The English soldier and statesman John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland (ca. 1502-1553), was the virtual ruler of England from 1549 to 1553. He was executed when his attempt to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne failed.

John Dudley's father, Edmund Dudley, was one of the principal financial administrators serving Henry VII. He was executed in 1510, soon after the accession of Henry VIII, as a scapegoat to clear the royal family of responsibility for its unpopular exactions.

Young John was placed under the guardianship of Edward Guildford, a minor courtier, whose daughter he later married and through whom he gained a place at Henry VIII's court. In 1523 he was knighted while serving in the army at Calais. When Guildford died in 1534, Dudley and his wife obtained most of his lands, perhaps through the influence of Thomas Cromwell. It was probably also Cromwell who had Dudley appointed master of the horse...