Lady Jane Grey pt. 3: Accession and Execution

Edward VI died on July 6, 1553. Northumberland had Jane proclaimed Queen of England on July 10, 1553, just four days later. According to some fictional accounts, Northumberland tricked Jane into putting on the crown; however, she refused to name her husband king by letters patent and deffered to Parliament. She offered to make him duke instead.
Northumberland faced a number of key tasks in order to consolodate his power. Most importantly he had to isolate, and, ideally, capture Mary to prevent her from gathering support around her. Mary, however, advised of his intentions, took flight, sequesting herself in Framlington Castle in Suffolk.
Within only nine days, the people of England had overwhelmingly declared their support for Mary, who swept into London in a triumphant procession on July 19. Parliament declared Mary the rightful queen and revoked Jane's proclamation as having been coerced. Mary had Jane and her husband in the Gentleman Gaoler's apartments in the Tower of London for high treason - although their lives were initially spared - while the Duke of Northumberland was executed on August 22, 1853.
On the morning of Febuary 12, 1854, the authorities took Guildford Dudley from his rooms at the Tower of London and had him beheaded. A horse cart carried his remains back to the tower, past the rooms where Jane remained a prisoner. Jane was then taken out to Tower Green, inside the Tower of London, for a private execution. With few exceptions, private executions belonged to Royalty alone; Jane's execution occured on the orders of Queen Mary, as a gesture of respect for her cousin. John de Feckenham, who had failed to convert Jane, stayed with her during the execution. Jane had determined to go to her death with dignity, but upon being blindfolded, could not find the executioners block; among her last recorded words, she is said to have cried out "Where is it? What shall I do! Where is it..." She had begun to panic when an unknown hand, possibly de Feckenham, helped her find her way and retain her dignity in the end. She was then beheaded.
The "traitor-heroine" of the Reformation was merely 16 years old at the time of her execution. Apparently, Frances Brandon made no attempt, pleading or otherwise, to save her daughter's life. And Jane's father already awaited execution for his part in the Wyatt Rebelion. Jane and Guildford are are buried in the Chapel of St. Peter and Vincula on the north side of Tower Green. Queen Mary only lived four years after she ordered the death of her cousin.