Bringing you another tragic Tudor love and a continuation of the story of the Grey Sisters with Mary Grey; the dwarf that married a giant!
Jane,
Katherine and Mary Grey were the granddaughters of the famous love
match Charles Brandon and Princess Mary Tudor. During the reign of the
young king Edward VI, Their father Henry Grey became one of the most
powerful and prominent men in England and used his influence to ensure
that his daughter, lady Jane Grey, was named Edward’s heir to the throne
over Edward’s sisters upon Edward’s death in 1553.
To
ensure support behind this audacious plot to seize the crown; Henry
married his daughters Katherine and Jane into the Herbert and Dudley
families to form a strong Protestant faction. Mary Grey was only eight
years old at the time and so was only betrothed rather than married to a
distant cousin and political ally Arthur Grey.
Events
deteriorated quickly. Lady Jane Grey was made queen but only reigned
for nine days before her privy council disbanded, loyalties shifted and
Mary Tudor rallied support and marched on London to reclaim her
birthright as the daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. Mary
took the throne as Mary I as she imprisoned those involved in the Grey
plot.
Mary I was fond of the Grey girls and
their mother, despite the difference in religion, and strove not to
punish them as they had been pawns in the whole venture. However the
Wyatt Rebellion, which strove to place a Protestant such as Lady Jane
grey or Princess Elizabeth on the throne, and the reluctance to come to
an insecure country displayed by her beloved bridegroom forced Mary to
execute those involved with placing Lady Jane on the throne; including
Jane herself. Lady Jane Grey and her father were executed in February
1554.
The shame of Jane and Henry Grey’s
executions tarnished the surviving Greys. Katherine’s marriage was
annulled and Mary’s betrothal was dissolved as families distanced
themselves from the disgraced Greys. Mary I was sympathetic to the
plight of the Grey sisters and so brought Katherine to court as a maid
of honour and perhaps may have intended to do the same for Mary Grey
once she was old enough. In the meantime, Mary lived with her mother
Frances Grey.
Frances Grey often times is
depicted as an unloving and abusive mother who regularly beat her girls.
We will never know how accurate this assessment of her character is
true but there was the possibility she was a difficult woman to live
with. Mary found herself in a particularly difficult situation when her
mother remarried; marrying her the master of her horse Adrian Stokes.
For a high born lady with royal blood to marry effectively a servant
created a scandal.
The marriage
was a shrewd decision on Frances’ behalf as it demonstrated that she
was willing to dilute her claim to the throne with a lowly marriage.
This would prove to be a powerful lesson for Mary. But for young Mary it
must have been difficult to have her father replaced so soon after his
death, her mother’s attention taken away and to be ordered about by a
jumped up servant as a step father. Certainly Frances seemed more
generous to her new husband on her death in 1559; leaving him the lion’s
share of her estate while Mary only received a small inheritance.
At
14, Mary was orphaned, unmarried and only had a modest income. Unlike
her beautiful sister Katherine, Mary did not possess good looks to be an
enticing marriage prospect. Mary was referred to as “ugly” and a
“dwarf”. it’s been suggested she had a “hunchbacked” which may have
been the cause of her stunted height. The only thing to seemingly
recommend her as a wife was also the thing that endangered her; her
claim to the throne. Mary was astute enough to know this and so must
have been daunted at her prospects. More so when she was invited to be
one of Elizabeth I’s maids of honour.
Elizabeth
I was deeply troubled and paranoid at the prospect of the Grey sisters.
She actively disliked Katherine Grey and imprisoned her in the Tower of
London for marrying without permission (Katherine earned Elizabeth’s
eternal condemnation by having two sons while imprisoned). It’s hard to
say what effect having her whole family taken away from her must have
had on Mary. Or what it was like to have Elizabeth I taunting and spying
on her relentlessly. It must have been a miserable and lonely
existence. But mercifully there was one friendly face at court; Thomas
Keyes.
Thomas Keyes was a giant of a man. A
former soldier, he was employed as a Sargent porter in charge of the
palace security and Mary would see him stationed at the palace
gatehouses on an almost daily basis. Having been married once before and
much older, the experienced Keyes courted Mary with gifts and won her
heart. For Mary the example of her sister languishing in the tower for
making a noble match compared to her mother’s lowly marriage but quiet
life made the choice obvious for Mary. Keyes loved her and provided her
protection from Elizabeth’s suspicion and cruelty. And while the couple
being seen together would be source of hilarity and ridicule for
onlookers, it could be a real source of happiness for Mary. The couple
married in secret in 1565.
