by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Wedding of the future King George IV and Caroline of Brunswick; Credit – Wikipedia

• Unofficial Royalty: House of Hanover Index

Because the House of Stuart was unable to provide a Protestant heir to the British throne, Parliament passed the Act of Settlement 1701 which secured the Protestant succession to the throne after the deaths of King William III and his successor Queen Anne. The senior Protestant descendant was Sophia, Electress of Hanover. Born Sophia of the Palatine, she was the youngest daughter of Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James I of England, and Friedrich V, Elector of the Palatine of the Rhine. The Act of Settlement put Sophia of Hanover and her Protestant heirs in the line of succession after Queen Anne. Electress Sophia of Hanover, the heir to the throne according to the Act of Settlement, died on June 8, 1714, just six weeks before the death of Queen Anne, and so Sophia’s son became King George I and started the Hanover dynasty.

During the 187-year reign of the House of Hanover (which includes Queen Victoria but she will be covered in a separate article), weddings were still a private affair and a few of them were held at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace in London, England. There were several dynastic marriages but most of the spouses, including all the spouses of the Hanoverian monarchs, came from the kingdoms, grand duchies, duchies, and principalities of Germany. Two royal wives were divorced and shut away. Parliament passed the Royal Marriages Act 1772 at the request of King George III who was less than happy with the spouses of his two surviving brothers. By 1817, twelve of the fifteen children of King George III who survived to adulthood either failed to have children or failed to get married resulting in a succession crisis. The one child who both married and had a child had one of the worst ever royal marriages.

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Anne, Princess Royal, Princess of Orange

Anne, Princess Royal and Willem IV, Prince of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia

The first two British monarchs from the House of Hanover were both married in Germany before King George I became King of Great Britain in 1714. The first Hanoverian marriage in Great Britain was that of Anne, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of King George II. In fact, it was the first royal wedding in Great Britain in fifty years, since Queen Anne’s wedding in 1683. A proposed marriage with King Louis XV of France fell through because the French insisted that Anne convert to Roman Catholicism and Anne’s family refused. Bored with life at her father’s court, Anne did not want to be a spinster and was anxious to marry. However, Anne had been disfigured by smallpox and was not considered attractive. Among the few Protestant possibilities, was Willem IV, Prince of Orange. Willem had a spinal deformity, which affected his appearance but Anne was so anxious to marry that said she would marry him even “if he were a baboon.” Anne and Willem were betrothed in 1733.

Willem IV, Prince of Orange arrived in London in November 1733, anxious to marry Anne. However, he became ill and developed pneumonia. For days, his survival was in question. After Willem recovered, he went off to Bath where the waters of the ancient Roman bath aided in his complete recovery. On March 25, 1734, Anne and Willem were married at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace in London, England. After a honeymoon at the Dutch House at Kew, the newlyweds stayed in London for a short period before returning to the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, Anne and Willem took up residence at the Stadhouderlijk Hof in Leeuwarden, the provincial capital and seat of the States of Friesland (now in the Netherlands). After enduring two miscarriages and two stillbirths, Anne and Willem had three children, but only two survived to adulthood. Through their son Willem V, Prince of Orange, they are ancestors of the Dutch Royal Family.

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Chapel Royal at St. James’ Palace

Embed from Getty Images 

Located in St. James’ Palace, a Tudor palace in London next to Clarence House and nearby Buckingham Palace, the Chapel Royal was built around 1540 and has had alterations over the years. Although St. James’ Palace is no longer used as one of the monarch’s residences, it is used for offices and receptions, and several minor members of the British Royal Family have apartments there.

The Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace was the venue for several Hanover weddings. It was also the venue for the weddings of Queen Victoria and her grandson King George V. It is still used by the British Royal Family for events to the present day. The children of Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, Lord Frederick and Lady Gabriella Windsor, were christened in the Chapel Royal as was The Queen’s granddaughter Princess Beatrice of York. In 1997, the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales rested in the Chapel Royal before her funeral. Her grandsons Prince George of Cambridge and Prince Louis of Cambridge were christened there. In March 2018, Meghan Markle, the future wife of Prince Harry of Wales, was baptized and confirmed into the Church of England at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace.

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Dynastic Marriages with Denmark

Louisa of Great Britain and Frederik V, King of Denmark; Credit – Wikipedia

The House of Hanover made two dynastic weddings with Denmark. The first occurred in 1743 when 19-year-old Princess Louisa, daughter of King George II, married Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Norway, the son and heir of King Christian VI of Denmark and Norway. A proxy ceremony was held on November 10, 1743 in Hanover with the bride’s brother, Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, standing in for the groom. Louisa then traveled to Altona, Holstein where she met her groom. Frederik and Louisa traveled together to Copenhagen, where they officially entered the capital and had a second wedding ceremony.

King Christian VI hoped that this marriage would cause the British government to support his or his son’s claim to the Swedish throne. Furthermore, the Danish government hoped (incorrectly) that marriage would put a damper on Crown Prince Frederik’s affairs and drunkenness. The couple got along reasonably well and although Frederik continued his affairs, Louisa pretended not to notice them. The couple had five children including the future King Christian VII of Denmark. Three years after the marriage, Louisa’s husband succeeded his father as King Frederik V. Sadly, five years later, while pregnant with her sixth child, 27-year-old Queen Louisa died after undergoing painful surgery for a strangulated umbilical hernia.

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Caroline Matilda of Wales, Queen of Denmark – A Queen Imprisoned

Caroline Matilda of Wales, Queen of Denmark by Jens Juel, 1769; Credit – Wikipedia

The second wedding with Denmark was that of Princess Caroline Matilda of Wales, the youngest sibling of King George III. Frederick, Prince of Wales, the father of Caroline Matilda, died four months before her birth. It is also the first of the two Hanoverian weddings that ended in imprisonment for the wives.

In 1766, Caroline Matilda’s 17-year-old first cousin succeeded to the Danish throne as King Christian VII after the early death of his father. King Christian VII was the son of Caroline Matilda’s aunt Louisa (above). Since there was a connection between the British and Danish royal families and both families were Protestant, it was natural that a British bride should be sought for Christian. Even before the death of King Frederik V, negotiations for such a marriage were started. The preferred choice for a bride was initially Caroline Matilda’s sister Princess Louisa, but when the Danish representative in London heard of her ill health, Caroline Matilda became the prospective bride. The betrothal was announced on January 10, 1765.

King Christian VII of Denmark by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1768; Credit – Wikipedia

On October 1, 1766, a proxy marriage was held at St. James’s Palace in London, with Caroline Matilda’s brother King George III standing in for King Christian VII. Fifteen-year-old Caroline Matilda soon left England for Denmark with a large contingent of attendants and servants. When she crossed the Danish border, Danish envoys sent her English attendants and servants back and replaced them with Danish ones. Caroline Matilda arrived in Copenhagen on November 8, 1766, and married Christian in person later that day in the Christiansborg Palace Chapel but it was not a happy marriage.

A copperplate engraving depicting the first dance of King Christian VII and Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark at their wedding at Christiansborg Palace; Credit – Wikipedia

Caroline Matilda soon discovered that her husband was mentally ill. Christian VII was personable and intelligent as a child but he was poorly educated and terrorized by a brutal governor. It is unknown if Christian’s mental illness was caused by the brutal treatment of his governor, possible porphyria inherited from his Hanover mother, or schizophrenia. Christian’s behavior wandered into excesses, especially sexual promiscuity. His symptoms included paranoia, self-mutilation, and hallucinations.

Johann Friedrich Struensee, Christian VII’s new personal physician, was the first person who understood that Christian was seriously ill. Struensee could handle Christian’s instability, which was a great relief to the king’s advisers, and Christian developed a confidence in him. Struensee also became the lover of the ill-treated Caroline Matilda, whose marriage was less than satisfactory. When Caroline Matilda gave birth to her daughter Louise Auguste, no one doubted that Struensee was the father of the princess.

Christian VII’s stepmother Queen Dowager Juliana Maria maneuvered a coup that would bring about the fall of Struensee and discredit Caroline Matilda. Christian VII was forced to sign orders for the arrest of Struensee and Caroline Matilda. Caroline Matilda was immediately taken to Kronberg Castle in Helsingør, Denmark. She was allowed to keep her daughter with her but the four-year-old Crown Prince Frederik stayed with his father. Upon hearing of Caroline Matilda’s arrest, Struensee confessed to his relationship with her and eventually, Caroline Matilda also confessed. Struensee was condemned to death and suffered a brutal execution. In the presence of thousands of people, his right hand was severed first, then his body was broken on the wheel, and finally, he was beheaded.

