Alternate History: What If Lady Jane Grey Was Not Deposed?

She was eventually executed in 1554 due to a plot in her name. She had nothing to do with this plot, but Mary I was determined to make sure the English protestants had nobody to rally behind or place on the throne. Lady Jane Grey and her half-sister Lady Elizabeth were the two main figureheads, and Jane had already been convicted of treason.

Had she been queen at the time, she would have certainly lived longer. She may have even had Mary executed or at least locked in the tower due to the attempt to depose her.

It is difficult to say how long she would have lived considering the life expectancy at the time, but judging by her cousins and ancestors, she would have likely lived into her 30s at least. Considering she was 16 at the time of her unofficial coronation within the Tower of London, she had at least 14 more years to live.

With Jane’s age taken into account, Mary I definitely would not have become Queen of England. Even if Jane chose against imprisoning her in the Tower or executing her, Mary would have died before Jane’s eventual death. The only things that could have killed Jane would be an unexpected illness or murder.

Would Mary have attempted to murder her cousin? Considering how religious she was, I’m not sure she would. But the Catholics may have started a rebellion in Mary’s name. That is highly likely considering the number of Protestant rebellions there were during Mary’s reign.

The next question is whether Elizabeth Tudor would have become queen of England. This is highly unlikely for a number of reasons. One of the most important follows next.

Considering the two would have survived, it is highly likely that they would have had children. They were both young, and their families showed that fertility was good. Yes, I know that doesn’t mean they were fertile but it supports the possibility.

Jane would have certainly wanted to try for a boy. She needed an heir for the throne, and being the first female queen in her own right was already a dubious position. Edward VI had made it clear that Jane was the only female who would rule after him. The crown was then to only pass to her male heirs. Of course, being queen Jane could have overridden that, but she would have tried to have a boy at all costs.

If there was a boy, it would have been a positive thing for the English throne. There would have been little rejection from the Scottish crown, and little need to bring James VI of Scotland down to England.

What if she only had girls? Well, I guess that would have depended on how successful Jane was as a queen. While she was smart, she seems very naive from everything that I’ve read about her in history. I wonder if she had the gall to be Queen of England. She stood up to her in-laws when it came to Guildford becoming king—that was not going to happen—but did she have enough to stand up against a council of men if they went against her beliefs?

The downside for Elizabeth is that Jane may have married her cousin off. It would have gone against everything that Elizabeth wanted in her life. She had told Robert Dudley that she wanted to marry.

The country would have moved further into Protestantism. There would have been no reason for a five-year period where the country had gone back to the old religion, and it would have meant the 300 Protestants, including Thomas Cranmer, would not have been burned at the stake.

This could have caused some problems for Jane, though. There is the high chance of Catholic uprisings. It would have been interesting to see how she would have dealt with that, and whether she would have taken similar action as Mary I did in real life.

Everything could have changed if Lady Jane Grey wasn’t deposed by Mary I. It would have likely prevented Mary and Elizabeth from becoming English queens, and may have prevented James VI becoming James I of England. Depending on her heirs, it would be interesting to know whether Scotland and England would have ever joined together to become Great Britain.