Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk (17 January 1517 – 23 February 1554) was Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire from 1549 to 1551 and from 1552 to 1554. He was also father of Lady Jane Grey, who was Queen of England for nine days, and he was executed for being her father.
Biography[]
Henry Grey was the son and heir of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, and he married Frances Brandon, the daughter of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, in 1533. Grey served as King Henry VIII's sword-bearer during the coronation of Anne Boleyn, at Anne of Cleves' arrival in 1540, and at the capture of Boulogne in 1544, during which he helped to lead the army. After Henry's death, he fell out of favor with Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, and Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley was executed for conspiring with Henry Grey to have Grey's daughter, Lady Jane Grey, marry King Edward VI of England. In 1549, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick overthrew Somerset and appointed Grey to the Privy Council, and he became Duke of Suffolk in 1551. In 1553, King Edward instead arranged for Jane to marry Lord Guildford Dudley, John Dudley's son. Edward altered his will to make Jane his successor, and she was queen for nine days after Edward died. Grey and his son-in-law temporarily avoided execution due to Frances' friendship with Queen Mary I of England, who overthrew Jane, but Grey was executed in 1554 for supporting Thomas Wyatt the Younger's attempt to restore her to the throne.