Their marriage was
celebrated with friends, who Mary took pains to conceal their
identities, and they honeymooned away from court. It didn’t take long
for Elizabeth to hear rumours and furiously recalled them to court
before imprisoning them both. Elizabeth I could never stomach her
relations marrying or having children as she perceived them all as
active threats against her. She was particularly cruel in her
persecution of the Grey sisters. She separated Katherine Grey from her
children and as a result Katherine fell into a depression that may have
contributed to her early death.
Now she
imprisoned Mary Grey for daring to make even a lowly match. Keyes went
to the notorious Fleet prison where conditions were hellish. As Keyes
faced royal displeasure, rather than the usual petty crimes of the
prisoners, his jailers were brutal in their treatment of him. They
defined him food, save for scraps of rotten meat, and denied him even
the opportunity to catch and eat vermin as a source of unspoiled meat.
He was deliberately kept in a cell whereby he had to agonisingly stoop
without relief.
whereas Mary went to Chequers.
Mary
was placed in what has been come to be known as the “prison room”. A
twelve foot room where she passed the time by drawing and inscribing the
walls of the room. She was allowed no guests and minimal exercise
outside. She implored William Cecil to speak of her cruel conditions to
the queen in hopes of fairer treatment which were denied. When Mary
heard of Keyes treatment, she implored him to deny the marriage ad spare
himself. He attempted to do so but was rejected on the grounds of their
being witnesses.
After repeated requests that
he may be allowed to walk in the prison gardens, Elizabeth granted the
request before quickly recanting it. Keyes would remain in the Fleet
until 1568. Upon his release he was given a job near his home in Kent
but Elizabeth adamantly refuses his requests that his wife Mary he
allowed to join him. Keyes never recovered his health and was broken
from his time in prison.
In 1567, Mary was
moved to live with her relation Katherine Willoughby (whom had also
married beneath her). Katherine was appalled when she saw how few
possessions Mary had and how little she eat due to her depression. In
1568, her sister Katherine grey died of illness perhaps aggravated by
depression induced starvation. Katherine’s death and similar treatment
must have been crushing for Mary; more so as it came at a time that she
was refused from seeing her own husband and remained a prisoner. How
could she not help but think the outcome for her would be any different
than it had been for Katherine?
Mary’s
unhappiness came to a peak when she was moved into the household of
Thomas Gresham in 1569. Gresham’s wife resented Mary’s presence and was
actively unkind to her while making ever attempt to have her removed
from the household. Gresham himself was curt due to the constant pain of
a badly set broken leg. Faced with such hostility, Mary elected to stay
almost exclusively in her small room alone with her books. In 1571,
Thomas Keyes died almost certainly due to the effects of years of brutal
imprisonment.
Mary was devastated by his loss
going into mourning and requesting that his children from his first
marriage come into her care (a request, predictably denied). Even though
her husband was dead, her spirit broken, Mary was still to be punished
by Elizabeth.
In 1572, Elizabeth decided to
show mercy but in such a way that she could still torment Mary. Upon her
arrest, Elizabeth seized Mary’s property and deliberately gave Mary a
merger income that would not cover the costs of her expenditures in
imprisonment and so ran up debts. Mary had no friends, no property, no
money and so had nowhere to go and would have to stay with the Greshams
(whom Elizabeth knew resented her).
So
Elizabeth stated that Mary was still a prisoner but could choose her
prison; knowing full well that Mary could not and cattily absolved
herself of any blame of Mary’s unhappiness as it would appear she chose
to be with the Greshams. It was a hopeless situation for Poor Mary. That
was until 1573 whereby Gresham sent Mary with all her “books and
rubbish” to live with her step father Adrian Stokes.
Her
time was Adrian Stokes was brief but happy. He had remarried and his
new wife was fond of Mary. Mary was able to have her income increased by
Elizabeth and was able to set up a modest household for herself in
London. It was not grand but she lived within her means and lived
quietly until 1577 when she was recalled back to court to be one of
Elizabeth’s maids of honour again.
Elizabeth
had been the chief architect in the great miseries in the lives of Mary
and those she loved. Her sister and husband had died as a result of her
cruelty and Mary had suffered tremendously because of her persecution.
It can’t be imagined what Mary felt being in proximity to that women
again. But she did not have to suffer her for long.
In
1578, seasonal plague was rampant once again. Mary contracted the
illness and died aged 33. In her will she left jewels for Katherine
Willoughby and made provision for her friend and step daughter Jane
Merrick. Elizabeth gave her a grand funeral, in spite of everything, and
Mary was buried in an unmarked grave in her mother’s tomb.
Below is Mary’s portrait and the “prison room”
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