Jane's Mother's Claim as Queen??

A child is allegedly easier to control than a grownup. Janes mother could have everything, through her daughter and none of the responsibility. Look how she scurried to Queen Mary as her husband and daughter were executed.

Frances Grey's claim to the throne was indeed superior to that of any of her daughters. Moreover, she had a noble husband of proven military prowess to fight for her claim.

BUT: Their Graces the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk HAD NO SONS. All their offspring were female -- the Ladies Jane, Katherine and Mary Grey. And we have ot assume that Frances was regarded as too old to have more children by the time of the events of this film (she was born in 1517 which would make her 36-37ish).

The primary function of a female sovereign was presumably to give birth to a son who could take over from her at maturity (and to be married to a suitable husband who could rule in her stead beforehand). Mind you, up to this point England had never had a female sovereign, other than the diastrous rule of Queen Maude in the twelfth century -- which led to a bloody twenty-year civil war with her cousin Stephen.

Conclusion: Jane was seen as the preferred candidate not only because she could be controlled (by her father, her father-in-law and her husband) but also because she was a healthy sixteen-year-old female likely to bear a son to succeed her.

My understanding was that Jane's parents attempted every manipulation to match Jane with Edward as his bride (almost from her birth) but when it was determined that Edward too frail/ill and would die, the plot shifted to maneuver her into a position to take over the throne to preserve the Protestant faith.

Although the Third Act of Succession restored Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession, the law still viewed them as illegitimate. There was very real concern that if Mary ascended to the throne, she would return the country to the Catholic faith and if they skipped over Mary (for reasons that she had been deemed a bastard), they would have to skip over Elizabeth too (based upon her mother's unpardonable acts of treason). Frances was next in line after Elizabeth but would be too old to bear another child and she herself had no ambition to reign as Queen. But her eldest daughter Jane, Edward's cousin, was of marriageable age, of Tudor lineage and would be the preferable candidate to reign as Queen (and produce the next heir to the throne) rather than risk Mary taking up the crown and then once in power, persecuting the Protestants and returning the country to the Catholic faith as she was fanatically devout.

As with most of the nobles of the age, they all jockeyed for position and power that came with being in favor with the whomever was on the throne....The Duke of Northumberland was no different, especially when you consider his power as a de facto ruler due to Edward's young age as he quite relied on the Duke when it came to major political issues. As he couldn't ascend to the throne himself and would likely be tossed out on his ear if Mary came to power, by marrying his son to Jane, he was securing his own position as one of the most powerful men of the age as he would be guaranteed to retain his position as a chief advisor and the marriage would ensure that his family line/status was elevated another notch because his son would become King Consort and rule with Jane once they became of an age old enough to reign on their own.

Jane knew that after Edward, Mary was to be the rightful heir to the throne and was not comfortable with the idea of usurping her position but this is also an age where women had no power to control their lives, royalty or not, and were subjected to the orders and whims of their parents, most especially their fathers and male relatives. Despite her protestations against being named Queen, she had no choice but to bend her will to the wishes of her family and the Duke of Northumberland and in the end, paid the ultimate price for the matter.

All the answers are partially correct, but in truth the answer is more simple than that.

King Henry VIII in his Third Succession Act of 1544, specified that his own children and the children of his younger sister, Frances, were in line of succession. His will SPECIFICALLY omitted his younger sister Frances herself. No one at the time was sure why and Frances never disputed King Henry's omission.

If one then rejected King Henry's own children for whatever reason, this left Jane Grey. She was primarily chosen by Edward because of her religious fervor. Edward was correct in his assessment that she would never cave in to "the papists", and indeed she did not. The movie implies perhaps too strongly that the young King was cajoled into making Lady Jane next in line. The truth is that he was very determined to complete what his father started, and Lady Jane was the perfect choice. Indeed, when Bloody Mary finally did ascend the throne, and offered Lady Jane her life and that of Guilford Dudley in exchange for renunciation of her anti-papist dogma, she refused again and again and did in fact willingly die for her beliefs. Her piety was movingly reported by John Feckenham, who reluctantly had been sent by Mary to convert her to Catholicism. They became fast friends.

IMHO, she was hedging her bets. If she'd set herself up as queen and failed, HER head would be on the chopping block. This was one cold woman.