Caroline Matilda and Christian’s marriage was dissolved in 1772. She lost her title of Queen and was forcibly separated from her children whom she never saw again. Caroline Matilda was not quite 20 years old. Originally, it was decided that Caroline Matilda was to be held in custody for life at Aalborghus Castle in Aalborg, Denmark, but her brother King George III intervened. King George III sent Sir Robert Murray Keith, a British diplomat, to negotiate her release from Danish imprisonment. Caroline Matilda was sent to Celle in her brother’s Kingdom of Hanover and lived the rest of her life at Celle Castle. Her imprisonment was not to last long. Caroline Matilda died of “a putrid fever and sore throat,” probably scarlet fever, on May 10, 1775, at the age of 23. She was buried at the Stadtkirche St. Marien in Celle next to his great-grandmother Sophie Dorothea of Celle who suffered a similar fate.

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The Unfortunate Sophia Dorothea of Celle

Georg Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (the future King George I) and Sophia Dorothea of Celle; Credit – Wikipedia

Caroline Matilda’s great-grandmother, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, had married Georg Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (the future King George I), the eldest son of Ernst August, Elector of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Sophia of the Palatinate (commonly referred to as Electress Sophia of Hanover). The marriage was happy at first, but soon both George and Sophia Dorothea found affection elsewhere. George fell in love with one of his mother’s ladies-in-waiting, Melusine von der Schulenburg. Sophia Dorothea fell in love with a Swedish Count, Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, an officer in the Hanoverian army.

Despite warnings, from her mother and friends, Sophia Dorothea and her lover wrote letters to each other, met secretly, and planned to escape Hanover together. On the morning of July 2, 1694, after a meeting with Sophia Dorothea, von Königsmarck disappeared from Leineschloss Castle in Hanover and was never seen again. It was widely believed that George ordered von Königsmarck’s death. On December 28, 1694, a tribunal of judges and Lutheran Church officials declared the marriage of George and Sophia Dorothea dissolved on the grounds of Sophia Dorothea’s desertion.

Sophia Dorothea was imprisoned for the rest of her life, 32 years, in the Castle of Ahlden in Celle. She never again saw her two children, the future King George II and his sister Sophia Dorothea, the future Queen Consort of Prussia. In 1714, upon the death of Queen Anne, Sophia Dorothea’s former husband became King George I of Great Britain.

Sophia Dorothea with her two children; Credit – Wikipedia

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George III’s Brothers and the Royal Marriages Act 1772

George III’s problematic brothers as children – William and Henry; Credit – Wikipedia

King George III’s brothers were a constant headache for him but he was especially annoyed with Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland. In 1771, Prince Henry had married a commoner Anne Horton, the daughter of Simon Luttrell and the widow of Christopher Horton. George III considered Anne Horton inappropriate as a royal bride because she was from a lower social class and German law barred any children of the couple from the Hanoverian succession. George insisted on a new law that would forbid members of the royal family from legally marrying without the consent of the monarch. Although it was unpopular with both George III’s ministers and members of Parliament, the Royal Marriages Act 1772 was passed.

The Royal Marriages Act stipulated that no descendant of King George II, male or female, other than the issue of princesses who had married into foreign royal families, could marry without the consent of the monarch. Any member of the royal family over the age of 25 who had been refused the monarch’s consent could marry one year after giving notice to the Privy Council of their intention to marry unless both houses of Parliament expressly declared their disapproval. Any marriage in contravention of the Act was void. Royal family members who made such a marriage did not lose their place in the line of succession but their children would be made illegitimate by the voiding of the marriage and therefore lose their succession rights.

Unbeknownst to King George III, his brother Prince William, Duke of Gloucester had secretly married Maria Waldegrave, Dowager Countess Waldegrave in 1766. For six years, George believed that William was a bachelor and that Maria was his mistress. Not only was she not a royal but she was illegitimate as her parents had not married. Maria was, however, the granddaughter of Robert Walpole who is considered to be the first Prime Minister.

In September 1772, five months after the Royal Marriages Act was passed, William found out Maria was pregnant and confessed to his brother that he was married. George III was quite upset not only by the marriage but also by William’s deception. Because the provisions of the Royal Marriages Act could not be applied retroactively, William and Maria’s marriage was considered valid. However, Maria was never received at court.

In 2011, it was proposed that the provisions of the Royal Marriages Act be limited to only the first six people in the line of succession to the British throne. The Royal Marriages Act 1772 was repealed in its entirety and was replaced by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 which stipulates that the first six people in the line of succession must obtain the monarch’s consent before marrying in order to remain eligible. Marriage without the monarch’s consent would disqualify the person and the person’s descendants from the marriage from being in the line of succession but the marriage would still be legally valid.

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The Worst Royal Marriage?

Wedding of the future King George IV and Caroline of Brunswick; Credit – Wikipedia

King George III also had marriage issues with his children. His eldest and heir, George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV) made a marriage in contravention to the Royal Marriages Act. In 1784, George fell in love Maria Fitzherbert, a twice-widowed Catholic Irish woman. A marriage with a Catholic would mean that George would lose his place in the succession as stipulated by the Act of Settlement 1701. In addition, under the Royal Marriages Act 1772, prohibited the marriage without the consent of the King, which would never have been granted. Nevertheless, the couple went through with a legally void marriage at Maria Fitzherbert’s home on December 21, 1785. Maria Fitzherbert was convinced she was the lawful wife of the Prince of Wales as she viewed church law to be superior to the law of the state. For political reasons, the marriage remained secret, although there were rumors spreading all over London, and Maria Fitzherbert had promised to not let anything about it be announced in public.

By 1794, George, who had been in debt ten years earlier, was again severely in debt. If he married, Parliament would settle his debts and his allowance would be increased by £100,000. On June 23, 1794, Maria Fitzherbert was informed by letter that her relationship with the Prince of Wales was over. Caroline of Brunswick, his first cousin, was selected the bride. Her father Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, was a favorite nephew of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia and had distinguished himself as a commander in the Seven Years’ War. Britain was at war with revolutionary France and eager to obtain allies on the European mainland. Caroline’s mother Augusta was a sister of George III. Caroline and George were married on April 8, 1795 at the Chapel Royal, St. James’ Palace, in London.

This marriage is one of the worst ever royal marriages. Upon first seeing Caroline, George said to his valet, “Harris, I am not well; pray get me a glass of brandy.” Caroline said George was fat and not as handsome as his portrait. It is doubtful that the couple spent more than a few nights together as husband and wife. Their only child, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was born nine months later. They both found each other equally unattractive and never lived together nor appeared in public together. To make matters worse, George’s mistress, Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey, was appointed Caroline’s Lady of the Bedchamber. Caroline was ignored at the court and lived basically under house arrest, and after two and a half years, she left the court and lived for ten years in a Montagu House in Blackheath, London. She was denied any part in the raising of her daughter Charlotte and was allowed to see her only occasionally. Caroline eventually went to live abroad where she ran up debts and had lovers.

When King George III died in January of 1820, Caroline was determined to return to England and assert her rights as queen. On her way back to England, she received a proposal from King George IV offering her £50,000 per year if she would continue to live outside of England. Caroline rejected the proposal and received a royal salute of 21 guns from Dover Castle when she set foot again in England. George IV was determined to be rid of Caroline and his government introduced a bill in Parliament, the Pains and Penalties Bill 1820, to strip Caroline of the title of queen consort and dissolve her marriage. The reading of the bill in Parliament was effectively a trial of Caroline. On November 10, 1820, a final reading of the bill took place, and the bill passed by 108–99. Prime Minister Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool then declared that since the vote was so close, and public tensions so high, the government was withdrawing the bill.

King George IV’s coronation was set for July 19, 1821, but no plans had been made for Caroline to participate. On the day of the coronation, Caroline went to Westminster Abbey, was barred at every entrance and finally left. Three weeks later on August 7, 1821, Caroline died at the age of 53, most likely from a bowel obstruction or cancer. Prior to her death, Caroline had requested that she be buried in her native Brunswick. The official route of Caroline’s cortege through London was to avoid major streets. However, members of the public blocked those streets and forced a new route through the major streets. Caroline was buried at Brunswick Cathedral in Germany alongside her father. Her casket bears the inscription, “Here lies Caroline, the Injured Queen of England.”

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Where are the Grandchildren?

Queen Charlotte painted by Benjamin West in 1779 with her 13 eldest children; Credit – http://www.royalcollection.org.uk

King George III and his wife Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz had fifteen children, all survived childbirth, and only two died in childhood. One would think that George and Charlotte would have had lots of grandchildren but that was not the case. In 1816, Princess Charlotte of Wales married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Charlotte of Wales was the daughter of George, Prince of Wales and unbelievably, the only legitimate grandchild of King George III. Charlotte of Wales was second in the line of succession and she would have succeeded her father, the future George IV, as queen but on November 6, 1817, a great tragedy struck the British Royal Family. After a labor of over 50 hours, Charlotte delivered a stillborn son. Several hours later, twenty-one-year-old Princess Charlotte, the only child of George, Prince of Wales and King George III’s only legitimate grandchild, died of postpartum hemorrhage. Charlotte was mourned by the British people in a manner similar to the mourning of Diana, Princess of Wales. Charlotte’s pregnancy and delivery were grossly mismanaged and the doctor in charge, Sir Richard Croft, later committed suicide.

