Lady Jane Grey
Not Just the Tudors
History Hit
4.8 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 13 April 2026
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What if becoming queen was the worst thing that could happen to you? What if the crown became your death sentence?
Professor Suzannah Lipscomb explores the tragic story of Lady Jane Grey, the brilliant, devout teenager, who was proclaimed queen of England against her will, reigned for less than two weeks, and was executed before her 17th birthday.
Drawing on insights from her new two-part History Hit documentary series, Suzannah is joined by Professor Anna Whitelock, Dr Joanne Paul, Verity Babbs, and Dr Nicola Tallis to uncover the story of a young girl caught in the storm of Tudor power.
MORE:
"Bloody Mary": Debunking the Myths
Edward VI: The Last Boy King
Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. Edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.
Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast
Sign up to History Hit to see Professor Suzannah Lipscomb in search of the truth about Lady Jane Grey, the young Tudor claimant who was Queen of England for less than 2 weeks. The series explores Jane's short life through extraordinary examples of her own writing, her exceptional education and her self-assured personality.
Sign up for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Want to walk the halls of Anne Boleyn's childhood home or explore the castles that made up Henry |
| 0:06.8 | the 8th's English stronghold? With a subscription to history hit, you can dive into our Tudor |
| 0:12.1 | past alongside the world's leading historians and archaeologists. You also unlock hundreds of |
| 0:18.4 | hours of original documentaries with a brand new release |
| 0:21.8 | every single week. Covering everything from the ancient world to World War II, just visit |
| 0:28.1 | historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. |
| 0:34.9 | Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and welcome welcome to Not Just the Tudors from History Hit, |
| 0:40.7 | the podcasts in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs, |
| 0:45.2 | from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to Samarise, |
| 0:49.8 | relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft. |
| 0:54.0 | Not in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors. |
| 1:14.6 | I want you to imagine a 16-year-old girl. |
| 1:16.6 | She loves books. |
| 1:20.1 | She loves Greek philosophy and Latin poetry. |
| 1:25.5 | She has spent her short life trying to please her parents who seem impossible to satisfy, |
| 1:29.2 | finding her only comfort in scholarship and prayer. |
| 1:36.0 | And then one summer afternoon, the most powerful men in the land are kneeling before her, |
| 1:38.9 | telling her that she is their queen. |
| 1:41.6 | She didn't ask for it. |
| 1:42.8 | She didn't want it. |
| 1:46.8 | She protested, and she wept, but they insisted. |
| 1:53.4 | And so she accepted the throne of England, a throne in which she would sit for less than a fortnight and that would cost her her life before her 17th birthday. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.