in turn held Sudeley until 1553, when he was also accused of treason, and Sudeley was seized by the crown. Late 16th century On 8 April 1554, John Brydges was elevated to Baron Chandos of Sudeley by Queen Mary. He had previously been Lieutenant of the Tower of London, befriending Lady Jane Grey. He was the one who led Jane to her execution while she was in his care. His elevation almost certainly came from his assistance in the suppression of the Wyatt rebellion. His son Edmund Brydges heavily remodelled the castle in the 1560s and 1570s, almost completely rebuilding the outer courtyard, the part of the castle that the current family occupy, into what we see now. Queen Elizabeth I stayed at Sudeley on three occasions during her reign, first visiting her old friend, the recently widowed Dorothy Bray, Baroness Chandos at Sudeley in 1574. Staying again during the Royal Progress of 1575, that saw Robert Dudley throw a lavish party at Kenilworth Castle in a final attempt to convince her to marry him. Elizabeth's most famous stay at Sudeley was in 1592, when Giles Brydges, 3rd Baron Chandos threw a three-day party for her. Giles extensively landscaped the grounds surrounding the castle in preparation for the visit, and held banquettes, plays, dances and gave extravagant gifts during her stay, even presenting his daughter, Elizabeth Brydges to the queen in the guise of Daphne. The visit reputedly almost bankrupting the Brydges family. The yearly excavations by archaeologists DigVentures since 2018 have been set on discovering more about this party, uncovering extensive Elizabethan Gardens and a possible banqueting house. English Civil War Under the Chandos family, Sudeley continued to prosper and thrive, with Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos gaining the title "King of the Cotswolds" for his magnificent style of living and his generosity. Records show that he had been buying in expensive tapestries from abroad through William Trumbull, envoy to the Archdukes of Austria, to decorate Sudeley. Grey was an influential courtier and an avid traveller, extensively travelling Europe and taking part in the War of the Jülich Succession. He married Lady Ann Stanley, descendant of King Henry VIII's younger sister Princess Mary Tudor, and possible heir to the throne of England. He died in 1621. Sudeley's final royal occupant was to be King Charles I during the English Civil War, a war that was fought between the king