As Edward lies dying of consumption exacerbated by a little arsenic, the Duke prompts him to name Jane as his successor. The Seymours’ replacement, the Duke of Northumberland, seeks to circumvent Henry’s will, which provides for the succession of princesses Mary and Elizabeth. Frances’ plan to betroth Jane to Edward fizzles. After Katherine’s death, Jane narrowly escapes getting caught up in the doomed machinations of the Seymours, protectors of boy-king Edward VI. Frances brutally punishes her on the slightest pretext, and Jane is happy to escape to the household of Queen Katherine Parr, King Henry’s sixth wife. A Tudor Mommie Dearest, Frances hardens her heart against Jane for failing to be born male. A minor throughout, Jane is subject to the whims of corrupt and ambitious adults bent on exploiting her bloodline to advance their own agenda. In setting her first novel around Lady Jane, daughter of Henry VIII’s niece, Frances, Weir must surmount two major historical constraints first, that Jane’s fate is known, and second, that Jane, though precocious and unusually well-schooled for a girl of the time, is a necessarily passive character. Who better to rehabilitate her than Weir ( Queen Isabella, 2005, etc.), author of numerous works of popular history, five of which concern the Tudor dynasty. Lady Jane is often viewed as merely pathetic.
Weir’s erudition in matters royal finds fictional expression in the story of England’s briefest reigning sovereign, Lady Jane Grey.
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