Queen Jane abdicates, 17th of July

WI Queen Jane announces her abdication on the morning of 17th of July?

Dudley had left London on 14th.
While news of lack of support around the country had been coming before and after, a major bad news was defection of ships. After that, on the evening of 16th, it was Jane´s initiative to order Tower´s gate´s locked to hamper counsellors from sneaking out. And she kept sending out letters telling people to rally to her, not Mary.

The counsellors were plotting on 17th and 18th, but it was on 19th that the counsellors finally openly declared for Mary - outside Tower. Whereupon Henry Grey, in the evening, informed his daughter that she was no longer Queen, proclaimed Mary Queen outside the Tower and left for his home, leaving Jane behind in Tower.

So PoD: WI Jane, realizing on 16th that her cause is doomed and losing is a matter of a few days, decides to take the initiative?

Therefore, she spends the night of 16th to 17th of July writing drafts to the effect.. and on the morning of 17th calls Privy Council, and presents them with proposal to abdicate?

If Edward VI did not have the authority to Devise the crown to Jane then Mary has been Queen all along by authority of Act of Parliament and Will of Henry VIII. And if Edward VI did have that authority, then now Jane is the Queen, she has the authority to Devise the crown on Mary, and does that.

How would the counsellors react? Would any be willing to go along with Jane´s attempt to shift all blame for treason on dead king?

The effect would be to get Mary recognized in London on the morning of 17th, not evening of 19th.
What would the effects be on public perception of Jane? On Mary´s treatment of Jane?
 
Once she accepts the crown, she's sunk. OTL, Mary spared her - not because Jane had abdicated, but because she believed Jane had been 'put up to' the scheme by Edward VI's evil advisors. Jane was never legally queen, the succession established by Henry VIII (and legitimized by parliament) had not been changed. E6 died before the question/will/idea could be presented to parliament.

OTL, Jane's death was the fault of men who didn't know when they were beaten. They kept plotting and in order to stop the plotting, Mary was forced to execute Jane to eliminate the focus of the plots. (The example of Jane may well be why Elizabeth was so careful.)

You can't say "I'm taking the crown" (which Jane did - she did not want the country to go back to Roman Catholicism) and then go "never mind, I don't want it" when you learn the heir in law is approaching with a damn army. That's not how it worked in the 16th century and Jane knew it. She knew it was a dangerous game, had the balls to refuse to make her husband king, and still played.
 
Not to mention, can you abdicate something that's never actually yours? I mean, Jane wasn't crowned or anything, so technically, while she's been proclaimed queen, to the reaction of 'huh, who's she?' from most of the rest of Europe (Karl V's ambassador had to answer such a question from his master), does she have rights to abdicate?
 
Not to mention, can you abdicate something that's never actually yours? I mean, Jane wasn't crowned or anything, so technically, while she's been proclaimed queen, to the reaction of 'huh, who's she?' from most of the rest of Europe (Karl V's ambassador had to answer such a question from his master), does she have rights to abdicate?
Yeah. I don't think it changes anything really, Mary and her lawyers go "lol" and lock her up anyway. Northumberland still plots and Jane ends up dead.
Probably all it does is have a few historians and us arguing about whether the abdication was genuine etc.
 
Not to mention, can you abdicate something that's never actually yours? I mean, Jane wasn't crowned or anything, so technically, while she's been proclaimed queen, to the reaction of 'huh, who's she?' from most of the rest of Europe (Karl V's ambassador had to answer such a question from his master), does she have rights to abdicate?

Jane believed it was hers and stepped over the Catholic Mary and religiously ambiguous Elizabeth (at that time) to accept the crown. So, yeah, she could abdicate since she'd 'accepted' the crown. We'd be back to arguing whether she belongs in the roster of English Kings and Queens AND whether or not the abdication was genuine.
 
Once she accepts the crown, she's sunk. OTL, Mary spared her - not because Jane had abdicated, but because she believed Jane had been 'put up to' the scheme by Edward VI's evil advisors. Jane was never legally queen, the succession established by Henry VIII (and legitimized by parliament) had not been changed. E6 died before the question/will/idea could be presented to parliament.

OTL, Jane's death was the fault of men who didn't know when they were beaten. They kept plotting and in order to stop the plotting, Mary was forced to execute Jane to eliminate the focus of the plots. (The example of Jane may well be why Elizabeth was so careful.)

You can't say "I'm taking the crown" (which Jane did - she did not want the country to go back to Roman Catholicism) and then go "never mind, I don't want it" when you learn the heir in law is approaching with a damn army. That's not how it worked in the 16th century and Jane knew it. She knew it was a dangerous game, had the balls to refuse to make her husband king, and still played.
Jane did not have the practical opportunity to resist Northumberland and the Council in London, 10th...14th of July. If she wasn´t Queen then she was nobody and had no authority to publicly endorse Mary and overrule Northumberland, Council and the will of Edward VI.
On 17th...19th, she did have that opportunity.
Meekly submitting to her father in the evening of 19th, after the Council had declared for Mary, confirmed that she had been "put up to" the scheme, but was of no service to Mary.
The Council was looking for pretext and opportunity to defect through 17th, 18th and 19th, and took three days to act on the afternoon of 19th.

So suppose Jane provides the initiative and excuse for the Council to act, on the morning of 17th. They don´t have to betray Queen Jane after having been in treason against Queen Mary, because of the threat of Mary´s approaching army, as they did OTL on 19th - they have the opportunity to endorse Mary on the command and initiative of Queen Jane.

Would the Council welcome the chance?
 
I call BULLSHIT on "Meekly submitting to her father". Why? Because Jane had the backbone to refuse to share the crown with hubby Dudley. If she were 'meek' she'd have gone along with that as well. The self-serving "put up to it" b.s. was to save her ass and it would have worked had the others involved accepted Mary at once.

As I pointed out above, Jane was initially saved by Mary's soft heart, but the continual scheming of others made her into a touchstone for rebellion, which is why Mary was forced by the council to carry out the execution she had initially stayed.

Jane knew she was stepping over two daughters of Henry VIII who were, by law, to accept the crown. She chose to keep it to herself alone. She surrendered because Mary was about to open a can of whoop ass on her; but it turns out nobody wanted it, they wanted Mary as Queen. Jane had no support (her support kept defecting to the legal heir).
 
But, our differing views on Jane Grey's personality aside, if she claimed the throne, it would make not one jot of difference when Mary showed up on the 19th that Jane had "abdicated" on the 17th. She's going to be arrested and tried for treason and found guilty. Mary can't NOT try her and remain Queen, she has to establish her authority.

IMO, the OP is asked the wrong question: What actions could have saved Jane Grey from execution? might be a better angle to keep Jane alive.
 
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