The British Monarchy Miscellany
Page 14
• Her marriage was unhappy as Edward, who preferred his male favourites, often spurned her and marginalised her. She finally left Edward during a visit abroad to France, and after gathering support she came back to England to lead her husband’s deposition after he had become unpopular in the country.
• She had a love affair with the man who helped her depose Edward, Roger Mortimer, whom she allowed to
rule the country after Edward, died in place of her young son King Edward III.
• After Roger Mortimer was executed she repented her actions and was allowed to live to old age in peace.
Burial: Greyfriars Church, London, now destroyed. Her remains are lost.
232
Philippa of Hainault
(c.1311/15 – 15 Aug 1369)
Spouse: Edward III
Tenure as Queen / Marriage: 24 Jan 1328 – 15 Aug 1369
Parents: Count William I of Hainault and Joan of Valois
Notable Facts:
• One of the best-loved queens of medieval England, she became popular among the people for her charity and her intercessions on behalf of condemned men.
• Her marriage to Edward was a successful one, and she was responsible for creating harmony in their large, ambitious family.
• She often accompanied her husband on military
campaign during the Hundred Years War.
• She famously convinced Edward to spare the lives of the Burghers of Calais after the city was conquered in 1347.
Burial: Westminster Abbey, London.
233
Anne of Bohemia
(11 May 1366 – 7 Jun 1394)
Spouse: Richard II
Tenure as Queen / Marriage: 20 Jan 1382 – 7 Jun 1394
Parents: Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and Elizabeth of Pomerania
Notable Facts:
• Unpopular on her arrival to England, she eventually became well loved by the people because of her
kindness.
• Well educated, she spoke three languages and was a patron of learning and religious institutions.
• She was the first to introduce to England the custom of riding side saddle for ladies.
• A good influence of Richard, she tempered his worst character flaws. He was greatly traumatised by her early death from the plague.
Burial: Westminster Abbey, London.
234
Isabella of Valois
(9 Nov 1389 – 13 Sep 1409)
Spouse: Richard II
Tenure as Queen: c.1 Nov 1396 – 30 Sep 1399
Marriage: c.1 Nov 1396– c.14 Feb 1400
Parents: King Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria
Notable Facts:
• Only seven years old at her wedding, and 21 years younger than Richard, Isabella was the youngest Queen England has had since 1066.
• Her marriage was arranged as part of a diplomatic peace treaty with France during the Hundred Years War and was unpopular in the country.
• She and Richard developed a brother/sister relationship which was affectionate but chaste.
• After Richard’s deposition and death she went back to France where she re-married and died in childbirth at the age of 19.
Burial: Abbey of St Laumer, Blois, France, initially. Her remains were later transferred to the Church of the Celestines in Paris which was destroyed at the French Revolution. Her remains are now lost.
235
Joan of Navarre
(c.1368/70 – 10 Jun 1437)
Spouse: Henry IV
Tenure as Queen / Marriage: 7 Feb 1403 – 20 Mar 1413
Parents: King Charles II of Navarre and Joan of Valois
Notable Facts:
• Previously the widow of Duke John IV of Brittany, by whom she had seven children, she was proposed
marriage by Henry during both their widowhoods after they developed a genuine friendship.
• She had a good relationship with Henry’s children by his previous marriage, to Mary de Bohun, before he
became king.
• After Henry died however she was unjustly accused by her stepson Henry V of being a witch and placed under house arrests, though she was later cleared of all charges (see Henry V in Monarchs Fact Sheets).
• She lived out her final days quietly into the reign of Henry VI.
Burial: Canterbury Cathedral, Kent.
236
Catherine of Valois
(27 Oct 1401 – 3 Jan 1437)
Spouse: Henry V
Tenure as Queen / Marriage: 2 Jun 1420 – 31 Aug 1422
Parents: King Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria
Notable Facts:
• Younger sister of Isabella of Valois who was Queen of Richard II (see above).
• Her marriage to Henry was arranged as part of
victorious English negotiations during the Hundred Years War.
• Widowed at the age of 20 after only 2 years of
marriage, she decided to stay in England.
• She later re-married secretly to a squire in her
household, Owen Tudor, and had at least 4 children with him. Through one of them she became grandmother to
King Henry VII.
• She is said to have transmitted a form of madness to her son Henry VI from her father, Charles VI of France, who had also become mad.
Burial: Westminster Abbey, London.
