transgression and now the younger Mary's same crime meant that the Queen Once Again placed a couple under house arrest in separate places Mary was sent to Windsor but Thomas was sent to Fleet prison in London France as Goldwell the servant girl who was present at the wedding was questioned by her employer lady Howard luckily for Francis she was good at playing the naive and stupid young girl her mistress thought her to be and pretended she hadn't understood what was going on during the ceremony she would probably be dismissed but friends of Mary Gray would no doubt take her into their own households Mary's first Jailer was to be the high Sheriff of buckinghamshire so William hawtree who luckily for her was a kindly man friendly towards her family his main residence was Checkers near elsber in buckinghamshire a newly rebuilt and comfortable home however Elizabeth was determined to make Mary stay as uncomfortable as possible Mary was not permitted to enter the gardens more than was necessary she had to remain in her room most of the time and she would only be allowed two servants and the barest amount of food required for her health as her sister had done Mary wrote pleading letters to William Cecil requesting that he petitioned the queen on her behalf unlike her sister however Mary did not come across to cecila's truly apologetic expressing surprise only a few months later in December that the queen had still not forgiven her to add to her case Mary continued to sign her name Mary Gray instead of using keys also unlike her sister who was signing her letters Catherine Seymour but Elizabeth had bigger problems Mary Queen of Scots was pregnant with the future James VI and first of Scotland in England and the only alternatives for the English Throne were the Gray Sisters Elizabeth who believed in her own absolute rule as Queen and dynastic succession and hated The Growing Power of her Parliament who were Keen to promote Catherine's case was only convinced more to keep them imprisoned her fear was understandable but even in her own time many in her Court thought she was being cruel Mary remained for two years at Checkers perhaps staring down at the gardens through the two only windows in her 12-foot Square Room but however difficult her imprisonment was poor Thomas Keys was thrown into abject misery and torture at the fleet prison he had held a high position for the court and as a result his Center sentence was to be a cold and cruel one to represent the seriousness of his crime he was put in solitary confinement staying in squalid damp conditions that made him ill only being allowed to walk in The Gardens of the prison for a few weeks when the bishop of London looking at his case pleaded with Elizabeth Thomas Keyes desperate and miserable even agreed to an annulment of his marriage and retirement to the countryside unfortunately for the unhappy couple too many people could claim to be a witness to their matrimony what Mary had hoped would help where it hindered Catherine the validation of their marriage was absolute and there was nothing the bishop of London could do to a null it it seemed they were doomed to remain in limbo in 1566 Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to her son James at Edinburgh although tension had arisen between the Scottish Queen and her husband made evident by the killing of her private secretary David rizzio led by Lord darnley she had publicly declared their reconciliation for the sake of their child those in Parliament who argued for Catherine's claim renewed their Vigor at the birth of the Scottish Prince waiting until Elizabeth called parliament in order to raise Financial subsidies to press their Council that she should marry or declare Catherine her heir to make things worse Robert Dudley Elizabeth's favorite had sided with Mary Queen of Scots as he was certain an accord could be struck between the two Royal women but either way Elizabeth was having her hand Force while Catherine and Edward hoped for their release to be in each other's arms again Mary Gray was even more hopeful fearful for the condition of her own husband in the summer of 15 1966 a new Jailer had taken over at the fleet and he had a particularly sadistic streak Thomas Keys had previously been allowed to prepare his own food mainly from Birds he had shot down with a sling from his window but now he was allowed only to eat rotten meat Thomas complained to Cecil that while he would happily enjoy any punishment Her Majesty wished to bestow on him he could not bear the abuse he received from the Jailer he then discovered his food possibly on purpose had been dropped into the poisonous concoction used to cure mange on the dogs that guarded the fleet Mary feared for his life in August 1567 Mary was moved to the household of her step-grandmother The Duchess of Suffolk now known as Catherine Bertie after her second marriage The Duchess was surprised to see how when she arrived as her previous Jailer Sir William hawtry brought her almost as quickly as Elizabeth had given the order she was shocked by how little baggage Mary had brought with her and asked William haughtry to kindly send the rest along he apologized stating that they had brought nearly everything with them and her few possessions were so worn that he had needed to furnish her room out of his own Pockets The Duchess was certain he was joking until she opened her granddaughter's Trunks and found what was within writing to William Cecil who was one of her oldest Friends The Duchess remarked how everything Mary owned was full of holes and patched together and that she had very little it was beyond comprehension Lady Mary Gray was a descendant of the Tudors and had been raised as a young child in complete luxury the social order at the time meant that the aristocracy was