Northumberland, John Dudley, Duke of (c. 1502-1553)

English politician. He was chief minister from 1551 until Edward VI's death in 1553. He tried to place his daughter-in-law Lady Jane Grey on the throne, and was executed on Mary I's accession.

Son of the privy councillor Edmund Dudley (beheaded 1510), he overthrew Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, as protector to the young Edward VI and, having married one of his sons to Lady Jane Grey (fifth in line to the throne), persuaded the king to sign a document excluding his half-sisters from the succession, thereby hoping to retain his authority after Edward's death. Knighted in 1523, made Earl in 1547.

Another of his sons, Robert, Earl of Leicester, became one of Elizabeth I's favourites.