King George III’s six daughters had very sheltered upbringings and they spent most of their time with their parents and each other. The living conditions of King George III’s daughters came to be known as “the Nunnery.” None of the daughters was allowed to marry at the age when most princesses would marry, and only three of the six daughters ever married. At the time of Charlotte of Wales’s death, only two of her six aunts had married but their marriages were childless: Charlotte, Princess Royal and Princess Mary. Perhaps this over-protection of King George III’s daughters was due to what happened to his sister Caroline Matilda when she married King Christian VII of Denmark.

When Charlotte of Wales died, only two of her six living uncles were married and neither had children: Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Ernest, Duke of Cumberland (the future King of Hanover). Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex had married in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act in 1793 and the marriage was annulled the next year. Augustus would make another marriage in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act in 1831. Prince William, Duke of Clarence (the future King William IV) had ten children with his long-time mistress the actress Dorothea Jordan. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent had had several mistresses. The youngest surviving son, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge seemed to be too busy with his army career to marry.

Since the death of Princess Charlotte of Wales left no legitimate heir in the second generation, it prompted the aging sons of King George III to begin a frantic search for brides to provide for the succession. King George III’s eldest son (Charlotte’s father) and his second son Frederick, Duke of York, were in loveless marriages, and their wives, both in their late forties, were not expected to produce heirs. The third son William, Duke of Clarence, age 53, married 26-year-old Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. 50-year-old Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son, married 32-year-old widow Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saafeld. Victoire was the sister of Leopold, Princess Charlotte’s widower. 21-year-old Augusta of Hesse-Cassel was married to 44-year-old Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the seventh son. It was then the scramble to produce an heir began.

Within a short time, the three new Duchesses, along with Frederica, wife of the fifth son Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, became pregnant. Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a son on March 26, 1819; Adelaide, Duchess of Clarence had a daughter the following day. Victoria, Duchess of Kent produced a daughter on May 24, 1819, and three days later Frederica, Duchess of Cumberland had a boy. Adelaide’s daughter would have been the heir but the little princess died in infancy. The child of the next Royal Duke in seniority stood to inherit the throne. This was Alexandrina Victoria, daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent and Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saafeld. The baby stood fifth in line to the throne after her uncles George, Frederick and William, and her father.

The baby’s father Edward, Duke of Kent died on January 23, 1820, eight months after her birth. Six days later, King George III’s death brought his eldest son to the throne as King George IV. Frederick, Duke of York, died in 1827, bringing the young princess a step closer to the throne. King George IV died in 1830 and his brother William (IV) succeeded him. During King William IV’s reign, little Drina, as she was called, was the heiress presumptive. There was always the possibility that King William IV and Queen Adelaide would still produce an heir. But it was not to be. William died on June 20, 1837 and left the throne to his 18-year-old niece, who is known to history as Queen Victoria.

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Weddings of Hanover Monarchs and Their Children

Wedding venues that have official websites or Wikipedia articles will be linked below. Sometimes the city where the wedding took place is known but the actual wedding venue is unknown. Only married monarchs and their married children are listed. Links are to Unofficial Royalty articles for the monarchs, their children, and their spouses. Note that not all children and spouses have Unofficial Royalty articles.

George I, King of Great Britain (great-grandson of James I) married (1682) Sophia Dorothea of Celle in the mother of the bride’s apartments at Celle Castle in Celle now in Germany

• Sophia Dorothea of Hanover married (1706) Friedrich Wilhelm, Margrave of Brandenburg (later King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia) in Cölln on the Spree now part of Berlin, Germany

George II, King of Great Britain (son of George I) married (1705) Caroline of Ansbach at the chapel at Schloss Herrenhausen in Hanover now in Germany

• Anne, Princess Royal married (1734) Willem IV, Prince of Orange at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace in London, England
• Mary of Great Britain married (1770) Friedrich II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel in Hesse-Kassel
• Louisa of Great Britain married (1743) Frederik V, King of Denmark and Norway in Copenhagen, Denmark

Frederick, Prince of Wales (son of George II, predeceased his father) married (1736) Augusta of Saxe-Gotha at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace in London, England

• Augusta of Wales married (1764) Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace in London, England
• William Henry, Duke of Gloucester married (1766) Maria, Countess Waldegrave secretly at his home on the Pall Mall in London, England
• Henry, Duke of Cumberland married (1771) Anne Luttrell at Hertford Street in Mayfair, London, England
• Caroline Matilda of Wales married (1766) Christian VII, King of Denmark and Norway at the Royal Chapel at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark

George III, King of the United Kingdom (son of Frederick, Prince of Wales and grandson of George II) married (1761) Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace in London, England

• Frederick, Duke of York married (1791) Frederica of Prussia at Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin, Prussia now in Germany
• Charlotte, Princess Royal married (1797) Friedrich I, King of Württemberg at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace in London, England
• Edward, Duke of Kent married (1818) Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld at the Schloss Ehrenburg in Coburg in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (now in Germany)
• Elizabeth married (1818) Friedrich, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg in the private chapel at the Queen’s House (now Buckingham Palace) in London, England
• Ernest Augustus I, King of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland married (1815) Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz at the Palace of Neustrelitz in Neustrelitz in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (now in Germany)
• Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex married twice, both in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772; (1) married (1793) Lady Augusta Murray at St. George’s Church, Hanover Square, in London, England (2) married (1831) Lady Cecilia Buggin at Great Cumberland Place in London, England
• Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge married (1818) Augusta of Hesse-Kassel in Hesse-Kassel

George IV, King of the United Kingdom (son of George III) married (1795) Caroline of Brunswick at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace in London, England

• Charlotte of Wales married (1816) Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (future King Leopold I of the Belgians) in the Crimson Drawing Room at Carlton House in London, England (Charlotte, along with her baby, died a year later due to childbirth complications)

William IV, King of the United Kingdom (son of George III) married (1818) Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen at Kew Palace in London, England

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Ashdown, D. (1981). Royal Weddings. London: Robert Hale Limited.
• Fraser, F. (2004). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
• Genealogics.org. (2018). [online] Available at: http://www.genealogics.org [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018].
• Hibbert, C. (1998). George III. New York: Basic Books.
• Unofficial Royalty. (2018). Unofficial Royalty. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018]. (Hanover articles)
• Van Der Kiste, J. (1992). George III’s Children. Trowbridge: Sutton Publishing.
• Van Der Kiste, J. (2000). The Georgian Princesses. Sparkford: Sutton Publishing.
• Wikipedia. (2018). Main Page. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/ [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018].  (for wedding venue and genealogy information)

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Union of the Crowns Badge Tudor Rose dimidiated with the Scottish Thistle, used by King James VI/I to symbolize the personal union of his realms; Credit – Wikipedia

• Unofficial Royalty: House of Stuart Index

During the reign of the Stuart monarchs, England transitioned from monarchs who believed in the divine right of kings to constitutional monarchs. In his book The Sickly Stuarts: The Medical Downfall of a Dynasty, Frederick Holmes, a former Professor of Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center writes: “While it might be imagined that Parliament grew in strength throughout the seventeenth century because right was on their side and Englishmen were successful in their demand to rule themselves, this, in fact, is only part of the picture, and perhaps the smaller part. In reality, the Stuarts were a sickly lot who were sapped of their strength and vitality by disease and disability during the four generations their six monarchs ruled England. The power of the Stuarts and the English monarchy slowly faded throughout the long seventeenth century as the Stuarts were brought down by a variety of medical problems and Parliament simultaneously increased in power to fill the void.”

Illness, the inability to conceive children, the inability to bring a pregnancy to term, and giving birth to weak children affected the Stuarts’ ability to fulfill the primary duty of a king: to marry and have sons (or even daughters) to succeed to the throne. A look at a short history of the children or lack of children of the six Stuart monarchs will illustrate this.

