The primary conflict in My Lady Jane was, of course, centered around the crown. Mary wanted to be the queen. So, she tried to poison Edward VI. That sort of worked out because Edward VI was presumed dead for a major chunk of the series. But that didn’t ensure Mary’s ascension because Edward VI’s will was discovered, and Jane Grey became the Queen of England. She received a lot of pushback on the personal as well as the professional front during her brief reign due to her pro-Edian (pronounced eth-y-un) ideology. Mary used this tumultuous situation to perform a coup and plant herself on the throne. Jane and her Edian husband, Lord Guildford, were set to be executed publicly for their acts of Satanism. Edward VI was their only hope because nobody knew of his survival, thereby making him the element of surprise. Was he able to rally an army and take down Mary? Did Jane and Guildford survive? Let’s find out what happened in My Lady Jane‘s ending.
Spoiler Alert
Mary Forces Jane to Read a Controversial Letter
Ahead of her execution, Jane is locked up in a tower, while Mary uses her newfound queenly powers to execute a bunch of Edians. Since Bess sided with Jane, Mary tried to kill her too, and that caused the Duke of Norfolk to call out Mary for her unhinged shenanigans. Mary takes a beat and then kills the Duke of Norfolk because she is too high on power to realize what she is doing. With the Duke out of the way, Jane’s mother, Lady Frances, strikes a deal with Mary to ensure her daughter’s survival. Mary says that Jane can avoid execution if she denounces Edianism and claims that she married Guildford because she was under his spell. That’d give Mary the support she needed to commit genocide against the Edians and use them to build the foundation of her reign. Jane says that she won’t do anything until and unless she gets to see her husband. So, Mary meets Jane personally and tells her to read an anti-Edian letter if she wants Guildford to survive. Although Jane knows that she can’t trust Mary, she keeps the letter with the intention of reading it aloud, because even if there’s a one percent chance that it’ll save Guildford, then she needs to take it.
Jane and Guildford accept their fate
Edward and Fitz approach the Edians so that the tyrant Mary can be killed and Jane can be saved. Since the Edians have suffered enough, Archer says that the Edians don’t want to be involved in any of this. Edward Seymour asks for Katherine Grey’s hand in marriage, but she refuses the offer because she wants to be by Jane’s side before her last moments. Jane tries to use the guards to inform Guildford that she doesn’t mean a word of the anti-Edian speech she has been ordered to say. Meanwhile, Lord Seymour tries to strike a deal with Guildford where the former will help him fake his death, and then Guildford will spend the rest of his life as Lord Seymour’s bodyguard and guinea pig. Guildford rejects the offer and says that he prefers to die instead of doing all that. Margaret, who had sided with Mary because of her hatred for her mother, betrays the Queen to come and tell Jane that Mary has been lying to her. Mary has no intention of letting Jane live; in fact, she wants to kill both Jane and Guildford in one fell swoop. And as if it wasn’t clear before, she does intend to finish off every Edian, and her motivation to do so is only bolstered by the gift sent by Spain’s Prince Phillip, which is the hand of the last Edian in his country.
Dudleys Reunited
When Katherine realizes that Frances is toying with her life again, she decides to defy her and marry Edward Seymour. Jane tries to kill Mary with the help of an organic poisonous lipstick, but that doesn’t work. So, Jane publicly shames Mary and tells the court that she is not going to read the anti-Edian letter that she is forcing her to read. Stan and Lord Dudley free Guildford. During this tense moment, Lord Dudley decides to free Guildford of the guilt that he is responsible for his mother’s death. Lord Dudley says that Guildford did kill his mother, but it was an accident, and if the Edians that attacked the Dudley convoy hadn’t caused him to panic, maybe his mother would’ve been alive. This motivates Guildford to keep fighting the good fight and face Lord Seymour while Lord Dudley and Stan get out of harm’s way. Although Guildford manages to beat Lord Seymour in a sword fight, he calls the guards and gets Guildford re-arrested.
Did Jane Grey defeat Queen Mary?
In My Lady Jane‘s ending, the titular character is brought out for her execution, while Guildford is tied to a pole so that he can be burned to death. But right when the executioner is about to cut off Jane’s head, the Edians enter the picture and start attacking Mary and her guards. Susannah frees Jane, and she proceeds to free Guildford. Even though Guildford isn’t known for turning into a horse on command, he manages to trigger a transformation. Jane gets on his back and escapes from the castle and into the woods. She doesn’t get to defeat Mary, but she lives to fight another day. Anyway, this causes Mary to go on an angry tirade. It’s revealed that Bess is actually an Edian as she turns into a fox and runs away from the castle. Stan potentially gets into an official relationship with Frances. Katherine marries Edward Seymour. Edward VI gets his cherry popped by Fitz. And Jane decides to stay in England and probably reclaim the throne. She has the Edians on her side now. It’s public knowledge that Edward VI is alive, and it’s possible that his loyal supporters will stand beside him. Hopefully, that’ll be enough to stop Mary before she restarts her plans to end the lives of every Edian in her country.
