Lady Mary Grey

Mary Grey
Spouse	Thomas Keyes
Father	Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk
Mother	Lady Frances Brandon
Born	1545
Died	April 1578 (aged 32–33)

Lady Mary Grey (1545 – 20 April 1578), sometimes spelled Marie, was the third and youngest daughter of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Lady Frances Brandon. Mary was described as the smallest person at court, crooked backed and "very ugly". Her reported deformity could be described as kyphosis.^{[citation needed]}

Mary was a younger sister of Lady Jane Grey and Lady Catherine Grey. Her maternal grandparents were Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor, former Queen consort of France, who was the younger daughter of King Henry VII of England.

As great-grandchildren of Henry VII, Mary and her sisters were potential heirs to the throne. When King Edward VI of England died in 1553, the Duke of Northumberland tried to make Mary's eldest sister Jane Queen. This intrigue failed, ending in Jane's execution; Edward was instead succeeded by his older half-sisters, Mary I, and then Elizabeth I.

Since Queens Mary and Elizabeth were both childless, the surviving Grey sisters were considered likely heirs to the throne, and were not permitted to marry without Elizabeth's permission. In 1565, Mary was imprisoned for having married in 1563 royal gatekeeper Thomas Keyes, without the permission of Queen Elizabeth. The marriage surprised some at court, since Keyes was an unusually large man whose height contrasted with that of the tiny Mary; William Cecil wrote to Sir Thomas Smith,

"The Sergeant Porter, being the biggest gentleman at Court, hath married secretly the Lady Mary Grey, least of all the Court".

When Catherine Grey died in 1568, Mary was brought to relative prominence as the last surviving grandchild of Mary Tudor. Since Catherine Grey's children were considered illegitimate, some regarded Mary as heiress presumptive to the English throne. She remained under house arrest until 1572 following the death of Keyes in 1571, and was permitted to attend Court occasionally.

In spite of the intrigues involving her sisters, it does not appear that Mary Grey ever made a serious claim to the throne. She died childless and in some poverty, in 1578, aged 33.

References

• Britannia.com
• Life in Elizabethan England
• De Lisle, Leanda (2009). The Sisters Who Would Be Queen; the Tragedy of Katherine, Mary, & Lady Jane Grey. London: HarperPress. ISBN 978-0-00-721905-6.