King James I/King James VI of Scotland

• had seven children
• four died before the age of two
• the eldest and the heir Henry, Prince of Wales died of typhoid fever at age 18
• two survived to adulthood: King Charles I and Elizabeth who married Friedrich V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine and their grandson George, Elector of Hanover succeeded to the British throne upon the demise of the House of Stuart

King Charles I

• had nine children
• three died before the age of three
• Elizabeth died from pneumonia at the age of 15
• Henry, Duke of Gloucester died of smallpox at age 20
• four survived to adulthood: King Charles II, King James II, Mary, Princess Royal (mother of King William III) and Henrietta who married into the French royal family – her Catholic descendants were barred from the British line of succession by the Bill of Rights 1689 which prohibited Catholics from inheriting the British throne

King Charles II

• no legitimate children, it is thought that his wife Catherine of Braganza had at least three miscarriages
• had at least 14 illegitimate children

King James II

• had eight children with his first wife Anne Hyde
• six died before the age of three
• two survived to adulthood: Queen Mary II and Queen Anne
• his second wife Maria Beatrice of Modena had 12 pregnancies, gave birth to five live children
• only two survived to childhood: James Edward Francis Stuart (The Old Pretender) and Louisa Maria Teresa who died of smallpox at age 20
• deposed in 1688, children from second marriage were Catholic and were ineligible for the British throne

Queen Mary II and King William III

• no children, Mary had at least one miscarriage and possibly more

Queen Anne

• had 17 pregnancies but only five live births
• only Prince William, Duke of Gloucester survived early childhood but he died at age 11

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King James VI of Scotland/King James I of England

James I and Anne of Denmark; Credit – Wikipedia

Throughout his life, King James VI of Scotland had close relationships with male courtiers, which has caused debate among historians about the nature of the relationships. However, a marriage was necessary to provide heirs to the throne of Scotland. On August 20, 1589, James was married by proxy to Anne of Denmark at Kronborg Castle in Helsingør, Denmark. Anne was the eldest daughter of King Frederik II of Denmark and Sophia of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, who conducted the marriage negotiations after the death of her husband in 1588. Ten days after the proxy wedding, Anne set sail for Scotland, but severe storms forced her to land in Norway. Upon hearing this, James set sail to personally bring Anne to Scotland. On November 23, 1589, the couple was formally married at the Old Bishop’s Palace in Oslo, Norway. After a prolonged visit to Denmark, James and Anne landed in Scotland on May 1, 1590. On May 5, 1590, Anne made her state entry into Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. She was crowned Queen of Scots on May 17, 1590, at the Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh.

The first Stuart King of England got the throne because the Tudors failed to provide for the succession. King James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, succeeded to the English throne in 1603 upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I. James VI was the great-great-grandson of the first Tudor king, King Henry VII of England, through Henry’s daughter Margaret who had married King James IV of Scotland. James VI had been King of Scots since he was eleven months old. He succeeded to the English throne as King James I of England when he was 37 years old. He was already married and five of his seven children had already been born.

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Wedding of  Elizabeth Stuart and Friedrich V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine

Elizabeth Stuart and Friedrich V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine; Credit – Wikipedia

Sadly, James I’s eldest son and heir, Henry, Prince of Wales died in 1612 from typhoid fever. James I had planned a Catholic wedding for Henry and had arranged a Protestant marriage for his only surviving daughter Elizabeth to Friedrich V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine and the wedding plans went on as planned despite Henry’s death. There had not been a royal wedding in England since that of Queen Mary I and Prince Philip of Spain in 1554 and never had there been a royal wedding so magnificent and expensive.

The wedding of Elizabeth Stuart and Friedrich V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, both 16-year-olds, was held on St. Valentine’s Day in 1613 at the Chapel Royal at the Palace of Whitehall in London, England. As the wedding was a private affair and not the large public, royal weddings we have become accustomed to, only the courtiers saw Elizabeth in her magnificent attire. The bride was dressed in a white satin gown with diamonds sewn upon the sleeves. Elizabeth’s hair was plaited down her back to her waist with gold spangles, pearls, and diamonds between every plait. Upon her head, she wore a gold crown with pearls and diamonds. The court celebrated the wedding with days of feasts, sports in the palace tiltyard, and performances of masques. London’s citizens were treated to mock battles between galleons in the Thames by day and fireworks along the Thames at night. No other Stuart wedding would be as grand.

Elizabeth proved to be the most successful Stuart in having children – fourteen children with only one dying in childhood. Her daughter Sophia of the Palatinate who married Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover was the mother of King George I of Great Britain, the first monarch of the House of Hanover, and is the ancestress of the current British Royal Family.

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Wedding of King Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France

Charles I and Henrietta Maria; Credit – Wikipedia

With Elizabeth leaving home in 1613, her 12-year-old brother Charles, the heir to the throne since the death of his brother and the future King Charles I, was the only child left at home. As a child, Charles was frail and late in development, possibly from rickets, and could not yet walk or talk by the age of three. He overcame his early physical problems, although he grew no taller than five feet four inches, and learned to ride, shoot, and fence. However, he was no physical match for his stronger and taller elder brother Henry, Prince of Wales, whom he adored.

King James I, seeking a Spanish alliance, had visions of Charles marrying Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, the youngest daughter of King Philip III of Spain. In 1623, Charles went to Madrid with his father’s favorite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham for marriage negotiations regarding the Infanta. The negotiations had long been at a standstill, and although religion was a stumbling block, it is believed that Buckingham’s offensive behavior was a key to the total collapse of the negotiations.

While Charles was traveling to Spain in 1623, he first saw Henrietta Maria, the French king’s sister and his future wife, in Paris as she rehearsed a court entertainment with other members of the French royal family. On March 27, 1625, King James I died and Charles succeeded him. Since the Spanish negotiations failed, King Charles I now looked toward a French alliance and a marriage with Henrietta Maria was successfully negotiated. Henrietta Maria was the youngest daughter of King Henri IV of France and his second wife Marie de’ Medici. Henri IV had been assassinated in 1610 when Henrietta Maria was still a baby and her brother King Louis XIII had succeeded their father. Charles I and Henrietta Maria were married by proxy on May 1, 1625, on the steps of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France.

15-year-old Henrietta Maria had stormy weather as she crossed the English Channel on her voyage from France to England. Her ship was tossed by storms for a day and upon reaching Dover on June 12, 1625, she had to be carried to Dover Castle. A messenger was sent to ask Charles I to postpone his arrival for a day so she could recover. The next day Charles I and Henrietta Maria were married at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England. As his bride was young and had recently left her family, Charles did her a kindness on their wedding night. As the embarrassing bedding ceremony was approaching, Charles elbowed his attendants away, went alone into Henrietta Maria’s bedchamber, and barred the door against them.

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Wedding of Mary, Princess Royal and Willem II, Prince of Orange

Mary, Princess Royal and Willem II, Prince of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia

The first of Charles I and Henrietta Maria’s children to marry was their eldest daughter Mary, Princess Royal. Charles I wanted Mary to marry one of the sons of King Felipe IV of Spain or her first cousin Karl I Ludwig, Elector Palatine of the Rhine but both marriage prospects failed. Instead, Mary was betrothed to Willem, Hereditary Prince of Orange the future Willem II, Prince of Orange), son of Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange.

On May 2, 1641, at the Chapel Royal of the Palace of Whitehall, nine-year-old Mary married Willem, who would have his 15th birthday in a couple of weeks. The whole wedding was truly a children’s affair. Mary was led to the altar by her ten-year-old brother Charles (the future Charles II) and her eight-year-old brother James (the future James II). The six bridesmaids were all young girls no older than the bride. Willem wore a velvet suit embroidered with gold thread while Mary wore a white silk dress embroidered in silver. Her hair was tied up with silver ribbons and on her head, she wore a pearl circlet. There were no festivities. The family ate lunch as usual, then took an afternoon walk in Hyde Park and ate supper together. Because of Mary’s young age, the marriage was not consummated for several years. Instead of the traditional bedding ceremony, Mary and Willem simply sat on a bed side by side for about an hour.

Charles I had demanded in the marriage contract that Mary remain in England for several years. However, by 1642, he was dealing with so many political problems that he needed Dutch support. In February 1642, Mary, accompanied by her mother, sailed from England to The Hague in the Dutch Republic. Once in The Hague, Mary was warmly greeted by her in-laws and her paternal aunt Elizabeth, Electress Palatine of the Rhine and some of her children. A second marriage ceremony was held in The Hague on November 4, 1643. By the time Queen Henrietta Maria returned to England in February 1643, England was in the midst of a civil war that would result in King Charles I losing his head in 1649.

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Wedding of King Charles II and Catherine of Braganza

Charles II and Catherine of Braganza; Credit – Wikipedia

While Oliver Cromwell had ruled England as Lord Protector, Charles II, who had been the de jure King since his father’s execution, lived in mainland Europe. After Cromwell’s death, Parliament formally invited Charles, as King Charles II, to be the English monarch in what has become known as the Restoration. Charles II returned to England in 1660.

Catherine of Braganza, the daughter of King João IV of Portugal, had first been suggested as a bride for Charles II in 1645 during the reign of Charles I and again in 1660 when the monarchy was restored in England. Already there were rumors of Catherine’s inability to have children but the newly restored King Charles II was eager to have the £300,000 dowry. The marriage contract was signed on June 23, 1661. Catherine set sail for England in April of 1662 and landed at Portsmouth, England on May 13, 1662. On May 21, 1662, King Charles II and Catherine were married.  First, a secret, brief Catholic ceremony was held in Catherine’s Portsmouth bedchamber with only her Portuguese attendants as witnesses. Then, the legal Church of England ceremony took place in the Great Chamber in Governor of Portsmouth’s home. Catherine wore a rose-colored gown covered in lover’s knots made from blue ribbon. Her lace veil was covered with symbols of her new country including Tudor roses.

