Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk - Definition and Overview

Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1517 – February 23, 1554) was an English nobleman of the Tudor period, the father of Lady Jane Grey.

He was the son of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset and Margaret Wotton. He became the 3rd Marquess of Dorset in 1530 after his father died. In 1534, with the permission of King Henry VIII he married Frances Brandon who was the daughter of Henry VIII’s sister Princess Mary Tudor and Sir Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. After the death of Frances' father in 1553, Henry Grey became Duke of Suffolk.

Henry Grey was the father of Lady Jane Grey, and with the help of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, tried to have her installed on the throne of England after King Edward VI died in 1553. This plot was unsuccessful; therefore, for a short time Henry switched allegiances to Queen Mary I in an attempt to avoid execution.

Henry Grey was eventually beheaded in the following year, after he was convicted of treason for his part in Sir Thomas Wyatt's plot to over throw Queen Mary when she announced her intension to marry King Philip II of Spain.

References

• FactMonster.com entry for "Suffolk, Henry Grey, duke of" (http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0847114.html), accessed 2004
• AllRefer.com biography "Suffolk, Henry Grey, duke of" (http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/S/SuffolkH.html) from British And Irish History section, accessed 2003