Frances was born in 1517 to Princess Mary, Henry VIII's youngest sister and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. In 1516 Frances married Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset at the Church of St. Saviour in Southwark (now Southwark Cathedral.) Much has been written about Frances' harsh treatment of Jane and her sisters, however, it is also clear that Frances had very high aspirations for her family. During her husband and daughter's imprisonment Frances as a groom in the Suffolk household. On 9 March, two weeks after her husband's execution, Frances married Adrian Stokes. It is likely that she was pregnant
at the time as the next November she gave birth to a daughter who died shortly afterwards. Frances stayed on good terms with Mary I and was oftened welcomed at Court, occasionally taking precedence over the Princess Elizabeth. After Elizabeth's accession, Frances' circumstances were considerably reduced as many Suffolk lands were confiscated. She lived with her second husband close to Bradgate at Beaumanor near Woodhouse. Frances died in 1559, stayed at Sheen, in the company of Adrian Stokes, a 21 year old employed five years after Jane, aged 43 years. Elizabeth I gave her a state funeral and a tomb was erected in St. Edmund's chapel in Westminster Abbey, where Frances lays buried today.