Catherine was horrified to find out that her lady-in-waiting was Barbara Villiers, Charles II’s current mistress. After the initial shock, Catherine maintained a dignified attitude towards her husband’s mistresses and showed many acts of kindness to his illegitimate children. Despite fathering at least 14 illegitimate children with his mistresses, Charles II had no children with Catherine. It is thought that Catherine did have at least three miscarriages. Despite having many mistresses, Charles insisted that Catherine be treated with respect, and sided with her over his mistresses when he felt she was not receiving the respect she was due.

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William and Mary

Mary II and William III; Credit – Wikipedia

During Charles II’s reign, two of his nieces: Mary (the future Queen Mary II) and Anne (the future Queen Anne), the only surviving children of his brother James, Duke of York from his first marriage, were married. James would reign as King James II for three years after his brother’s death before being deposed in 1688 during the Glorious Revolution.

In 1677, when Charles II’s niece Mary was 15-years-old, it became apparent that Catherine of Braganza, the wife of King Charles II, would not provide a Stuart heir. In addition, Maria Beatrice of Modena, the second wife of James, Duke of York, had two miscarriages and two daughters, one who had died in infancy and one who was sickly and not expected to survive. Mary’s marriage became a matter of dynastic importance for the House of Stuart. The bridegroom her uncle chose for her was William III, Prince of Orange, her first cousin. William was the only child of Mary’s paternal aunt Mary, Princess Royal and Willem II, Prince of Orange who had died of smallpox a few days before his son’s birth. William was fourth in line to the English throne after his uncle James and his cousins Mary and Anne.

15-year-old Mary and 27-year-old William were married on November 4, 1677, in Mary’s bedchamber at St. James’ Palace with only the closest relatives attending. The bride was miserable, the groom acted with cool correctness, the father of the bride was grimly resigned to the marriage, and the stepmother of the bride, who was very pregnant, was in tears at the prospect of losing her stepdaughter. The bride’s aunt Catherine of Braganza tried to comfort Mary saying, “When I came to England I had not even seen the King,” to which Mary replied, “Madam, you came into England, but I am going out of England.” Mary’s sister Anne and her governess Lady Frances Villiers were unable to attend as they were both ill with smallpox. Only the bride and groom’s uncle, King Charles II, was his usual cheerful and tactless self. Upon closing the curtains around the marital bed during the bedding ceremony, Charles II remarked, “Now nephew, to your work! Hey! St. George for England!”

William and Mary made a formal entry into The Hague, the seat of William’s Dutch Republic, on December 14, 1677. Mary soon became pregnant but suffered a miscarriage which may have prevented any successful pregnancies. It is suspected that she had at least two more miscarriages. Her inability to have children was Mary’s greatest unhappiness. Despite their physical mismatch, Mary was quite tall (5 feet 11 inches; 180 cm) and towered over the undersized and asthmatic William (5 feet 6 inches; 167 cm), William adored Mary and Mary was devoted to William. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688 deposed Mary’s father King James II, Parliament asked William and Mary to reign jointly as King William III and Queen Mary II.

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The Last Stuart

Anne and George of Denmark; Credit – Wikipedia

In December 1680, George, The Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (the future King George I of Great Britain) made a three-month visit to England and rumors were flying that he would become the husband of his second cousin Princess Anne, the future Queen Anne, whom he later succeeded. However, on July 28, 1683, at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace in London, Anne married Prince George of Denmark, son of King Frederick III of Denmark and the brother of King Christian V of Denmark. It was a small, happy wedding as Anne would be able to remain in England. After the ceremony, there was a small family supper and then the traditional bedding ceremony. Even though the marriage was arranged, the marriage was happy and Anne and George were faithful to each other.

Anne became pregnant a few months after the wedding but she gave birth to a stillborn daughter in May 1684. Anne’s obstetrical history is tragic. She had 17 pregnancies with only five children being born alive. Two died on the day of their birth, two died at less than two years old within six days of each from smallpox, and one died at age 11. Anne suffered from what was diagnosed as gout and had pain in her limbs, stomach, and head. Based on these symptoms and her obstetrical history, Anne may have had systemic lupus erythematosus which causes an increased rate of fetal death.

On December 28, 1694, Anne’s sister Queen Mary II died of smallpox. She was just 32 years old. King William III continued to reign alone for the remainder of his life. As William and Mary had no children, Anne was now the heir presumptive to the throne and her son Prince William, Duke of Gloucester was second in the line of succession.  However, on July 30, 1700, 11-year-old Prince William, Duke of Gloucester died.

The death of Prince William and the failure of the Protestant Stuarts to produce heirs meant the end of the Protestant Stuart dynasty as the legitimate descendants of King Charles I were either childless or Roman Catholic. The passage of the Bill of Rights 1689 which prohibited Catholics from inheriting the British throne exacerbated the Stuarts’ succession problems. To solve the succession crisis, Parliament passed the Act of Settlement 1701 which secured the Protestant succession to the throne after King William III’s sister-in-law and heir presumptive Princess Anne.

The Act of Settlement 1701 excluded the former King James II (who died a few months after the act received royal assent) and the Roman Catholic children from his second marriage and also excluded the descendants of King James II’s sister Henrietta, the youngest daughter of King Charles I as they were all Roman Catholic.  Parliament’s choice was limited to the Protestant descendants of Elizabeth, Electress Palatine of the Rhine, the only other child of King James I not to have died in childhood. The senior Protestant descendant was Elizabeth’s youngest daughter Sophia, Electress of Hanover. The Act of Settlement put Sophia of Hanover and her Protestant heirs in the line of succession after Anne.

Anne succeeded her brother-in-law and first cousin King William III upon his death in 1702 and reigned until her death in 1714. Sophia, Electress of Hanover, the heir to the throne according to the Act of Settlement, had died on June 8, 1714, just six weeks before the death of Queen Anne, and so Sophia’s son became King George I and started the Hanover dynasty.

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Weddings of Stuart Monarchs and Their Children

Like, the Tudors, the Stuarts did not have a lot of weddings. Wedding venues that have official websites or Wikipedia articles will be linked below.  Sometimes the city where the wedding took place is known but the actual wedding venue is unknown. Only married monarchs and their married children are listed. Links are to Unofficial Royalty articles for the monarchs, their children, and their spouses. Note that not all the spouses have Unofficial Royalty articles.

James I, King of England/James VI, King of Scots (great-great-grandson of Henry VII) married (1589) Anne of Denmark at the Old Bishop’s Palace in Oslo, Norway

• Elizabeth Stuart married (1613) Friedrich V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine at the Chapel Royal at the Palace of Whitehall in London, England

Charles I, King of England (son of James I) married (1625) Henrietta Maria of France at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England

• Mary, Princess Royal married (1641) Willem II, Prince of Orange at the Chapel Royal of the Palace of Whitehall in London England
• Henrietta of England married (1661) Philippe, Duke of Orléans at the Palais Royal in Paris, France

Charles II, King of England (son of Charles I) married (1662) Catherine of Braganza in Portsmouth, England

James II, King of England (son of Charles I) (1) married (1659) Lady Anne Hyde in Breda, the Netherlands (2) married (1673) Maria Beatrice of Modena in England

Mary II, Queen of England (daughter of James II) married (1677) Willem III, Prince of Orange (later William III, King of England), grandson of Charles I, in the bride’s bedchamber at St. James’ Palace in London England

Anne, Queen of Great Britain (daughter of James II) married (1683) George of Denmark at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace in London, England

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Ashdown, D. (1981). Royal Weddings. London: Robert Hale Limited.
• Fraser, A. (1979). King Charles II. London: Onion Books Ltd.
• Genealogics.org. (2018). [online] Available at: http://www.genealogics.org [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018].
• Holmes, F. (2003). The Sickly Stuarts: The Medical Downfall of a Dynasty. Thrupp UK: Sutton Publishing.
• Unofficial Royalty. (2018). Unofficial Royalty. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018]. (Stuart articles)
• Waller, M. (2002). Ungrateful Daughters: The Stuart Princesses Who Stole Their Father’s Crown. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
• Wikipedia. (2018). Main Page. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/ [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018].  (for wedding venue and genealogy information)

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Double Portrait of Elizabeth of York and King Henry VII; Credit – Wikipedia

• Unofficial Royalty: House of Tudor Index

On August 22, 1485, at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the last king of the House of York and the Plantagenet dynasty, King Richard III of England, lost his life and his crown. The battle was a decisive victory for the House of Lancaster, whose leader Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became King Henry VII, the first monarch of the House of Tudor.

