Sole portrait of England’s ‘nine-day queen’ thought to have been identified by researchers
She was known as the “nine-day queen” and was used as a pawn in the ruthless ambition that defined the Tudor court.But for centuries, historians have struggled to find a single portrait of Lady Jane Grey that was painted during her lifetime.Now, research by English Heritage suggests a mysterious portrait depicts the royal who reigned over England for just over a week in the summer of 1553, and who was executed less than a year later.The charity says there is “compelling evidence” that the royal portrait of Grey was significantly altered after it was made, perhaps to depict the sitter as a Protestant martyr.By using infrared reflectography, English Heritage, working alongside the Courtauld Institute of Art and the dendrochronologist Ian Tyers, discovered that changes had been made to the sitter’s costume, including her sleeves, coif and the addition of a white scarf.
They also said the sitter’s eyes, which now look to her left, previously looked to her right.At some point, her eyes, mouth and ears were scratched out – which is likely to have been an iconoclastic attack.An image of Grey in the National Portrait Gallery bears the same marks.The research included dendrochronological (tree-ring dating) analysis of the painted panel, which can be dated to between 1539 and circa 1571.The back of the panel also displays a merchant or cargo mark, identical to one used on a royal portrait of King Edward VI.
Rachel Turnbull, English Heritage’s senior collections conservator, said: “From the newly discovered evidence of a once perhaps more elaborate costume and the dating of the wooden panel from within her lifetime, to the deliberate scratching of her eyes, it is possible that we are looking at the shadows of a once more royal portrait of Lady Jane Grey, toned down into subdued, Protestant martyrdom after her death.”Grey reigned from 10-19 July 1553.She was proclaimed queen as part of an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the accession of her Catholic cousin, Mary Tudor.Grey arrived at the Tower of London to prepare for her coronation, but within a fortnight she was back as a prisoner of Mary I, who had claimed the throne.While Mary was reluctant to punish Grey at first, the teenager proved too much of a threat, being the focus of Protestant plotters intent on replacing Mary.
She was executed on 12 February 1554 at the Tower of London.Grey is often remembered as an innocent victim, as seen in the National Gallery’s painting by Paul Delaroche, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, where she is depicted blindfolded and helpless in front of the block.But that depiction and the few known representations of Grey were all painted after her death.This portrait, on loan from a private collection, will go on display from Friday at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire alongside six other paintings, including one of Wrest’s most prominent owners, Jemima, Marchioness Grey.The historical novelist Dr Philippa Gregory said: “This is such an interesting picture posing so many questions, and if this is Jane Grey, a valuable addition to the portraiture of this young heroine, as a woman of character – a powerful challenge to the traditional representation of her as a blindfolded victim.
” A caption was amended on 7 March 2025 because it said Jane Grey was “crowned” queen,She was proclaimed queen, as the article said, but never crowned,
Reform MP Rupert Lowe hits back at party leadership after losing whip
Rupert Lowe has compared dealing with the Reform party leadership to smashing his head against a brick wall amid a public war of words that has revealed deep tensions at the heart of the rightwing party.Lowe posted a statement on X asking the party leader, Nigel Farage, to have dinner with him less than 24 hours after Lowe lost the Reform whip, having been accused of threatening the party chair, Zia Yusuf.The party reported the Great Yarmouth MP to the police, and Scotland Yard said a complaint of “verbal threats” made on Thursday about an alleged incident last December was being assessed by officers.In a post on Saturday morning, Lowe said: “I have been betrayed more times than I care to remember, but never by people I would have called friends. It’s not a very pleasant feeling, to be entirely honest …“Does requesting regular meetings of MPs make me a monster? Is asking to even just see policy before it’s made public unreasonable? Is it fair to be insulted because I want people to finally talk to each other?“I have torn out what remaining hair I have left over the last few months trying to talk
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Josh is 24 years old and works as a carer. It’s not easy work, but he prefers it to his old job in a supermarket: most of his clients are elderly and “just want someone there with them, because they’re lonely”. In his spare time Josh used to be into boxing. But lately he’s got into politics instead.Like many of his gen Z contemporaries, he’s thoroughly disillusioned with the mainstream kind
Britain’s biggest unions call for much closer UK-EU ties amid ‘volatile’ global economy
The UK should forge much closer ties with Europe amid an increasingly “volatile and unpredictable” global economy, Britain’s biggest trade unions will argue as they push for new workers’ rights across the continent.In its first major intervention on Europe in five years, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) will call for a “much-needed” closer relationship with the EU, in a joint statement with European counterparts.Ahead of Keir Starmer’s reset talks with Brussels, the union umbrella body will say negotiations must cover new opportunities for quality jobs for UK workers in the EU and for EU workers in the UK, though it will stop short of calling for a return to freedom of movement.Starmer has spent his first six months in power laying the groundwork for a better relationship with Brussels, with the UK hoping for better defence cooperation and smoother trade, and the EU seeking a mobility scheme allowing for greater travel by young people in return.Cooperation between the UK and the rest of Europe has recently intensified after the return to power of Donald Trump in the US, with European leaders agreeing to higher military spending to counter the threat of Russia in a world where they will have to rely less on US backing
Divided Reform UK reports own MP to police amid bullying claims
Reform UK has erupted into open civil war after the party said its MP Rupert Lowe had received complaints about bullying and had made threats against the party chair, a day after Lowe criticised Nigel Farage for being “messianic”.Lowe responded with anger, saying there was no evidence to back up the bullying claims, and that it was “entirely untrue” that he had made threats. He again criticised Farage, saying Reform was “our party as much as it is Nigel’s”.He also explicitly linked the allegations to his decision to criticise Farage, saying that the day after he had done this, he had received “a knife in my back over false allegations”.In a joint statement by the chair, Zia Yusuf, and Reform’s chief whip, Lee Anderson, they said they were “obligated to disclose that the party received complaints from two female employees about serious bullying” in Lowe’s offices
‘Don’t punish the vulnerable’: Labour MPs uneasy over planned welfare cuts
Dozens of backbench Labour MPs are unhappy with plans to cut billions from the rising welfare bill, with ministers holding meetings to convince them that the changes to disability benefits are necessary.Labour MPs told the Guardian there were deep concerns within the parliamentary party that the changes would take money from the poorest, which was not what they had entered government to do.No 10 is preparing to make the case for welfare cuts before Rachel Reeves’s spring statement, with Keir Starmer’s spokesperson saying on Friday that there had been an “unsustainable rise in welfare spending”.“Our broken social security system is holding our people back, our economy back,” he said. “We’ve got 3 million people out of work for health reasons, one in eight young people [are] not currently in work, education or training, and that is a shocking situation to be in
The Ukraine crisis has accelerated a reset of UK-EU relations – but will it last?
Barely a day passes, it seems, without Keir Starmer talking to another European leader or preparing for a continental summit. The crisis over Ukraine has very much pushed the UK closer towards the centre stage than at any point since Brexit. But is this a new era or a false dawn?One thing is certain: the optics of engagement have changed. Starmer never shared Boris Johnson’s almost active pride in stoking a row with Brussels, but particularly before the election his advisers were wary of reminding voters about his past as a diehard remainer.With support for Ukraine about as close as the UK gets to an all-party consensus, things are very different
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