Elizabeth of York

Elizabeth was born on 11 February 1466, at the Palace of Westminster, as the eldest child of King Edward IV of England and his wife, Elizabeth Woodville.

At the age of 3, Elizabeth was briefly betrothed to George Neville (1st Duke of Bedford) in 1469. However, his father, John, supported the Earl of Warwick in rebellion against Edward IV and the engagement was called off. In 1475, Louis XI of France agreed to the marriage of Elizabeth (then aged 9) and his son, the future Charles VIII of France.
At the age of 11, Elizabeth was named a Lady of the Garter.

On 9 April 1483, Edward IV died unexpectedly and his son, Edward V, ascended to the throne. Her uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was appointed Regent and Protector of his nephews. Elizabeth Woodville, unhappy about this, tried to deny Richard's right to be Lord Protector and keep power within her own family. Richard opted to isolate his nephews from the Woodvilles: he intercepted Edward V while he was travelling from Ludlow to London to be crowned King and placed him in the royal residence of the Tower of London, ostensibly for his protection. Elizabeth Woodville fled with her younger son, Richard, and her daughters into sanctuary in Westminster Abbey. Richard asked to take the young prince with him, so that the boy could reside in the Tower and keep his brother company. Elizabeth Woodville agreed.

On 22 June 1483, Edward IV's marriage was declared invalid. It was claimed that Edward had, at the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, already been betrothed to Lady Eleanor Butler. This measure legally bastardised the children of Edward IV, made them ineligible for the succession, and declared Richard the rightful King. He ascended the throne as King Richard III on 6 July 1483, and Edward V and his brother are believed to have disappeared in the Tower shortly afterwards.

At this point, Elizabeth Woodville made an alliance with Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor (the future Henry VII), who had the closest claim to the throne of those in the Lancastrian party. Margaret Beaufort and Elizabeth Woodville agreed Henry should move to claim the throne and, once he had succeeded, marry Elizabeth of York to unite the two rival houses. In December 1483, Henry Tudor swore an oath promising to marry Elizabeth and began planning an invasion.

In 1484, Elizabeth and her sisters left Westminster Abbey and returned to court. Their mother had reconciled with Richard III, which may suggest that she believed him innocent of any role in her sons' murder. Soon after his wife's (Anne Neville) death, Richard III opened negotiation with King João II of Portugal to marry his sister, Joanna, and to have Elizabeth marry their cousin, the future King Manuel I of Portugal.

On 7 August 1485, Henry Tudor and his army landed in Wales and began marching inland. On 22 August 1485, Henry and Richard III fought the Battle of Bosworth Field. Despite having the larger army, Richard III was betrayed by one of his most powerful retainers and ended up dying in battle. Henry Tudor took the crown by right of conquest as Henry VII.

As the eldest daughter of Edward IV with no surviving brothers, Elizabeth had a strong claim to the throne in her own right, but she didn't assume the throne as queen regnant. Though initially reluctant to keep the promise made in 1483, Henry VII acknowledged the necessity of marrying Elizabeth to ensure the stability of his rule and weaken any claims of other surviving members of the House of York. However, he had no intention of sharing power and wanted to make clear he was ruling by right of conquest and not by his marriage. So, he chose to be crowned on 30 October 1485, before his wedding.

Henry VII had Edward IV's children legitimised again and acknowledged Edward V as his predecessor. After procuring papal dispensation, Henry and Elizabeth married on 18 January 1486 in Westminster Abbey.

Their first son, Arthur, was born on 20 September 1486. Elizabeth was finally crowned Queen of England on 25 November 1487. Following her coronation, she gave birth to seven more children: Margaret, Henry, Elizabeth, Mary, Edward, Edmund and Katherine. Only Arthur, Margaret, Henry and Mary survived infancy.

Despite being a political arrangement at first, the marriage was successful and Henry and Elizabeth grew to love each other. While Queen, Elizabeth didn't exercise much political influence due to her strong-minded mother-in-law, but she was reported to be generous, kind and gentle to her relations, servants and benefactors. She was also a renowned beauty, having inherited her parents' fair hair and complexion. All other Tudor monarchs would inherit her reddish gold hair and the trait would become the dynasty's trademark. When not at official gatherings, Elizabeth lived a quiet life away from politics with three of her children. She enjoyed music and dancing, as well as dicing.

On 14 November 1501, Elizabeth's firstborn son Arthur married Catherine of Aragon, the youngest daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Unfortunately, Arthur died just five months later, in April 1502. The news of his death caused Henry VII to break down in grief, as much in fear for his dynasty as in mourning for his son.

In 1502, Elizabeth became pregnant once more and spent her confinement period in the Tower of London. On 2 February 1503, she gave birth to a girl, Katherine. However, Katherine died just a few days later. Succumbing to a post partum infection, Elizabeth of York, who had been the daughter, sister, niece and wife of Kings, died on 11 February 1503, the day of her 37th birthday. Her husband and her children mourned her death deeply.

Elizabeth of York

16th century copy of a 15th century portrait