Even though the first Parliament of Henry VII’s reign passed a bill confirming his right to the throne and settling the succession upon the heirs of his body, his genealogical claim to the English throne through his mother Lady Margaret Beaufort was tenuous. And so, he did what his Plantagenet ancestors did – he made a political marriage and that marriage helped validate Henry VII’s claim to the throne. Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, the eldest child of the Yorkist King Edward IV, thereby uniting the House of York and the House of Lancaster. Elizabeth had no surviving brothers and her uncle Richard III had no surviving children, and so her genealogical claim on the English throne was very much stronger than Henry VII’s. By today’s standards of absolute primogeniture, Elizabeth of York would have been the heir to the English throne.

During his reign, Henry VII’s two main goals were peace-keeping and economic prosperity, and he succeeded at both. He did not try to retake the territories lost in France during the reigns of his predecessors. Instead, he concluded a peace treaty with France, which helped fill the coffers of England again. Again, like his Plantagenet ancestors, Henry VII made political marriages for his two eldest children which helped fulfill his goals. He made a pact with Spain with the marriage treaty of his eldest son Arthur, Prince of Wales and Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. He also allied himself with Scotland by marrying his daughter Margaret to King James IV of Scotland. Ultimately, this marriage would unite England and Scotland when King Henry VII’s great-great-grandson King James VI of Scotland succeeded King Henry VII’s granddaughter Queen Elizabeth I of England. Through his daughter Margaret Tudor, Henry VII is the ancestor of the British royal family and many other European royal families.

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To help foster the legitimacy of the House of Tudor, Henry VII made sure that the wedding of his heir Arthur, Prince of Wales to Catherine of Aragon was a festive and grand affair. When 16-year-old Catherine arrived in London, she was greeted by jubilant citizens and a number of tableaux vivants including one depicting the life of her patron St. Catherine. On November 14, 1501, Arthur and Catherine were married in a splendid ceremony at the Old St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Old St. Paul’s was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and its replacement was consecrated in 1697. There would not be another wedding at St. Paul’s Cathedral until 1981 when another Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, married Lady Diana Spencer.

A six-foot-high platform was built in Old St. Paul’s from the cathedral door to the altar so that all the guests could see all parts of the ceremony. The bride was escorted to the cathedral and led to the altar by the groom’s 10-year-old brother Henry, Duke of York, who, as King Henry VIII, would eventually become her second husband. Arthur and Catherine were dressed in white satin. Catherine’s dress was the first farthingale dress worn in England. The farthingale dress with hoop skirt stiffened with wood, became an essential part of Tudor fashion. A white silk veil bordered with gold and set with jewels was worn over the bride’s long, auburn flowing hair.

Wedding Feast of Arthur, Prince of Wales and Catherine of Aragon; Credit – Wikipedia

Festivities continued for days after the wedding for both the city of London and the royal court. There were so many people in the street that one observer noted, “There was nothing to the eye but only visages and faces, without the appearance of bodies.” Banquet after banquet was held in Westminster Hall for the royal court. Catherine and her ladies demonstrated Spanish dances and Prince Henry danced with his sisters and other ladies. Soon after their marriage, Catherine and Arthur went to live at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire, close to Wales, where, as Prince of Wales, Arthur presided over the Council of Wales and the Marches. Less than five months later, on April 2, 1502, Arthur died, probably of the sweating sickness, and 16-year-old Catherine was left a widow.

King Henry VII did not want to lose Catherine of Aragon’s dowry or the alliance he had made with Spain, so he offered his new heir Henry, who was five years younger than Catherine, to be her husband. A number of problems with negotiations made it doubtful that the marriage would ever take place. With little money, Catherine lived as a virtual prisoner at Durham House in London from 1502 – 1509.

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The marriage of Henry VII’s eldest daughter Margaret was a very political one. In 1502, England and Scotland concluded the Treaty of Perpetual Peace, agreeing to end the warfare between England and Scotland which had occurred over the previous two hundred years. As part of the treaty, a marriage was arranged between 28-year-old James IV, King of Scots and twelve-year-old Margaret Tudor. A proxy marriage was held on January 25, 1503, at Richmond Palace with Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell standing in for King James IV. Margaret was exactly the same age as her grandmother Margaret Beaufort had been when she married Edmund Tudor. Margaret Beaufort was determined that her granddaughter not consummate her marriage at such an early age and insisted that Margaret must remain in England a while longer.

James IV, King of Scots and Margaret Tudor; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1503, Margaret left London with her father to make the journey to Scotland. Her formal court farewell was held at her paternal grandmother’s home Collyweston Palace near Stamford, Northamptonshire, England. After two weeks of celebrations, Margaret rode out to her new life with only one relative, Sir David Owen, the illegitimate son of her great-grandfather Owen Tudor. On August 3, 1503, at Dalkeith Castle in Midlothian, Scotland, Margaret first met King James IV. The couple was married in person on August 8, 1503, at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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King Henry VII died on April 21, 1509, and 17-year-old Henry succeeded him. Henry VIII’s reign seems to be the beginning of the period when royal weddings were mostly private and held in palace chapels, the Queen’s Closet (a small room used as a private chapel or prayer room) or bedchambers. This tradition continued with the Stuarts and the Hanovers. It was not until the reign of Queen Victoria that royal weddings became more public.

16th-century woodcut of the coronation of King Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon showing their heraldic badges, the Tudor Rose and the Pomegranate of Granada; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry VIII’s first wedding to his brother’s widow Catherine of Aragon was quite sedate. Henry and Catherine walked from Greenwich Palace to a nearby Franciscan abbey, Grey Friars’ Church, and were married. Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn was anything but public. Anne was pregnant and Henry was still legally married to Catherine of Aragon. On January 25, 1533, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were secretly married at York Place in London which later became Whitehall Palace. Eleven days after the execution of Anne Boleyn in 1536, Henry VIII quietly married his third wife in the Queen’s Closet at Whitehall Palace. Seventeen months later, Jane Seymour would be dead due to childbirth complications after giving birth to Henry’s only son.

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Anne of Cleves has the distinction of being considered Henry VIII’s most fortunate wife. She arrived in Deal, England on December 27, 1539, and then she proceeded to Rochester on New Year’s Day. Henry VIII was so eager to see Anne, that he went to Rochester incognito. Henry was terribly disappointed by his new bride. He found Anne humorless and boring. She looked unimpressive in her German costume, acted shy and did not speak English. Henry postponed the wedding for two days and regretted that he could not withdraw from the marriage contract.

King Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Reluctantly, Henry married Anne of Cleves on January 6, 1540, at Greenwich Palace in Greenwich, London. The marriage was never consummated, and it was said that the couple spent the night playing cards. Henry told his chief minister Thomas Cromwell, “I liked her before not well, but now I like her much worse.” On July 6, 1540, Anne of Cleves was informed that Henry wanted to end the marriage and Anne agreed to an annulment which was finalized on July 9, 1540, on the grounds of non-consummation. Anne of Cleves remained in England. Henry VIII’s “most fortunate wife” was given a generous financial settlement and the use of Richmond Palace and Hever Castle. Anne was frequently at court, had a cordial relationship with Henry and his children, and was referred to as “the King’s Beloved Sister.” She survived Henry and all his wives.

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Henry secretly married his fifth wife, teenaged Catherine Howard at a very private wedding at Oatlands Palace in Surrey, England on July 28, 1540, the same day Thomas Cromwell, the scapegoat for the failed marriage to Anne of Cleves, was executed for treason and heresy. Henry called his teenage bride his “rose without a thorn.” Catherine soon proved to be a rose with many thorns because of her affair with Thomas Culpeper, a Gentleman to the King’s Privy Chamber and like her first cousin Anne Boleyn, she was executed.

King Henry VIII and Catherine Howard: Credit – Wikipedia

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Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth wife was more of a nursemaid to the ailing king. Catherine had fallen in love with Thomas Seymour, brother of Henry VIII’s late third wife Jane Seymour, and the two hoped to marry. However, Henry VIII began to show an interest in Catherine and she felt it was her duty to choose Henry’s proposal of marriage over Thomas Seymour’s. Seymour was appointed an ambassador to the Netherlands to get him out of England. In 1543, Catherine Parr and Henry VIII were married in the Queen’s Closet at Hampton Court Palace in front of twenty guests. Catherine proved to be a good nurse to Henry and a kind stepmother to his three children. After Henry VIII’s death in 1547, Catherine finally married Thomas Seymour, uncle of the new King Edward VI. Tragically, Catherine died on September 5, 1548, of childbed fever after giving birth to a daughter who appears to have died young. Six months after Catherine’s death, her widower Thomas Seymour was beheaded for treason.

