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Hi rusty
Mary surely had a greater claim, as daughter of the previous King. Lady Jane Grey's advantage was that she was Protestant.
I saw a programme about the 9 days a few weeks ago. To start with, Grey was in a powerful position, but it was astonishing how rapidly Mary got a "snowball rolling downhill" of support.

Hello, Chris,
I think they said Mary was illegitimate, but I don't know if that was true, or not, or if it would prevent her becoming Queen, or not.
Edward VI proclaimed Jane to be his successor, on his deathbed.
The historian had his written will to show us (there were many things scored out and changed in it, though!).
And was the "proclamation" the correct way to decide the next monarch, anyway?
I think Lady Jane was used, and it was tragic what happened to a sixteen year old girl.

Hi, Rusty!
I think the issue was a religious one....it was feared that Mary would turn the country back to Roman Catholicism, whereas Jane Grey was a Protestant.
And then later, after Mary's death, Elizabeth I did revert back to Protestantism.
I wish that I could watch the programme about the Tower of London.
It is my favourite "tourist attraction"!
Good news!
The dog has just eaten some of her food!
She must be feeing a tad better!

Hi Rusty
It was all very complicated. Mary was born in wedlock to Catherine of Aragon, but Henry later divorced her (and thereby triggered the Protestant revolution in Britain).
The legitimacy question was always about Elizabeth. Mary never accepted her as her sister, maintaining that Anne Boleyn had become pregnant from an affair with a court jester (as I remember) called "Smeaton"???

...though one of the reasons that Henry gave for the incorrectness of his marriage to Catherine was that she had previously been engaged to his elder brother (deceased); from his point of view (questionable) Mary might have been illegitimate.
Edward VI, a devout Protestant, is hardly an impartial source.
I agree that Jane Grey was very badly exploited, though.

Hello, Elle!
Ah! Doggie must be recovering!
Good news!
I know little about the Tudors, as you will have gathered.
We did not get much of English history at school.
I read that Jane was very intelligent, studying Greek etc.
But the political intrigues of those times are fascinating, and scary.
It was an interesting programme.
Suzannah Lipscomb is the historian and I can't remember her co-presenter's name. Joe ? perhaps.
Is it not on your Freeview?
That's why I mentioned it in my first post about it as I remembered you saying how much the Tower of London appealed to you.

Hello, Chris,
A very tangled web indeed!
Edward was dying, yet he apparently wrote out his will naming Jane as the next monarch.
The will is covered in scored out words and phrases.
Could this have happened after he was dead?
Looks a bit suspicious to me!

Hello Elle, Rusty and Chris,

Thanks for your kind words - Yes, I am pleased not to have to face
yet another operation!

Elle, no fear about me over doing things, my back still does not
allow me too much effort - and I feel quite tired anyway; so rest
for a while is definitely on the cards (though I am somewhat annoyed
at doing so little!)

You are all talking about a subject that interests me and one of the
DVDs I intend to view for the second time is called "The Tudors".
I believe it was a British TV series, shown on BBC 2 I think.
Not sure how reliable it is from history point of view, but I greatly
enjoyed it on first viewing.

Update, Elle!
I like this.
George W Bush giving Michelle Obama a sweetie!

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/05/politics/george-w-bush-michelle-obama-pass/index.html

Elle, you might like this.
About the making of the series I saw part of.

http://suzannahlipscomb.com/2012/01/bloody-tales-of-the-tower-of-london/