#OnThisDay

July 10 1553, Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen of England. Used as a Protestant political pawn by an ambitious family the teenage Jane would rule for only nine days. She was executed, along with her husband, Lord Guilford Dudley, for high treason in February 1554 at the Tower of London, after her supporters abandoned her for Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.

Listen to the unexpected history of the signature!

Listen to the unexpected history of executions!

Read our magazine post on the history of autograph collecting.