King Henry VIII and Catherine Parr; Credit – Wikipedia

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All of Henry VIII’s children succeeded to the throne: his son by Jane Seymour King Edward VI, his daughter by Catherine of Aragon Queen Mary I and his daughter by Anne Boleyn Queen Elizabeth I. However, only Mary I married. Roman Catholic Mary I was 37 when she came to the throne and it was vital that she marry and produce an heir to supplant her Protestant sister Elizabeth. Mary had her heart set on marrying Prince Philip of Spain (later King Philip II of Spain), the only son of Mary’s first cousin Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Philip was a widower and was eleven years younger than Mary. Parliament begged her to reconsider fearing the threat a marriage to a foreign royal might have for English independence.

Queen Mary I and her husband Philip of Spain, Bedford Collection, Woburn Abbey; Credit – Wikipedia

Nevertheless, Mary and Philip were married at Winchester Cathedral on July 25, 1554. This was the first public wedding of a monarch since the wedding of Mary’s grandparents King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in 1486. Philip wore a splendid outfit: a white doublet and breeches and a mantle of clot-of-gold trimmed with crimson velvet, and embroidered with gold thistles. Mary I wore a black velvet gown glittering with jewels of all colors and a cloth-of-gold mantle matching Philip’s. A lavish feast followed the wedding.

The marriage was not successful. Although Mary was in love with Philip, he found her repugnant. In September 1554, Mary thought she was pregnant and continued to exhibit signs of pregnancy until July 1555, when her abdomen returned to normal. There was no baby. After 14 months of marriage, Philip returned to Spain in August 1555. Mary was heartbroken and went into a deep depression. Philip did return to England in 1557 and was happily received by Mary. Philip wanted England to join Spain in a war against France. Mary agreed and the result was the loss of Calais, England’s last remaining possession in continental Europe. Philip left England in July 1557, never to return. Mary said of these losses, “When I am dead, you will find the words ‘Philip’ and ‘Calais’ engraved upon my heart.”

King Henry VII’s vision of a new dynasty lasted for only three generations.  After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, a messenger was sent at once to Scotland to bring King James VI of Scotland, the great-grandson of Margaret Tudor, the news of his accession to the English throne as King James I of England.  The House of Stuart did not do much better – their dynasty lasted for only four generations.

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Weddings of Tudor Monarchs and Their Children

There were not a lot of Tudor weddings. Henry VIII’s six weddings accounted for nearly half of them. Wedding venues that have official websites or Wikipedia articles will be linked below.  Sometimes the city where the wedding took place is known but the actual wedding venue is unknown. Only married monarchs and their married children are listed. Links are to Unofficial Royalty articles for the monarchs, their children, and their spouses. Note that not all the spouses have Unofficial Royalty articles.

Henry VII, King of England (great-great-great-grandson of Edward III) married (1486) Elizabeth of York at St. Stephen’s Chapel in the Palace of Westminster

• Arthur, Prince of Wales married (1501) Catherine of Aragon at the Old St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England
• Margaret Tudor (1) married (1503) James IV, King of Scotland at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland (2) married (1514) Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus in Kinnoull, Scotland (3) married (1528) Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven, wedding venue unknown
• Mary Tudor (1) married Louis XII, King of France (1514) at Abbeville, France (2) married (1515) Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk at the Hôtel de Cluny in Paris, France

Henry VIII, King of England (son of Henry VII)
(1) married (1509) Catherine of Aragon at the Grey Friars’ Church in Greenwich, England
(2) married (1533) Anne Boleyn at York Place which later became Whitehall Palace
(3) married (1536) Jane Seymour in the Queen’s Closet at Whitehall Palace in London, England
(4) married (1540) Anne of Cleves at Greenwich Palace in Greenwich, England
(5) married (1540) Catherine Howard at Oatlands Palace in Surrey, England
(6) married (1543) Catherine Parr at Hampton Court Palace in Richmond, England

Mary I, Queen of England (daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon) married (1554) Prince Philip of Spain (later King Philip II of Spain) at Winchester Cathedral in Winchester, England

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Ashdown, D. (1981). Royal Weddings. London: Robert Hale Limited.
• Genealogics.org. (2018). [online] Available at: http://www.genealogics.org [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018].
• Unofficial Royalty. (2018). Unofficial Royalty. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018]. (Tudor articles)
• Weir, A. (2001). Henry VIII: The King and His Court. New York: Ballantine Books.
• Wikipedia. (2018). Main Page. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/ [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018].  (for wedding venue and genealogy information)

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Wedding of Matilda of England, King Henry I’s daughter, and Heinrich V, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

• Unofficial Royalty: House of Normandy Index
• Unofficial Royalty: House of Angevin Index
• Unofficial Royalty: House of Plantagenet Index
• Unofficial Royalty: House of Lancaster Index
• Unofficial Royalty: House of York Index

The duty of a medieval king was to have sons to succeed to the throne because women were considered unfit to rule. The political advantage of the marriage was the prime consideration – not the looks, the personality or whether the couple liked each other. In Scotland, it was common for the King of Scots to marry a daughter of a Scottish peer but it was not so in England. A foreign alliance was of the utmost importance.

Princesses were often sent off to their wedding without even meeting their future groom. However, royal children were brought up knowing their eventual fate and their duty to king and country. Young princesses were often sent to be brought up in their future husbands’ kingdoms to learn the language and the customs. King Henry I’s daughter Matilda was betrothed to marry Heinrich V, Holy Roman Emperor, who was sixteen years older than her. At the age of eight, she was sent off to Germany and placed into the custody of Bruno, Archbishop of Trier, who educated her in the German language and culture and in the government of the Holy Roman Empire. When the 22-year-old Matilda returned to England as a widow, the courtiers were amazed at how German she had become.

When the eldest daughter of the King of England married, a tax was collected from the barons to provide her with a dowry. The King provided his younger daughters with dowries with his own funds. It was common that royal dowries not only included cash but also land and goods. Proxy betrothals and proxy weddings were often necessary if the royal parents refused to send their daughter away because she was still a child. A proxy marriage was arranged between 28-year-old James IV, King of Scots and twelve-year-old Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of King Henry VII with Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell standing in for King James IV. Margaret was exactly the same age as her grandmother Margaret Beaufort had been when she married Edmund Tudor. Margaret Beaufort was determined that her granddaughter not consummate her marriage at such an early age and insisted that Margaret must remain in England until she was older.

The wedding of King Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou; Credit – Wikipedia

The royal bride’s arrival in her new country resulted in massive festivities as soon as she entered the country and continued as she traveled along the roads to the capital. When Margaret of Anjou, the bride of King Henry VI, entered London, she was met with tableaux vivants created and performed by citizens including an allegory of Peace and Plenty, and representations of Noah’s Ark, the Resurrection, and the Last Judgement.

Unfortunately, there is not much information on medieval royal wedding dresses. Most chroniclers were monks who did not describe what the bride wore but a few descriptions do exist. When Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, daughter of King Edward I, married John I, Count of Holland, she wore a gown of embroidered silk with silver gilt buttons and a crown set with rubies, emeralds, and pearls. Documentation from the wedding of Philippa of England, daughter of King Henry IV, and Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway indicates that Philippa wore a tunic with a cloak in white silk bordered with gray squirrel and ermine, making her the first documented princess to wear a white wedding dress. When King Edward IV’s sister Margaret of York married Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, she wore a surcoat and mantle of crimson velvet embroidered with gold and a magnificent crown adorned with pearls and enameled white roses for the House of York set between red, green and white enameled letters of her name in Latin.

Crown of Margaret of York in Aachen Cathedral; Photo Credit – By Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34659301

Chroniclers gave no specific account of wedding ceremonies but it can be assumed that the ceremony was the typical Roman Catholic ceremony at that time perhaps with the addition of music. The bride of the King of England was usually crowned Queen right after the wedding ceremony. After the wedding ceremony, the wedding banquet was held. The feasts lasted for several days and included dancing, singing, and jousts. The amount of food consumed was amazing. For the wedding of King Henry III’s daughter Margaret to Alexander III, King of Scots in York, England, the citizens of York contributed all the bread, 200 deer, 300 does, 200 young bucks and 100 boars. The Archbishop of York donated 60 oxen and the King of England’s fishermen gave 230 fish.

Crowning of King Edward III’s bride Philippa of Hainault; Credit – Wikipedia

Weddings of Norman and Plantagenet Kings and Their Children

Some weddings of Kings of England and their children were held in England and some were held in other countries.

• Westminster Abbey was completed around 1060 and was consecrated in 1065.  It was the wedding venue for several royal weddings in this time period including that of King Richard II to Anne of Bohemia in 1382.  The next royal wedding in Westminster Abbey would be the wedding of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Patricia of Connaught in 1919.
• Windsor Castle, with its building started by King William I in the decade after the Norman conquest of 1066,  was the setting for a few weddings in this time period. King Henry III had built the Chapel of Edward the Confessor there in the early 13th century.  However, St. George’s Chapel, the site of many recent royal weddings, was not built there until the late 14th century. Henry III’s Chapel of Edward the Confessor was incorporated into the new chapel.  The first wedding at St. George’s Chapel was that of Queen Victoria’s son, the future King Edward VII, in 1863.
• Other wedding venues that have official websites or Wikipedia articles will be linked below.  Sometimes the city where the wedding took place is known but the actual wedding venue is unknown.

