Jane Dudley served as a lady @-@ in @-@ waiting to Anne Boleyn , and later to Anne of Cleves . She was interested in the Reformed religion and , with her husband , moved in evangelical circles from the mid @-@ 1530s . In 1542 John Dudley was created Viscount Lisle . He was on friendly terms with William Parr , whose sister Catherine became Henry VIII 's last queen in July 1543 . As one of her closest friends , the Viscountess Lisle was among the four ladies leading her to the altar on the marriage day . Jane Dudley belonged also to the courtly sympathizers of Anne Askew , whom she contacted during her imprisonment in 1545 – 1546 . The forthright Protestant was burnt at the stake as a heretic in July 1546 on the contrivance of the religiously conservative court party around Bishop Stephen Gardiner .