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Edward had often drafted political documents as exercises; in his last year, he increasingly applied this practice to the real business of government. One such document was the first draft of his "devise for the succession". Edward provided, in case of "lack of issue of my body", for the crown to descend through the male heirs of Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, the daughter of Henry VIII's younger sister Mary. The line of succession was to continue through the male heirs of the duchess's daughters, Jane, Catherine, and Mary Grey. Edward excluded his sisters altogether. As his death approached and possibly persuaded by Northumberland, he altered the wording so that Jane and her sisters themselves should be able to succeed. Yet Edward conceded Jane's right only as an exception to male rule, demanded by reality, an example not to be followed if Jane or her sisters had only daughters. By the logic of the device, Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, Jane's mother and Henry VIII's niece, should have been named as Edward's heir, but she, who had already been passed over in favour of her children in Henry's will, seems to have waived her claim after a visit to Edward on 14 June. The letters patent of 21 June excluded the princesses Mary and Elizabeth because of bastardy. If Mary was to be excluded on grounds of bastardy, Elizabeth, having also once been bastardised under Henry VIII, may have been barred for the same reason. The provisions to alter the succession were in direct violation of Henry VIII's Third Succession Act of 1543 and the product of hurried and illogical thinking.