Note: Only married monarchs and their married children are listed. Links are to Unofficial Royalty articles and only links for monarchs, their children, and their spouses are listed. Note that not all children and spouses have Unofficial Royalty articles.

William I (the Conqueror), King of England, Duke of Normandy married (1053) Matilda of Flanders at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Eu, Normandy now in France

• Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy married (1100) Sybil of Conversano in the bride’s hometown of Apulia, now in Italy
• Constance of Normandy married (1087) Alan IV, Duke of Brittany in Caen, Normandy
• Adela of Normandy married (1081) Stephen II, Count of Blois, in Breteuil. Normandy

Henry I, King of England (son of William I) (1) married (1100) Edith of Scotland (renamed Matilda upon her marriage) at Westminster Abbey; (2) married (1121) Adeliza of Louvain at Windsor Castle

• William Ætheling married (1119) Matilda of Anjou in Lisieux, Normandy
• Matilda of England (1) married (1114) Heinrich V, Holy Roman Emperor at Mainz Cathedral now in Germany; (2) married (1128) Geoffrey of Anjou at the Cathedral of Saint Julian of Le Mans now in France

Stephen, King of England (grandson of William I) married (1125) Matilda of Boulogne, wedding venue unknown but probably in France

• Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne married (1140) Constance of France, in Paris, France
• William of Blois, Count of Boulogne, Earl of Surrey (married 1148) Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess of Surrey, wedding venue unknown
• Marie I, Countess of Boulogne married (1160) Matthew of Alsace, wedding venue unknown

Henry II, King of England (grandson of Henry I) married (1152) Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine in Poitiers in the County of Poitou

• Henry the Young King married (1160) Marguerite of France in Rouen, Normandy
• Matilda of England married (1168) Heinrich the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria at Minden Cathedral now in Germany
• Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany married (1181) Constance, Duchess of Brittany, wedding venue unknown
• Eleanor of England married (1177) King Alfonso VIII of Castile at Burgos Cathedral in Spain
• Joan of England (1) married (1177) King William II of Sicily 1177 at Palermo Cathedral in Sicily (Italy); (2) married (1196) Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse in Rouen, Normandy

Richard I, King of England (son of Henry II) married (1191) Berengaria of Navarre at the Chapel of St George in Limassol, Cyprus

John, King  of England (son of Henry II) (1) married (1189) Isabella, Countess of Gloucester at Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire, England (marriage annulled); (2) married (1200) Isabella of Angoulême in Bordeaux in the Duchy of Aquitaine

• Richard, Earl of Cornwall (1) married (1231) Isabel Marshal at St. Mary the Virgin’s Church in Fawley, England (2) married (1243) Sanchia of Provence at Westminster Abbey (3) married (1269) Beatrice of Falkenburg in Stiftkirche in Kaiserslautern now in Germany
• Joan of England married (1221) Alexander II, King of Scots at York Minster in York, England
  Isabella of England married (1235) Friedrich II, Holy Roman Emperor in Worms Cathedral now in Germany
• Eleanor of England (1) married (1224) William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke at the Temple Church in London (2) married (1238) Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester in the private chapel at the Palace of Westminster in London

Henry III, King of England (son of King John) married (1236) Eleanor of Provence at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England

• Margaret of England (1251) married Alexander III, King of Scots at York Minster in York, England
• Beatrice of England married (1260) John II, Duke of Brittany at the Basilica of St. Denis in Paris, France
• Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster (1) married (1269) Aveline de Forz at Westminster Abbey; (2) married (1276) Blanche of Artois in Paris, France

Edward I, King of England (son of Henry III) (1) married (1254) Eleanor of Castile at the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas in Burgos, Castile (now Spain) (2) married (1299) Margaret of France at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England

• Eleanor of England married (1293) Henry III, Count of Bar in Bristol Cathedral in England
• Joan of Acre (1) married (1290) Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford at Westminster Abbey (2) married (1297) Ralph de Monthermer, wedding venue unknown
• Margaret married (1290) John II, Duke of Brabant at Windsor Castle
• Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (1) married (1297) John I, Count of Holland in Ipswich, England (2) married (1302) Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford at Westminster Abbey
• Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk married (1326) Alice de Hales in Loddon, Norfolkshire, England
• Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent married (1325) Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell, wedding venue unknown

Edward II, King of England (son of Edward I) married (1308) Isabella of France in Boulogne, France

• Eleanor of Woodstock married (1332) Reinoud II, Count of Guelders in Nijmegen in the County of Guelders now in the Netherlands
• Joan of The Tower married (1328) King David II of Scotland in 1328 at Berwick-upon-Tweed, England

Edward III, King of England (son of Edward II) married (1328) Philippa of Hainault at York Minster in York, England

• Edward, Prince of Wales, the Black Prince married (1361) Joan of Kent, 4th Countess of Kent at Windsor Castle
• Isabella of England married (1365) Enguerrand VII de Coucy, 1st Earl of Bedford at Windsor Castle
• Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence (1) married (1342) Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster at the Tower of London (2) married (1368) Violante Visconti in Milan, Italy
• John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (1) married (1359) Blanche of Lancaster in the Queen’s Chapel at Reading Abbey (2) married (1371) Infanta Constance of Castile in Roquefort, France (3) married (1396) Katherine Swynford (formerly his mistress) at Lincoln Cathedral
• Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (1) married (1372) Infanta Isabella of Castile at Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England (2) married (1393) Joan Holland, wedding venue unknown
• Mary of Waltham married (1361) John V, Duke of Brittany at Woodstock Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England
• Margaret of Windsor married (1359) John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke in Reading, England
• Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester married (1376) Eleanor de Bohun, wedding venue unknown

Richard II, King of England (grandson of Edward III) (1) married (1382) Anne of Bohemia at Westminster Abbey (last royal wedding at Westminster Abbey until the wedding of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Patricia of Connaught in 1919)  (2) married (1396) Isabella of Valois at the Church of St. Nicholas in Calais, France

Henry IV, King of England (grandson of Edward III) (1) married (1380) Mary de Bohun at Arundel Castle in West Sussex, England (2) married (1403) Joan of Navarre at Winchester Cathedral (Note: Mary de Bohun died before Henry became king.  She was the mother of all his children.)

• Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence married (1411) Margaret Holland, wedding venue unknown
• John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford (1) married (1423) Anne of Burgundy in Troyes, France (2) married (1433) Jacquetta of Luxembourg in Thérouanne, France
• Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (1) married (1423) Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut and Holland in Hadleigh, Essex, England (2) married (1428) Eleanor Cobham
• Blanche of England married (1402) Louis III, Elector Palatine at Cologne Cathedral now in Germany
• Philippa of England married (1406) Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden at Lund Cathedral in Lund, Sweden

Henry V, King of England (son of Henry IV) married (1420) Catherine of Valois in Troyes, France

Henry VI, King of England (son of Henry VI) married (1445) Margaret of Anjou at Titchfield Abbey in Titchfield, Hampshire, England

• Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales married (1470) Lady Anne Neville at Angers Cathedral in France

Edward IV, King of England (great-great-grandson of Edward III) married (1464) Elizabeth Woodville at Elizabeth’s family home in Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire, England

• Elizabeth of York married (1486) Henry VII, King of England in St. Stephen’s Chapel in the Palace of Westminster
• Cecily of York (1) married Ralph Scrope of Upsall, wedding venue unknown (2) married (1487) John Welles, 1st Viscount Welles, wedding venue unknown  (3) married (circa 1502-1504) Sir Thomas Kyme, wedding venue unknown
• Anne of York married (1495) Thomas Howard at Greenwich, England (after Anne’s death was 3rd Duke of Norfolk)
• Catherine of York married (1495) William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon, wedding venue unknown

Richard III, King of England (great-great-grandson of Edward III, brother of Edward IV) married (1472) Lady Anne Neville in St. Stephen’s Chapel in the Palace of Westminster

Works Cited

• Ashdown, D. (1981). Royal Weddings. London: Robert Hale Limited.
• Genealogics.org. (2018). [online] Available at: http://www.genealogics.org [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018].
• Unofficial Royalty. (2018). Unofficial Royalty. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018]. (for wedding venue and genealogy information)
• Westminster-abbey.org. (2018). Westminster Abbey » Home. [online] Available at: http://www.westminster-abbey.org/home [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018]. (for wedding venue information)
• Wikipedia. (2018). Main Page. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/ [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018].  (for wedding venue and genealogy information)

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.