Anne Neville, Queen of England

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Anne Neville, Queen of England; Credit – Wikipedia

The wife of Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales (son of King Henry VI) and the wife of King Richard III, Lady Anne Neville was born on June 11, 1456, at Warwick Castle in Warwickshire, England. She was the younger of the two daughters of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and Lady Anne Beauchamp.  Anne’s father, known as “the Kingmaker,” was one of the major players in the Wars of the Roses, originally on the Yorkist side but later switching to the Lancastrian side.  Both Anne’s parents were descendants of King Edward III of England.

Anne had one elder sister:

Following the death of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, at the Battle of Wakefield in December 1460, his younger sons, George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, came into the care of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and they both lived at Middleham Castle with Warwick’s family. The two sisters became acquainted with the two brothers, who were their first cousins, and who would become their husbands. After the Duke of York’s death, with Warwick’s help, his eldest son became King Edward IV in March 1461. Edward IV initially ruled with Warwick’s support, but the two later had a falling-out over foreign policy and Edward’s choice of Elizabeth Woodville as his wife. After a failed plot to crown Edward’s brother, George, Duke of Clarence, Warwick instead restored the Lancastrian Henry VI to the throne. To cement his alliance with the Lancastrians, Warwick betrothed his daughter Anne to Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, who was King Henry VI’s heir. The couple married in Angers Cathedral in France on December 13, 1470, and Anne became the Princess of Wales.

Henry VI’s return to power was short-lived. On April 14, 1471, the Lancastrians were defeated at the Battle of Barnet and the Earl of Warwick, Anne’s father, was killed in battle. Edward IV was once again king. On May 4, 1471, the forces loyal to the House of Lancaster were completely defeated by the rival House of York under King Edward IV in the Battle of Tewkesbury.  Among the Lancastrians killed in the battle was Anne’s husband, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales. Henry VI, who had been imprisoned in the Tower of London, died on May 21, 1471, probably from murder.

The widowed Anne became the focus of a struggle between the brothers George, Duke of Clarence and Richard, Duke of Gloucester. With Warwick dead, his two daughters now stood to share his estate. George, already married to Anne’s elder sister, wanted to secure the entire estate and so he treated Anne as his ward and opposed her getting married because  it would strengthen her position to claim a share. Richard who had wanted to marry Anne before her first marriage still wanted to marry her. There is a story that George hid Anne from Richard in a London cook shop and that Richard eventually tracked Anne down. To marry Anne, Richard had to agree to renounce most of the property Anne would have received after her father’s death. Anne and Richard were married on July 12, 1472, at the Chapel of St. Stephen in the Palace of Westminster. They lived in the familiar Middleham Castle in Yorkshire, England where they had both grown up.

Anne and Richard had one child:

Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 9, 1483, King Edward IV died, several weeks before his 41st birthday, and his eldest son Edward became king with his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester as his Lord Protector. Richard feared that the Woodvilles would attempt to take control of the young king. Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, the young king’s maternal uncle, and Sir Richard Grey, the young king’s half-brother, were arrested and executed. The Duke of Gloucester had his nephew brought to the Tower of London on May 19, 1483, to await his coronation, which never happened. The widowed Elizabeth Woodville and her children once again sought sanctuary at Westminster Abbey, fearing the Duke of Gloucester’s further actions. Cardinal Thomas Bouchier, Archbishop of Canterbury persuaded Elizabeth to let her second son, Richard, Duke of York, leave sanctuary and join his lonely brother at the Tower of London. Richard joined his brother on June 16, 1483. The two boys were seen less and less until the end of the summer of 1483 when they disappeared from public view altogether. Their fate is unknown.

Richard, Duke of Gloucester was informed by an unknown clergyman, probably Robert Stillington, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, that Edward IV’s marriage was invalid because he had previously contracted to marry Lady Eleanor Butler, who was living when the marriage to Elizabeth took place. This made Edward IV and Elizabeth’s children illegitimate and upheld Richard’s claim to the throne. The citizens of London drew up a petition asking Richard to assume the throne, which he agreed to on June 26, 1483. On July 6, 1483, Richard and his wife Anne Neville were crowned in Westminster Abbey. The Titulus Regius, enacted by Parliament in 1484, officially declared Edward IV’s children illegitimate.

King Richard III and Queen Anne; Credit – Wikipedia

Anne and Richard’s son Edward of Middleham, now Prince of Wales, died on April 9, 1484, at the age of ten at his birthplace, Middleham Castle. Anne survived her son by less than a year, probably dying of tuberculosis, on March 16, 1485, at the Palace of Westminster. She was buried in Westminster Abbey in an unmarked grave to the right of the High Altar, next to the door to Edward the Confessor’s Chapel. Her husband Richard survived her by only five months, losing his crown and his life on August 22, 1485, in the Battle of Bosworth Field.

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