237
Margaret of Anjou
(23 Mar 1430 – 25 Aug 1482)
Spouse: Henry VI
Tenure as Queen: 23 Apr 1445 – 4 March 1461; 3
October 1470 – 11 April 1471
Marriage: 23 Apr 1445 – 21 May 1471
Parents: Duke Rene’ of Anjou and Isabella of Lorraine
Notable Facts:
• A niece of French king Charles VII, her diplomatic marriage to Henry VI was unpopular in England.
• Passionate and strong-willed, she was virtual ruler of England after her husband lost his sanity in the 1450s.
• She became the leader of the Lancastrian faction during the Wars of the Roses and was present at two major
battles.
• She was deposed as Queen together with her husband in 1461, but was briefly reinstated in 1470 after her husband was made king again, following negotiations she herself had led with Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. (see Henry VI in Monarchs Fact Sheets)
• After the Lancastrians’ final defeat in 1471 she was sent back to France to live quietly until her death.
Burial: Angers Cathedral, Anjou, France. Her remains are now lost.
238
Elizabeth Woodville
(c.1437 – 8 Jun 1492)
Spouse: Edward IV
Tenure as Queen: 1 May 1464 – 3 October 1470; 11 April 1471 – 9 April 1483
Marriage: 1 May 1464 – 9 April 1483
Parents: Richard Woodville, Earl Rivers, and Jacquetta of Luxembourg
Notable Facts:
• Previous to her marriage Elizabeth had been the widow of a Lancastrian knight by whom she had had two
children.
• Edward became struck with her and determined to
marry her despite her low rank. They were married in secret 6 months before the marriage was made public.
• Their union caused resentment at court for political reasons and because of the many favours Edward
bestowed to her relatives.
• The controversial marriage eventually caused a
rebellion among Edward’s allies which led to his
temporary deposition from the throne. They were both restored to their thrones in 1471. (see Edward IV in Monarchs Fact Sheets)
• Her marriage was later declared invalid under Richard III, but was recognised again by Henry VII.
239
• An enigmatic personality, she retired to a nunnery in the last years of her life.
Burial: St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, Berkshire.
240
Anne Neville
(11 Jun 1456 – 16 Mar 1485)
Spouse: Richard III
Tenure as Queen: 26 Jun 1483 – 16 Mar 1485
Marriage: 12 Jul 1472 – 16 Mar 1485
Parents: Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, and Anne Beauchamp
Notable Facts:
• A daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the most powerful noble during the Wars of the Roses, Anne was used as a pawn in dynastic politics and alliances from an early age.
• Her first marriage in 1470 was to Edward Prince of Wales, son of the Lancastrian King Henry VI, which made her briefly Princess of Wales before he was killed in 1471.
• Her second marriage to the Yorkist Richard, when he was Duke of Gloucester, was also arranged as part of a dynastic alliance, however they seemed to have
developed a loving relationship.
• A timid and unhealthy woman, she was heartbroken at the death of her only son in 1484. She died a year later after one of the briefest tenures as Queen in English history.
Burial: Westminster Abbey, London.
241
Elizabeth of York
(11 Feb 1466 – 11 Feb 1503)
Spouse: Henry VII
Tenure as Queen / Marriage: 18 Jan 1486 – 11 Feb 1503
Parents: King Edward IV and Queen Elizabeth Woodville
Notable Facts:
• Elizabeth was the only woman to have been daughter, sister, niece, wife, and mother to five different English kings (respectively Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III, Henry VII and Henry VIII).
• A Yorkist claimant to the throne herself, her marriage to Henry was meant to unite the houses of Lancaster and York. Despite its political beginnings however the
marriage grew into a true loving relationship.
• She chose not to be involved in politics and dedicated herself instead to charity and family life, including the education of her children.
• Her death in childbirth left Henry and her children in deep grief.
Burial: Westminster Abbey, London.
242
Catherine of Aragon
(16 Dec 1485 – 07 Jan 1536)
Spouse: Henry VIII
Tenure as Queen / Marriage: 11 Jun 1509 – 23 May 1533
Parents: King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile
Notable Facts:
• First married to Henry’s brother, Prince Arthur, who died shortly after their wedding, Catherine was then married to Henry. She was the longest-married of his wives at over 23 years of marriage.
• Despite several pregnancies and one daughter she
failed to produce male sons which led Henry to want to divorce her. He used as a pretext the biblical injunction against marrying a brother’s wife.
• Catherine refused to agree to a divorce, forcing Henry to appeal to the pope in Rome. When the pope refused to grant a divorce, Henry broke the English church away from Rome and divorced Catherine on his own terms.
• She ended her divorced years in poverty, under house arrest, still claiming to be married to Henry.
Burial: Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.
