Lady Jane (1986)

Lady Jane is a 1986 British costume drama romance film directed by Trevor Nunn, written by David Edgar, and starring Helena Bonham Carter as the title character. It tells the story of Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days' Queen, on her reign and romance with husband Lord Guildford Dudley. The film features several members of The Royal Shakespeare Company.

The story had previously been turned into a 1936 film Tudor Rose.

The death of King Henry VIII of England throws his kingdom into chaos as his heir, Edward VI of England, is both under-age and in poor health. Anticipating the young king's imminent death from tuberculosis and anxious to keep England true to the Protestant Reformation by keeping the Catholic Mary I of England from the throne, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, Lord President of the Council and second only to the king in power, hatches a plan to marry his son, Lord Guildford, to Lady Jane Grey, and have the royal physician keep the young king Edward VI alive—albeit in excruciating pain—long enough to get him to name Jane his heir.

Jane is not happy with the proposed marriage, and must be forced into it through corporal punishment by her parents. At first Jane and Guildford decide to treat their union purely as a marriage of convenience, but then they fall deeply in love.

After Edward VI dies (6 July 1553, age 15), Jane is placed on the throne. She is troubled by the questionable legality of her accession, but after consulting with Guildford, turns the tables on John Dudley and the others who thought to use her as a puppet.

After only nine days, however, Queen Jane is abandoned by her council precisely because of her reformist designs for the country. The council then supports Mary, who at first imprisons Jane and Guildford.

Consumed with guilt, Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, raises a rebellion to restore her to the throne, presumably in concert with Thomas Wyatt the Younger's rebellion. When the rebellion fails, Queen Mary I offers to spare Jane's life if she renounces her Protestant faith. When she refuses, Jane, her father and Guildford are all executed.

Lady Jane