[5] Under the young King Edward VI, Guildford's father became Lord President of the Council and de facto ruled England from 1550 to 1553.

[12] King Edward, in his "Devise of the Succession", settled the Crown on Jane Grey, his first cousin once removed, bypassing his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth.

[14] Jane was reluctant to accept the Crown: she gave in after remonstrances by an assembly of nobles, including her parents and in-laws, while Guildford chimed in with a lovelier approach, with "prayers and caresses".

[19] According to later remarks by the Imperial ambassadors, the daily Council meetings were presided over by Guildford, who allegedly also dined in state alone and had himself addressed in regal style.

[17] On 10 July, the same day as Jane's proclamation, a letter from Mary Tudor arrived in London, saying that she was now queen and demanding the obedience of the Council.

[22] Mary was assembling her supporters in East Anglia; it was decided to take the field against her after some discussion over who should go, in which Jane made sure that her father should not.

[23] The Duke of Northumberland marched to Cambridge with his troops and passed a week that saw no action until he heard on 20 July that the Council in London had declared for Mary.

[27] Becoming aware of his colleagues' change of mind, Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, abandoned his command of the fortress and proclaimed Mary I on nearby Tower Hill.

[29] His remaining brothers were imprisoned in other towers, as was his father, who was for the moment the only prominent person to go to the scaffold; Mary was prepared to spare Jane's and Guildford's lives, concluding that they were mere pawns in Northumberland's scheme.

Nevertheless, at the height of the military crisis around 7 February, the government decided to execute Jane and her husband for high treason, of which they had both been found guilty.

[41] Bishop Gardiner pressed for the young couple's execution in a court sermon,[42] and the Imperial ambassador Simon Renard was happy to report that "Jane of Suffolk and her husband are to lose their heads.

"[44] Around ten o'clock in the morning of 12 February, Guildford was led towards Tower Hill, where "many ... gentlemen" waited to shake hands with him.

[7] He was killed with one stroke of the axe, after which his body was conveyed on a cart to the Tower chapel of St Peter ad Vincula.

[7] Five months after the couple's death, John Knox, the famous Scottish reformer, wrote of them as "innocents ... such as by just laws and faithful witnesses can never be proved to have offended by themselves.

"[42] Of Guildford, the chronicler Grafton wrote ten years later: "even those that never before the time of his execution saw him, did with lamentable tears bewail his death.