Lord Guildford Dudley (1535-12 February 1554) was the teenage husband of Lady Jane Grey. On 12 February 1554, both of them were executed in the Tower of London on the orders of Queen Mary I of England.
Biography[]
Guildford Dudley was the second youngest surviving son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and his wife Jane Guildford. Guildford had a humanist education and was married to Lady Jane Grey about six weeks before the death of King Edward VI of England in 1553, consolidating an alliance between the powerful Dudley family and the heir to the throne, Jane. Jane and Guildford spent her brief nine-day rule residing in the Tower of London, and they were still in the tower when their regime collapsed on 19 July 1553, as the Privy Council made Mary I of England the new queen. They remained in the tower, in different quarters, as prisoners, and Mary was initially inclined to spare them. However, Jane's father became involved with a major rebellion against Mary's decision to marry King Philip II of Spain, and Mary saw them both as threats. On 12 February 1554, both of them were beheaded.