Tudor love and a continuation of the story of the Grey Sisters with Mary Grey; the dwarf that married a giant!

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”