243
Anne Boleyn
(c.1500/1501 – 19 May 1536)
Spouse: Henry VIII
Tenure as Queen / Marriage: 28 May 1533 – 17 May 1536
Parents: Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire and Elizabeth Howard
Notable Facts:
• A maid of honour to Catherine of Aragon, she was
pursued by Henry as a mistress but she refused to submit to him unless he married her.
• Henry sought to divorce Catherine of Aragon but when the pope refused to comply he separated the English Church from Rome to divorce Catherine and marry Anne.
• A patron of Protestant reformers, she provided the very impetus for the break from Rome, and for religious
reform in England.
• She had a stormy, intense relationship with Henry that broke down after a few years. She also failed produce a son, giving birth to only one daughter instead.
• Finally spurned by Henry, she was tried on trumped charges of adultery and treason, and executed by
beheading.
Burial: Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London.
244
Jane Seymour
(c.1507/1509 – 24 Oct 1537)
Spouse: Henry VIII
Tenure as Queen / Marriage: 30 May 1536 – 24 Oct 1537
Parents: Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth
Notable Facts:
• Maid of honour to both Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, Jane was pursued by Henry during the last
months of his previous marriage and was married to him 11 days after Anne Boleyn’s execution.
• A kind and compassionate woman, she reconciled
Henry with his estranged daughter by Catherine of
Aragon, Princess Mary.
• She gave Henry his much longed-for son, Edward, but she died of childbirth complications shortly afterwards.
• Said to be Henry’s favourite wife, at his death he chose to be buried by her side.
Burial: St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, Berkshire.
245
Anne of Cleves
(22 Sep 1515– 16 Jul 1557)
Spouse: Henry VIII
Tenure as Queen / Marriage: 6 Jan – 9 Jul 1540
Parents: Duke John III of Cleves and Maria of Julich-Berg
Notable Facts:
• Anne’s marriage to Henry was arranged for diplomatic reasons by Henry’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell.
Henry is said to have been very unhappy with her looks as they did not match portraits he had seen of her.
• The shortest reigning English consort since the Norman Conquest, Henry divorced her after only six months
based on his inability to consummate the marriage.
• After the divorce, she was allowed to stay in England honourably in wealth and status as the ‘King’s Sister’.
• She was the last of Henry’s wives to die, during Mary I’s reign.
Burial: Westminster Abbey, London.
246
Catherine Howard
(c.1522/25 – 13 Feb 1542)
Spouse: Henry VIII
Tenure as Queen / Marriage: 28 Jul 1540 – 23 Nov 1541
Parents: Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper
Notable Facts:
• A first cousin of Anne Boleyn and maid of honour to Anne of Cleves, Catherine was at least 30 years younger than Henry, and may have been as young as 15 when she married him.
• Henry became infatuated with her during his previous marriage and married her only three weeks after
divorcing Anne of Cleves. The marriage was encouraged by her powerful family, the Howards, for political
reasons.
• She had however dangerously concealed a previous
sexual relation, and had a reckless affair with one of Henry’s courtiers during her marriage, bringing about her own downfall.
• Accused of adultery and treason, she was tried and executed by beheading, dying as the shortest-lived
English queen since 1066.
Burial: Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London.
247
Catherine Parr
(c.1512 – 5 Sep 1548)
Spouse: Henry VIII
Tenure as Queen / Marriage: 12 Jul 1543 – 28 Jan 1547
Parents: Sir Thomas Parr and Maud Green
Notable Facts:
• Before marrying Henry she had been twice married and twice widowed, but with no children.
• Her marriage to Henry was motivated by his need for companionship, but she became a very capable queen.
• She convinced Henry to bring all three of his children from his previous marriages at court and acted as a loving mother to them.
• She served as Regent of the kingdom whilst Henry was away
fighting in France, issuing royal proclamations and organising provisions for Henry’s troops abroad.
• A committed protestant, she was the first Queen to publish a book in England—a religious treatise—but she caused some tension in her marriage because of her
religious views.
• After Henry died she re-married a fourth time to
Thomas Seymour, a brother of Jane Seymour, and died in childbirth shortly afterwards during her first pregnancy.
Burial: Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.
248
Philip of Spain
(21 May 1527 – 13 Sep 1598)
Spouse: Mary I
Tenure as Consort / Marriage: 25 Jul 1554 – 17 Nov 1558
Parents: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, and Isabella of Portugal
Notable Facts:
• Philip was a first cousin once removed of Mary and the son of the most powerful man in Europe at the time.
• The first male royal consort in English history, he was created King Consort without real political power, setting the precedent for all future male consorts of Queens Regnant.