July 19^th – On this day in 1553, Henry Machyn wrote in his diary:

“The xix day of July was … Mare [Tudor] proclamyd qwene … , [as the] sister of the late kyng Edward the vi and daughter unto the nobull Henry  the viii … , and … ther was … song, and … belles ryngyng thrugh London, and bone-fyres, and tabuls in evere strett, and wyne and beer and alle, … and ther was money cast a-way”.

Queen Mary – quite scary

Meantime, Lady Jane Grey, who had acceded to the throne nine days previously, was imprisoned in the Tower.  She was later tried and convicted on a charge of treason in November, 1553, and eventually executed on February 12^th, 1554.

A romanticised view of the execution of Lady Jane Grey, by Delaroche