expected to put on a good show to impress upon the public their Divine place in Things by wearing luxurious fabrics and living in comfortable richly decorated houses the main problem was that Mary's new Jailer her grandmother Catherine was not able to fund anything herself during Queen Mary the first Reign The Duchess had lost much of her own possessions and was often forced to borrow our friends at times she instead appealed to Cecil to help ask for Queen Elizabeth's Aid in allowing Mary to be lent some Necessities such as drinking cups and a bowl and jug to wash in the Affliction that had settled itself on so many of the Tudor women now fell on Mary and she was melancholic to the point of not eating properly and yet more Misfortune was to befall the youngest gray sister Catherine her sister was under house arrest at what would prove to be her final Residence at cockfield Hall under the supervision of Sir Owen Hopton on the morning of the 27th of January 1568 lying in her bed lady Catherine gray died Mary Gray was now all alone her father and elder sister Jane had been beheaded in 1553 her mother had passed a few years before and now her remaining sister had died without seeing her once more and she would find no wife's comfort in her husband's arms but there was some comfort to be had she got on well with her step-grandmother and was especially close to the duchess's children Peregrine and Susan Bertie perhaps their innocent enjoyment of Life reminded her of better days with her sisters but she wasn't to remain with them long Mary Gray's two nephews the sons of her sister Catherine had been declared illegitimate by Elizabeth this left Mary in a position she had never thought to find herself a serious consideration for the throne of England if the queen remained childless at the same time Mary Queen of Scots had escaped her imprisonment in Scotland and fled to England while Elizabeth had been convinced to extend a comfortable stay to her royal cousin the same could not be said of Mary her stay with with the Duchess of Suffolk was cut short and she was sent to live in Gresham house in Bishop's gate London it was the home of a former mayor Thomas Gresham and he was able to afford to fund and furnish Mary where the queen would not however this was not to be a happy place for Mary to stay Thomas Gresham was half blind and in agony from a badly set broken leg and his wife Anne already unhappy with their marriage resented Mary's presence in the house complaining their charge prevented her from visiting her mother they had lost their only son many years before and their bitterness at life was proven in the way they treated Mary Gray despite the large garden and Chapel that the property boasted she was kept locked mainly in her room with her books they became her only Escape including at least three Bibles and several books written in Italian and French but finally there was some good news after enduring years of Hell Thomas Keys had finally been released from the horrific squally conditions of the fleet but he still had to remain apart from his young wife he was sent to sandgate Castle Kent to carry out duties there in May 1570 he asked the Archbishop of Canterbury if he might plead on his behalf with the queen to be permitted to live with his wife as God intended but Elizabeth was still immovable and his request was denied by 1571 Thomas Gresham was sick of playing Jailer to Mary Gray especially as it was affecting his family life and he had decided to wow the queen on a trip she was to make to see his newly built exchange then he would ask her to relieve him of the position and place Mary Gray elsewhere sadly it didn't work once again Elizabeth's attention and paranoia for her place on the throne were elsewhere with Catholic plots being uncovered by William Cecil but in the meantime more Misfortune was not far behind after his years of Anguish in prison and ill health Thomas Keyes died before the 5th of September 1571 members of the Court knew before Mary Gray did and her physician Dr Smith arrived a few days later to break the news as gently as he could he was to be on hand if she collapsed as expected the news flawed her and Mary broke down she begged Gresham to write to Cecil and ask if she might be permitted to both raise her husband's orphaned children and if she could wear morning dress no no one was sure whether this was permitted as the official status of her marriage was unknown after this time Mary's attitude changed and she became more defiant after recovering from the news of her husband's death she personally wrote to Cecil demanding the queen release her from her imprisonment and forgive her and for the first time she signed her name Mary Keys the only known portrait of her dates from this time and her wedding ring is made prominent in the image she argued frequently with Lady Gresham and Thomas gresham's pleas to William Cecil became more urgent begging him to restore calm to his household by the removal of Mary finally in May 1572 Elizabeth agreed to release Lady Mary Gray she was under pressure to execute Mary Queen of Scots emperor perhaps she hoped this simple gesture of Mercy might quieten some of the loudest voices in the privy Council it was suggested Mary go to live with her stepfather Adrian Stokes and his second wife and Caro a few days later Mary left the greshams for good with all her books and rubbish as Thomas Gresham put it Freedom At Last Mary spent the first few months of her Freedom at Bow Manor happily surrounded by memories of her mother and sister Catherine her old room still bore her name and ankeru who had known Mary since she was a child lavished affection and Care on her however Mary was now a 27 year old Widow who had just earned her freedom and it wasn't long before she wanted her own independence no matter how happy the home by February 1573 she was finally in her own home setting up her household in Saint bottles without Holgate in London she wrote to her brother-in-law Edward Seymour who was now free asking if she might employ a man's servant who was currently in his own household she was able over time to provide herself with a modest retinue of servants it was a house far less Grand than those she had known in her childhood but after so many years with no Freedom it must have been a homely and personal place for Mary making up for the many years she had made done with rags and battered old furniture she got a new feather bed and bolster several good pieces of silverware covered stools and tankards after some time she was also finally able to dress herself in the latest Court Fashions adorned by the few Jewels she had inherited from her mother but most importantly she was now free to go out in her carriage and visit family and friends she renewed acquaintance with her young nephews and also became close to Jane Merrick one of Thomas Key's daughters becoming a godmother to Jane's young child also named Mary Mary was also careful to start repairing her reputation at court finding her old friendships once more amongst those in court hints of her Rehabilitation came in the new year of 1574 when she sent a gift of two pomunder and agate bead bracelets to the queen who accepted them it was a good sign and the following year the income from her mother's lands which Mary had inherited also increased Mary was careful during this time to keep herself in the good eyes of everyone and while the attacks on on Puritan Protestants and Catholics alike followed in the wake of the Pope's excommunication of Queen Elizabeth she kept her religious views to herself but she owned several books that leaned to the more Puritan including some by preachers who attacked Elizabeth's religious settlement but by the end of 1577 keeping her head down and making friends at court paid off for Mary she was appointed as one of Elizabeth's Maids of honor it was a double-edged sword on the one hand it was a way of indicating Mary had been welcomed back into the court and was trusted enough to be given a respectable position within it on the other it was a position often given to women who were unmarried and so was an indication of Elizabeth's feelings on the validity of her distant cousin's marriage however that Christmas us Mary spent it at Hampton Court it was decorated with festoons of greenery and berries strung in places such as the Great Hall with strings of small oil lamps that glowed softly Mary had another present for the queen two pairs of gloves decorated with pearl and gold buttons and in return the queen gave her a cup with a cover the queen was now 45 years old and would no longer be able to have children many dropped the idea of Elizabeth marrying and now preferred the thought that she named Edward Seymour's Sons as next in line it was around this time the term Virgin Queen was coined and the iconography of the queen married to her country and caring only for her people instead of a husband tied in neatly with England's religious Devotion to to the Virgin Mary Mary was over a decade younger than the queen at 33 years old but sadly she would not see out the year after that joyful Christmas at Hampton Court in 1578 the plague returned usually the wealthy Aristocrats of London would Retreat to the countryside when epidemics returned but for unknown reasons Mary remained in her home in Saint bertolf's it's possible she thought something she owned would protect her a large and Brilliant Ruby she called a Mystic Ruby it was believed at the time still in the era of medieval medicine that such rubies were formed by the crystallized blood at the base of old unicorns horns and that the essence of such a ruby could protect against plague people did not always show symptoms especially with new static forms of the plague and Mary may not have realized she was Ill until it was too late but by the 17th of May Mary knew she was dying and wrote up her will in it she left her mother's jewels to her step-grandmother Catherine The Duchess of Suffolk to Lady Arundel and Lady Throckmorton Adrian stoke's wife she left Gifts of plate and the bulk of her money she left to marry Merrick Thomas Key's granddaughter Mary also made sure all of her servants received something three days later she died taking with her the final claim of the gray family to the English Throne as she had for all others she had snubbed in life Elizabeth threw a lavish funeral for the last gray sister ordering that lady Mary Gray be buried in Westminster Abbey in her mother's tomb where it remains unmarked to this day although Mary Gray had like her siblings died young she had managed something they had not to die in relative freedom and peace able to make her own decisions and plans in life Elizabeth's fears and paranoia had damaged the lives of the gray family for reasons that linked only to the Queen's own worries about marrying and creating an heir for her throne but even with Mary's death there were still others waiting in the wings aside from Arbella Stewart was Margaret Clifford who would face her own battles with Elizabeth in time but now at last the legacy of the gray family came to a close and the last sister rested in peace if you enjoyed this video don't forget to like And subscribe so you don't miss any new documentaries [Music]

Channel: History's Forgotten People

Views: 82,752

Keywords: lady jane grey, lady katherine grey, lady katherine gray, lady catherine grey, lady catherine gray, elizabeth I, tudor history, tudor heir, lady mary grey, the tudors, lady mary gray

Id: JtdFYteMklI

Length: 29min 19sec (1759 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 04 2022